Find Difference between two Cells that could be Multiselect Dropdowns or Text

Thomas Bostwick

I am pretty advanced when it comes to smartsheet and formulas. But this one has me stumped. I am trying to find a way to report on the difference between two text or multiselect cells. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Paul Newcome

Can you provide some screenshots/examples?

Thomas Bostwick

Hey Paul!

I am looking for the following result with Test 3 showing what is not in Test 2 that is in Test.

Paul Newcome

Will it always be like that where the extra data is in Test but not in Test 2?

Thomas Bostwick

Test would be current and Test 2 would be previous. So in theory Test could have less items due to things being removed. So I assume there will need to be a column for what is in Test 2 that in not in Test and then a column for what is in Test that is not in Test 2.

Paul Newcome

I want to make sure I understand before trying to work out a solution.

You have data in Test and in Test 2. You want to show what is in Test 2 that is not in Test.

Test..........Test 2..........Test 3

A, B..............A...................B

A, B..............B...................A

A, B..............C.................A, B

A, B, C........A, C.................B

Does the above look right? Basically you want to strip away whatever is in Test 2 from Test and output the result in Test 3?

Thomas Bostwick

That is exactly what I am looking to figure out.

Paul Newcome

Ok. Are you using multi-select or free text? If free text, will you use a common delimiter between selections such as a space or a comma?

Thomas Bostwick

I prefer Multi-select but if that can't work it will be text separated by a comma.

Paul Newcome

Multi-Select actually makes it easier because it has a built in common delimiter. You don't have to worry about accidentally not using the correct one.

And hopefully the last question... What is the maximum amount of possible selections that can be made in a single cell?

Thomas Bostwick

Thank you for your help Paul! I would say max would be 50.

Paul Stryer

So what was the answer to this I need to compare two columns and find the delta between two cols in two different sheets

Alla Suzdaltsev

I have the same question, Has anyone figured out the formula?

Mohamed

Any solutions for this case or what, I was very happy reading the details of the case and suddenly shocked that there is no answer,,