Many comparisons come back every month: this month’s price list against last month’s, this week’s export against the previous one. Table Compare keeps the setup so the second time takes seconds.
The same two tables, new data #
Update the data in your tables, then open the results and click Compare again. Table Compare reads both sources again, keeps your options and shows a fresh result. Edit setup goes back to the Old and New lists with everything kept, so you can change one side before you compare.
The setup is saved in the workbook #
Your choices of Old and New, the options and the way rows are matched are stored in the workbook. When you reopen it, the pane shows the same Old and New if their tables or sheets still exist, and the options are as you left them. If a table was deleted or renamed, that side stays empty and you choose it again. A file is never remembered: choose it again.
Options travel to new sheets #
Monthly reports often arrive as a new sheet or file with the same columns. When you choose new sources whose column names match at least 80 percent of the names of a comparison you ran before, Table Compare applies what you set then: the ID column, the columns you left out, the column pairs you made by hand and the number tolerance. The pane says so once: Using your last settings for these columns, with a Reset link that brings back the defaults.
The last settings are remembered in the workbook and on this computer, so they also help in a new workbook with the same columns.
A monthly routine #
- Paste or import next month’s table as a new sheet or table in the workbook, or choose the file with From a file on this computer….
- Choose it as New, and last month’s as Old.
- Check the line Using your last settings for these columns, then press Compare.
- Click Create report sheet to keep the result.
In the free version, Compare again works the same way, for tables of up to 200 rows each.