MarginDiff Sheets
Compare Excel workbooks and review changes to values, formulas, formatting, and worksheet structure.
Keep the numbers in view.
Review two versions of an Excel workbook side by side. Aligned rows and columns help you follow the changes without losing each cell’s original location.
The comparison features described here are in testing and are not in the latest installers. A public installer is not currently listed. Contact us to confirm availability and supported features before ordering.
See what changed in the workbook
- Values and formulas. Compare saved values, formula expressions, and cached results. Differences in stored numbers remain visible even when rounding makes the cells look the same.
- Rows and columns. Keep matching content aligned after insertions, without marking every later cell as moved. Supported formula references can follow the aligned content across sheets.
- Formatting and layout. Review selected font, fill, border, alignment, and number-format changes, alongside sheet order, visibility, merged ranges, row heights, and column widths.
- Workbook contents. Inspect changes to saved charts, drawings, images, comments, and other workbook data, including changes outside the cell grid. These are content-level details, not a visual overlay.
Review at your own pace
Choose File > New Diff, select the Original and Modified workbooks, choose a saved style, and select Start. Use Override to change comparison options for this session. Synchronized scrolling keeps the comparison panes together.
Check the sheet structure list and the Workbook contents tab as well as highlighted cells. They cover changes that cell navigation alone may not show.
The Revision List includes cell, worksheet-structure, and workbook-content changes. Select a cell revision to open its worksheet and scroll to the change. Find searches displayed comparison cells; Goto navigates by sheet, row, or column in the aligned grid.
Save a marked-up review workbook
Save Diff creates an XLSX redline with comparison text, revision formatting, and a Revision List worksheet. This review copy contains displayed text rather than live formulas and does not reproduce charts or macros. It cannot overwrite either input workbook.
Export a separate HTML or PDF comparison report, preview it for printing, or prepare report attachments in desktop Outlook. Review and send the email draft yourself.
Saved styles control revision colors, text decorations, and supported comparison options. Manage personal and company styles through Tools > Styles.
Prepare your Excel files
XLSX files open directly. Older XLS files require Excel for conversion. MarginDiff Sheets does not calculate formulas: recalculate and save both workbooks in Excel first when you need to compare current calculated results.
Repeated content can make matching ambiguous. Sheet renames, structured formulas, external references, and conditional formatting have limitations. Large or sparse worksheets can also exceed the 500,000-cell loading limit, including gaps. Content comparison does not guarantee identical calculation or appearance in Excel.
Read the spreadsheet comparison guide and limits ↗
Check file formats and preparation ↗ · Follow product updates