AI tools to compare Excel files

1. Upload files to AI

2. Send a request to compare Excel files

ChatGPT can compare 2 Excel files for you. Just upload 2 files to the AI and get the report. This step is quite easy but the report we've got is not very useful - this is just a list of changed cells. It's hard to determine if ChatGPT understands worksheet structure and detects new and remove rows in the price lists.

The report looks like cell-by-cell comparison. So, we asked next question to ChatGPT. How do you compare Excel files?

It appears that AI used very simple cell-by-cell alignment, so the results didn't look good. But ChatGPT can use more complex algorithm that detects row insertions and removals - Myers\LCS-style algorithm.

Do regular Excel users know something about comparison algorithms? No. Every user expects that he uploads a file to AI and receive the best results - AI tool should know it's job :)

These tables should be compared by key column, but there was no suggestion to provide a key column to AI. So, we've selected one of the available options.

3. Use the Myers\LCS algorithm

We sent a prompt to create Myers\LCS diff and format differences with color. ChatGPT provided us with perfect side-by-side summary in the XLSX format. Very good! The report was clear, all shifted rows were correctly identified. We've got a comparison output in a user-friendly form exactly as expected.

4. Conclusion

ChatGPT perfectly works with spreadsheets and creates reports with all the differences highlighted in the XLSX format.

If you are using free version of the ChatGPT - it is limited in ability to upload and analyze data. If you reach your limit - you need to wait 24 hours to continue or upgrade your plan to ChatGPT Plus. In the real workflow this solution is not free.

1. Send Excel files to Gemini

We've stopped on the inability to upload XLSX files directly. It was strange as Gemini asked us to upload Excel file, but the Upload command accepts only images and text.

But we are not going to give up. Let's just paste 2 worksheets from Excel application as suggested by AI.

2. Ask AI to Compare Uploaded XLSX files

Here is the result.

Gemini has really surprised us!

It clearly understands which data was compared and generated human readable summary for the compared tables. Very good.

3. Request to place results side-by-side

Then we've requested side-by-side report. Result was the following:

This is the not report we want, anyway this is good job.

Also, it makes advice to remove extra characters from the numbers to make it clear. Good suggestion.

There was an issue with downloading this file. Gemini provided a link that doesn't work in our Chrome. Probably was an issue with browser, but it was not important. The AI model did a great job.

4. Conclusion

Very good tool! It is free and it understands type of processed data and structure of the table. Gemini generates a readable summary for the compared worksheets. Someone may find that the reporting capabilities are limited.

1. Upload your Excel files

Claude easily uploads two Excel files. All the AI tools have similar user interfaces that greatly simplify the job.

2. Ask AI to Compare Excel Files

For our request to compare uploaded Excel files Claude creates perfect color-coded report, presented in the browser and provided download link.

Also, there was a readable description of the comparison.

Perfect! Very good job. Nothing to add.

3. Conclusion

Perfect tool. Claude easily compares two Excel sheets, describes the results and provides you with a presentation report in the XLSX format.

1. Upload your files to One Drive

2. Right click and use the Ask Copilot menu

We've accessed Copilot using right click menu in the Windows Explorer.

Copilot clearly understands that it works with structured table, found key column itself and created a comparison summary. AI suggests us to remove extra characters from the cells in the Count column - perfect!

This is important - AI uses right comparison method to get the accurate results. We don't need to ask him about other methods of comparison.

3. Do the corrections if needed

Copilot shows this message to ask us - what we would like to do with data. AI suggested several actions from small corrections to creating full diff table.

If initial key column selection was incorrect - Copilot asks us to select another column in table. In our test the SKU column is a key and it was correctly identified with Copilot.

4. Create complete report

We've asked Copilot to create full diff report. AI provided us with a report in CSV format and offered complete XLSX table. CSV file contains list of the differences found between 2 files. This list clearly identifies what has changed.

5. Download side-by-side report

Next question to AI was to place sheet side-by-side and provide us with a report. We would like to get the differences in the native way, like the most diff checkers do.

After some time, Copilot sent us an XLSX file that contains exactly what we want. The report contains two worksheets with aligned rows. All the changes are highlighted with fill color. This report is ready to be sent by email or to be presented to colleagues.

6. Conclusion

Copilot is a perfect tool to compare Excel files uploaded to one drive. It uses right comparison method and provides you with a list of discrepancies found.