What's new in xlCompare 10.7
Complete information on the new features and bugfixes in this spreadsheet compare tool update
Today we present you major update for our Excel Diff Tool (xlCompare). Short list of the updates is present in the Changelog page.
Here we give you detailed information on the changes made in the xlCompare 10.7.
New User Interface
In this update we’ve reworked xlCompare interface to give it modern look. xlCompare works with tables and spreadsheets, mostly with Microsoft Excel files. We are using Ribbon interface model similar to Office applications. So, xlCompare gets new Office 365 style interface.
New Ribbon commands
Ribbon in the xlCompare has being completely reworked. We’ve grouped commands by their functions and put them on the appropriate Tabs. Comparison commands are on the Home tab, commands that work merges Excel files and sheets are on the Merge tab, filtering and other database-specific commands are on the Table tab.
Now Ribbon has more tabs, but each tab has less commands. This will be more convenient to you.
Korean Language Pack
We’ve signed partnership agreement with the Korea Software Service company. This is our distributor in Korea. With help of our new partner, we’ve translated xlCompare interface into Korean language. Now our users in Korea can use xlCompare in their language.
Merge Commands
In this update we’ve refactored commands that merges data in the Excel files to make them clear and easy to use. All of them are on the Merge tab on the Ribbon.
Merge Sheets
Copy all cells from the left worksheet into the right worksheet.
Merge Files
Copy all cells in all worksheets from the left file into the right file.
Merge Folders
Merge contents in all Excel files in the specific folder. xlCompare creates a result file that contains all cells and all sheets.
Combine all sheets into one
If your data is split into several worksheets in one Excel file, this command will join contents into one worksheet.
Set of commands called "Update" has principal difference with the merge commands. When merge command is very similar to copy and paste operation, Update compares worksheets and copies only changed cells and inserted rows. Something like a smart merge procedure.
Update Sheets
Update worksheet in the right panel with changed cells and new rows from the left panel. All other cells are not changed.
Update Files
Command described above (Update Sheets) is applied to the every pair of sheets in the selected files.
Legend in Difference Explorer
Difference Explorer is a structured list of the differences, published on the bottom panel of the application window. I this update we’ve added a legend that explains every type formatting you see in the report and how many items we’ve found.
In additional to this explanation, you can use Legend to filter items in the Difference Explorer. For example, you can display only changed cells or only new rows. If you have too many differences in your report, this command helps you to work with them.
Option to hide Difference Explorer
Modern displays give us enough space to display large worksheets, if you maximize the window. However, on the standard laptop display resolution 1900x1200 every peace of screen is important. That’s why we’ve made Difference Explorer panel optional and now you can hide it to get more space for the comparison report.
Ignore Columns from being compared in Excel files
In the previous versions of xlCompare there was another technique to exclude data from the comparison – hide row or column.
Now we’ve added a quick way to exclude columns from comparison. Why this is important? Data, that doesn’t have matching column on the other side affects on the comparison results and may produce comparison noise. That’s why we suggest you exclude columns if you see that comparison results are not good.
Filter by Value command
Imaging two tables with large set of unsorted values. Your purpose is to filter all rows, where first three columns contain specific values on both worksheets, to analyze both datasets. Or you need to copy only these records from the database.
If you have filtered tables on both sheets you can use filter buttons to specify values you would like to filter. And get the results.
xlCompare offers you faster solution. Just select cells, that contains filtered values and apply Filter by Value command. In single click you get both worksheets filtered by this key.
Highlight records in CSV files
When CSV file is opened as Excel worksheet it is just a plain set of strings and numbers. xlCompare formats it as table to give it better look. This feature is optional can be disabled at the any time
Import and Export commands in the VBA Modules
Now you can Export and Import contents of the Visual Basic Modules when you are browsing Visual Basic Projects in your workbooks.
Display Trend
This option is added to indicate how cell values was changed. If value was increased xlCompare displays green up triangle in this cell. Decreased value gets red down triangle.
This optional command gives you visual representation of how the numerical data was changed on your worksheet.
Headers of the changed rows are marked with color
When you browse Excel worksheet heading is a part that is always visible. So, we added this indication to inform you that this row contains changed cells. If you don’t see the changed value on screen, scroll worksheet to the right to find it.
Evaluate Formula command to debug calculations and find out where the formula value came from
This is very useful command to spreadsheet developers. It allows you to analyze every subexpression in the formula. You are getting calculation scheme in a tree form that you can expend and drill down into the arguments and sub expressions.
If you try this command once – you will be unable to work without it.
This command is so important, that is should be published first in this list!
Other modifications we’ve made in this update can be described with a short description:
- Fixed problems with Korean and Japanese characters in the VBA modules
- Improvements in the Primary Key detection algorithms
- New worksheet functions
- New Shapes are supported
- Improved support of the Excel Object model
- Fixed few issues with Pie chart
- Fixed few minor issues with cell recalculation
- Improved 3-way comparison (compare multiple Excel files)
Every day our developers work on improving xlCompare and adding new features. This continuous process allows us to deliver you powerful and best Excel diff tool.
Please, contact us if you have any questions. Our stuff will be happy to respond you!