In direct response to user feedback, the Draftable team is developing a dedicated comparison algorithm to compare Excel files and produce an Excel file with changes shown as redlined markup. This is currently available as a Preview feature for customers. If you would like to access Excel Redline comparisons, please contact your Account Manager or email product@draftable.com. We expect to roll this Excel Redline out to all customers in the September 2024 update.
In the meantime, Draftable Legal currently supports Excel file comparisons via two approaches:
- Using the Side by Side comparison type (Recommended)
- Using Excel's Native Spreadsheet Compare (requires Office Professional Plus 2013, Office Professional Plus 2016, Office Professional Plus 2019, Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise (formerly Office 365 ProPlus)).
This article shows you how to run both of these comparisons.
Video Resource: This topic is included in our specially crafted explainer video, accessible via this link.
How to compare Excel files in the Side by Side Comparison Type
- Open the Draftable Legal New Comparison window
- Select the two documents you want to compare, either by browsing your files or dragging and dropping them into the compare window.
- Once the documents are selected, tick the box for Side by Side in the comparison type row.
- Click the Compare button to run the comparison. When the comparison is complete, it will open in the Draftable Comparison Viewer with the older Excel file on the left and newer on the right. Side by side comparisons show changes using highlights instead of redline markup.
Reviewing your comparison in Draftable
- The Comparison Viewer shows all changes in a dynamic Change List on the right-hand side of the screen.
- You can scroll through the Change List and click on any change to jump to its location and have the change highlighted with a blue box on both versions shown.
- Users can tag changes by selecting the Tag Icon on the top right corner of the individual change card in the change list. This will display a list of 5 tagging options to choose from. Multi-tagging of changes is also possible.
- Users can also leave Notes on changes by selecting the Change Card, writing a note at the bottom of the card and hitting Enter to save the Note.
- Users can filter changes by using the Interactive Filter Menu, available at the top of the change list. This can be opened by selecting the Details drop-down menu in the top right corner of the Change List.
- Users can see filtering options by selecting either the Only Show or Do Not Show entry forms. This will display a list of filtering options including Change Type, Style Changes, Tags and Notes.
- Once all review of changes is completed, users can share the Change List, along with any Tags and Notes with colleagues or external parties via the Changes Report command in the top left of the ribbon menu.
- When you click on the Changes Report command, a drop-down list will provide options to export changes by copying to clipboard or exporting to a .csv using either the filtered or unfiltered Change List.
Saving / printing / sharing your Excel comparison as a PDF
- To save, print or email the Side by Side comparison, select the Next Action Icon
on the top right corner of the Change List.
This will hide the Change List and show the Next Action menu in its place. - In the Next Action Menu, you can select from one of the following options
Open will open the PDF of your Side by Side Comparison in your default PDF viewer application, usually Adobe Acrobat Reader (pictured).
The PDF export will include a cover page and should default to showing a side-by-side view even when you view the export.
Save will open a save window for saving a PDF of the Side by Side comparison to your local computer.
Save to DMS will open a save window for saving a PDF of the Side by Side comparison to your DMS (specific save to DMS options are displayed based on your DMS integration settings).
Print will open a window to print your Side by Side Comparison.
Copy to Clipboard will allow you to copy your Side by Side PDF file along with your input files to the clipboard for pasting in a folder or directly into an email.
Email will automatically generate an email with the selected files. You can select the Side by Side PDF along with your input files.
How to compare Excel files using Excel's Native Comparison Tool (Spreadsheet Compare)
For users who wish to run an Excel comparison to continue working in Excel, a Side-by-side comparison may not be suitable. In these cases, Draftable offers comparisons via Excel's native Spreadsheet Compare solution. This section outlines how to use this feature.
Note: Spreadsheet Compare via Draftable is only available with Office Professional Plus 2013, Office Professional Plus 2016, Office Professional Plus 2019. To learn more about this product visit Microsoft's overview of Spreadsheet Compare.
- Open the Draftable New Comparison Window
- Load your Excel input files, set the Comparison Type to Native in MS Office and hit Compare
- After running the comparison, the comparison file will open directly to Spreadsheet Compare.
- Once open, users can navigate changes made between both Excel documents with ease. Firstly, as shown in the image below the left (highlighted red) and right (highlighted yellow) Excel documents are shown in their windows inside the Spreadsheet Compare tool.
Both of these windows are navigable, and make it easy to see what items have changed by noting the highlighted cells. - Specific details of the changes can be seen in the bottom section, pictured below. This is a change list of all the different changes found between the Excel documents. This is useful if you need to see formulas within the comparison and see even more detail then what is seen in the normal side-by-side comparison.
Each change identifies which cell the change was found, what the values were and the a description of the change identified. - On the bottom left side of Spreadsheet Compare you have the option of enabling and disabling what changes are shown. In essence, this is a filter of what changes you see within your Spreadsheet Compare comparison. See the image pictured below for what feature looks like.
- Lastly, if you wish to condense all the changes into a single report, on the top toolbar in the Home section, you have the option to export the results of our Spreadsheet Compare to share.