So, you’d like to open up two versions of an .xlsx spreadsheet to compare differences row-by-row. Seems simple, right? Just open them both up in separate windows and then arrange the two windows side-by-side. Just kidding, it’s not that easy. For some reason, Excel spreadsheets all open in the same application window, which is totally contrary to the way Microsoft Office handles Word documents. Never fear—there’s a way to compare two Excel spreadsheets side-by-side without using two computers.
Step 1
Open the first Excel spreadsheet.
Step 2
Open the second Excel spreadsheet. You’ll notice that there are now two taskbar buttons for Excel. But no matter which one you click, it pops up in the same window. Frustrating!
Step 3
In Excel, Click the View tab.
Step 4
In the Window section, Click View Side by Side. By default, this will show your two Excel spreadsheets in separate panes, stacked horizontally.
Step 5
To change the orientation, Click Arrange All. Choose Vertical to have them side-by-side, with one in a left-hand column and the other in the right-hand column.
This is how I prefer to view my spreadsheets.
Step 6
Click Synchronous Scrolling. Now, when you scroll down on one window, the other will scroll down, too, making it even easier to compare differences.
Got it? Good. Now get back to work. I need the Johnson Report on my desk by 4PM!
46 Comments
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Helpjas
May 17, 2011 at 10:35 pm
Phew!!!! i was looking for this for a long time..
Thanks a lot for posting this.. :)
Cindy Turner
September 13, 2013 at 12:17 pm
I still don’t like it. I want what I used to have – easy ability to bring up two spreadsheets as I use multiple screens, this is painful!
Linus VanPelt
December 7, 2016 at 6:45 am
Cindy, try opening Excel separately (not the spreadsheet) for each spreadsheet that you want to have opened. From the open excel window, open your spreadsheet using the “File” “Open” option. With this method, you can have multiple excel spreadsheets open for multiple screens.
les
June 23, 2014 at 11:57 pm
Simple but brilliant, Thankyou :)
heymchr
May 19, 2011 at 4:58 pm
If you really want to have each spreadsheet open in its own window in Excel 2010 (just like Word for docs), this trick works:
Run regedit.exe. First, browse to ‘HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open’ and go through the steps below. Second, browse to ‘HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\Open’ and go through the steps below again.
1. Rename the ‘ddeexec’ folder to ddeexec.bk – or just delete it, it’s up to you.
2. Open the ‘command’ folder.
3. Edit the ‘Default’ string and replace the /e or /dde with “%1”.
4. Edit the ‘command’ string and replace the /e or /dde with “%1”.
Sam
May 23, 2012 at 8:07 am
You are a god
Will
June 20, 2012 at 7:45 pm
Thank you so much. You made my life so much easier.
Steve Krause
June 20, 2012 at 9:17 pm
Thanks for the feedback Will and welcome to groovypost!
Ivan Paudice
August 16, 2012 at 12:53 am
LOVE U !
Steve Krause
August 22, 2012 at 11:19 am
I love you too @facebook-763586553:disqus !
K.G.
November 2, 2011 at 3:20 pm
heymchr’s note above works GREAT!! BUT – be sure to put in the QUOTE marks on each side of the %1 (yes, it does include the quote marks, not just what is inside the quote marks). Good stuff!
fytos
February 16, 2012 at 11:06 pm
Or you can just get office CLASSIC MENUS and do the above and a lot more just like in office 2003!!
I installed the clssic menus for 2007, works fine with 2010 and I can find my menus when the icons in 2010 don’t help me.
thank you
March 28, 2012 at 2:01 pm
I will gladly buy you a cheeseburger!!! thanks!
(frustrating an understatement…)
rich
April 9, 2012 at 5:27 pm
Or, if you want each sheet in it’s own seperate excel window so you do things like snap them next to each other.
open excel and open sheet 1
open excel again and open sheet 2
vivek
September 28, 2013 at 7:22 pm
that works. no need of going into registry. thanks.
Azkban
December 6, 2015 at 11:34 pm
thanks, you made my day
Jasmine
April 20, 2012 at 4:20 am
Abyone knows how to view side by side with MAC?? It’s driving me crazy!! Thanks
tawazzile
August 19, 2012 at 1:56 pm
THANKS MAN IT WORKED
Steve Krause
August 19, 2012 at 6:15 pm
Awesome! Glad the article helped you out.
Welcome to groovypost!
eternatie950
August 30, 2012 at 8:11 am
Thank you! You saved my day!
Steve Krause
August 30, 2012 at 9:33 am
Your welcome.
Welcome to the site!
Tigrana
September 7, 2012 at 10:40 am
groovy indeed! : )
D.
October 17, 2012 at 5:59 pm
This was SO helpful!! You literally saved me hours. Bless you!
MAC... :) :(
December 20, 2012 at 8:34 pm
I recently got a MAC, and I never realised how much I’d miss this feature! Does any know how to do it on MAC
Horace
February 27, 2013 at 6:23 am
Thanks, man.
K.G.
February 27, 2013 at 6:35 am
Looks like Office 2013 Excel DOES keep the two spreadsheets separately (each in their own window) = good stuff!!
SidebySide
March 29, 2013 at 1:59 pm
I want to view in two different windows. WHy can I not open two excel spreadsheets and view them on different computer screens side by side. Excel used to allow this and now can only be done within one excel window versus two. This and many other frustrating things with the new excel version. Why can’t they just leave well enough alone.
K.G.
March 29, 2013 at 2:46 pm
Excel 2013 does have the spreadsheets open up in completely different windows, just like Word Doc does….
Dee Bjelke
April 6, 2013 at 1:50 pm
Thank you for the rescue! Jeez!
littlebluefuzzy
May 15, 2013 at 1:53 pm
Oh my God, Jack, thank you for posting this… my “side by side” view that was horizontal was making me crazy. I can now resume normal Wednesday stress.
Jennifer
May 16, 2013 at 11:18 am
Praise the Lord for your post. I was seriously struggling!
HRABX
June 4, 2013 at 6:03 pm
I do not have the permissions to edit registry but these steps worked for Excel 2010 on Windows 7
1) Double-click the first excel file to open
2) go to the start menu and select excel from the program list *
3) in the new and blank sheet select File->Open and select the second sheet you want to open
*Note: if you just double-click the second file it opens it in the same window – you have to do it through Start Menu-> Excel program then file->open
Jocelyne
August 28, 2013 at 7:50 am
Not sure why, this is not working for me and need to fix asap. The option “View Side by Side” is greyed out, what can I do? Tks for your help!!
Kristen
December 6, 2013 at 12:03 pm
Very good tutorial! I was searching forever on how to switch the view from horizontal to vertical. Can’t thank you enough!!!
Kevlarster
January 15, 2014 at 6:53 am
EASY and FAST WAY: Minimize worksheet, drag and drop other tab into free space.
Kate in Iowa
February 18, 2014 at 7:56 pm
At school, where I have only one monitor, in Excel 2010, I open Excel from the taskbar icon, open the first document I want to compare and size it to 50%.
I open Excel from the start button, open the second document I want to compare, and size it to 50%.
Voila! I can do a line by line comparison.
At home I have two monitors, so I open each document on its own monitor.
Sara Soder
April 4, 2014 at 10:10 am
Hi —
I want to compare an active Excel sheet with an historical pdf file on the screen at the same time. How do I do this?
Joe Perkins
July 9, 2014 at 11:14 am
I suppose you only have 1 monitor? Do you see the “Restore Down” icon (two overlapping squares) next to the “X” for close icon? Click that and then drag the edges of the excel window to fill half the screen. Do the same for the PDF viewer. It might help to “Maximize” the window to fill the entire screen first, then use “Restore Down”. Alternately, you open and maximize both and use ALT-TAB to switch between them.
julie
July 15, 2014 at 11:38 am
Thank you, thank you. You are so much more helpful that Excel’s help.
Jack
August 11, 2014 at 7:59 am
Great… thank you
Jo
October 1, 2014 at 12:36 pm
I tried all that. The Synchronous Scrolling icon is grayed out. It shows when the worksheets are viewed horizontally, but not vertically.
NP
November 6, 2014 at 1:56 am
Oh my god, you saved my work and my time ~~
Thank you so much!
Tim in Dallas
January 2, 2015 at 9:49 am
I have been doing this for a while now, but what I can’t figure out or it may not be do-able is how to get the column widths in both excel documents to match up exactly as well, so if you sync scrolling with a top & bottom that each column will align-up as well. Thus column X on the top sheet is in the exact same location as column X on the bottom sheet. This would make it much easier to compare. Any ideas?
Melody
January 2, 2015 at 8:43 pm
If anyone still has the Mac question: it’s under “Window.” Choose “Arrange.” Done.
@Tim in Dallas: click the little triangle in the top left or use your favorite command for “select all.”
Now drag the first column to a convenient width, noting what it is (You’ll see a little floating window telling you what width you’re dragging to). All your columns will change to that width.
Now do the same thing with the other window. Done.
If you don’t want to change the widths in Document A, but want Document B to match, use this trick instead: Select All in Doc A. Double click the format painter (paint brush). Now click and drag across all the columns in Doc B. Now, assuming there were the same number of columns, they align. If you didn’t want to change all of your formatting in Doc B, don’t save it when you close. Click on the paint brush again to release it.
Gov
June 15, 2015 at 5:42 pm
Thanks mate!!!
You saved my life!!
lesia pegues
September 18, 2016 at 10:34 pm
Creative commentary , I am thankful for the information . Does someone know if I would be able to grab a sample IRS 4626 version to fill in ?