Excel: How to compare sheets from 2 different workbooks for differences - vba

I have an original excel file that I have ran a simulation that inputs financial data. I made a copy of this file, and wired the formulas up differently to try and increase calculation performances.
I now have 2 workbooks, the original and the final. I want to compare each sheet from each of the workbooks together to make sure that the financial numbers have remained the same, to make sure the new formulas are not effecting the numbers received.
I have tried to put copies of the two sheets into one workbook, name them April12 and April15. Then insert a third sheet. In cell A1 of the third sheet, I wanted to use the formula
=April12!A1=April15!A1
to get TRUE/FALSE values. But the formulas in these sheets reference many other sheets that are not in this new workbook, so all of my numbers turn up as #REF.
Iv googled many different ways of approaching this but I cant seem to get any of them to work. Does anyone know a simple way I can compare just the values from 2 sheets from 2 different workbooks to find out if the numbers have remained the same or have changed?
Note:I am using excel 2010.


I think you already know how to verify data using formula so is the problem to refer to a row in a different workbook ? if so, following might be helpful :
=[yourFile.xls]SheetName!$Col$Row
this way you can update your formula like(yourFile.xls refers to the complete path including the file name) :
=[file1.xls]April12!A1=[file2.xls]April15!A1

Related

Workaround for either my approach or the 256 character limit in Excel VBA

My problem is as follows, I have a workbook with (to begin with) 2 worksheets, the first (called WIP) acts as a form of data entry, each new occurrence of the BoM requires an insertion of 4 columns which happens to the left of the existing columns. At the same time a new worksheet is created based on a copy of the existing second worksheet (called FitOut) which pulls various bits of a data from the first worksheet based mainly upon the version of the BoM selected and the supplier referenced.
Of course adding new columns to the WIP sheet causes the functions, arrays and formulas in the sheets to automatically update, I had used a quick workaround by using some code to hold and then paste the new occurrences data into the worksheet which is created at the start of the macro, however the formulas have become slightly complex (due to the need to look for the previous 4 occurrences and return values based on specific cell locations) that the 256 character limit has been completely shot ( I think I'm over 800 on some bits).
I've very limited as to the layout of the WIP sheet, and the sheet needs to be fairly idiot proof (hence macros, buttons etc) but it needs to run well...
ANy and all suggestions/help would be much appreciated.
I have put an example of the formula I am trying to use, if it can be condensed further pleas let me know:
=IFERROR(IF($C$1='WIP'!$U$1,(INDEX('WIP'!$A$1:$X$2500,SMALL(IF('WIP'!$U$1:$U$2500=$A$1,ROW('WIP'!$U$1:$U$2500)),ROW(6:6)),COLUMN('WIP'!$C:$C))),(IF($C$1='WIP'!$X$1,(INDEX('WIP'!$A$1:$AA$2500,SMALL(IF('WIP'!$X$1:$X$2500=$A$1,ROW('WIP'!$X$1:$X$2500)),ROW(6:6)),COLUMN('WIP'!$C:$C))),(IF($C$1='WIP'!$AA$1,(INDEX('WIP'!$A$1:$AD$2500,SMALL(IF('WIP'!$AA$1:$AA$2500=$A$1,ROW('WIP'!$AA$1:$AA$2500)),ROW(6:6)),COLUMN('WIP'!$C:$C))),(INDEX('WIP'!$A$1:$AG$2500,SMALL(IF('WIP'!$AD$1:$AD$2500=$A$1,ROW('WIP'!$AD$1:$AD$2500)),ROW(7:7)),COLUMN('WIP'!$C:$C)))))))),"")

How to copy selected columns and filter them before hand in excel VBA

I am just a beginner in VBA. I am trying to copy some data from one workbook that is updated daily to a master woorkbook and generate a report. I want it to first filter one of the columns for nonzero values and copy it with three selected columns for example columns T,C,N. I have looked everywhere for an answer but I haven't succeeded yet. Please help.

You can check if a given cell has value 0 by something like this If Sheets(sheetname).Cells(rownumber,columnnumber)=0 Then
You haven't specified what do you want to do on the other workbooks with the cells that were empty.

Check if value in Sheet A is in Sheet B, return true, or false to respective row

I'm working with two Excel sheets of over 500k rows, basically I need to validate if value from Sheet A (Column A) is in Sheet B (Column B), if so, return "True" to Sheet A (Column C) in it's corresponding row or "False" if not found.
Initially I tried the validation with vlookup (also tried match) in a separate sheet, but since sometimes I hide rows (filtered list) I encounter problems when trying to paste back the results to the original sheet because it won't paste to visible only cells although I've tried countless times. (Yes I've seen the tutorials on how to paste to visible cells only but it won't work, maybe Excel version?) Excel version is 2010.
Also things get a bit iffy when working with so much data!
How can this be accomplished in VBA?
Update: I tried what Jeeped suggested Is there a faster CountIF and it looks like what I need, I was able to actually paste the formula into all the rows without Excel crashing. Thank you Jeeped! I'd still like to know how to accomplish this with VBA to perhaps expand it later with more customization.

Alternative to Excel INDIRECT that works on closed files, and links to workbook based on cell value?

I've seen many questions on this forum about linking Excel files based on cell values and INDIRECT always pops up as an answer, and it does do function and fill my sheet the way that I want, but I need to find a way to work with the source file being closed. My problem when it comes to linking, is that the file path to pull the data from will not be known until part of the file name is entered into a cell.
For example, in 'Print Summary' workbook, Sheet1 Cell A2 is where the file name is entered as a number 12345 (and gets auto-formatted to place 'WIP' in front) which represents WIP12345.xls. WIP12345.xls is a form that holds information that needs to populate certain columns across row 2. WIP12345.xls is an order form and completed days ahead. Once it has been approved, the summary workbook is updated with the WIP#.
I did CONCATENATE WIP12345 and .xls to create the file name WIP12345.xls on Sheet2, and I have a Macro that copies and pastes special as value to turn the result into text. But, I can't find a way to create a formula that will take this value and lookup the file to pull information from. I need to pull and fill information from different cells to 10 columns down 43 rows (each row representing a different WIP#####.xls file).
I'm guessing VBA is the only way to go, but I have no idea how to write it. Anyone have a direction they can point me in? I hope I'm coming across clearly.

The free add-in morefunc.xll contains a function called Indirect.Ext, which works with closed worbooks.

Combine Columns in multiple Excel workbooks and auto-de-dupe

I have three workbooks with IDs in column A. I want to create a fourth workbook, which should combine the IDs and de-dupe them automatically so that I can perform a vlookup on them to reference data on the other workbooks. The 3 workbooks with data in them will be constantly updated with new ID numbers added, so I need the master/summary workbook to automatically grab newly added ID numbers and perform vlookups against the other workbooks.
The goal of this is to give a summary view of each record (which corresponds to a person), letting the user know which workbooks that person exists in.
I have tried doing =max() to retreive the number of ID's in each workbook, and combining them, telling me the total # of ID's that exist, combined. Then I tried to perform this: =SMALL(IF(FREQUENCY(Test1:Test2$A$2:$A$1000, ROW($1:$28))<>0, ROW($1:$28), ""), ROW(A1))
+ CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER
But I'm 1. not sure if that'll work and 2. not sure how the syntax works with 3 separate workbooks.
I also tried the union method in VBA with no luck - again I think I'm messing up the syntax.

You can retrieve a unique list of the id numbers in [ID_First.xlsx]Sheet1!$A$2:$A$999 using the following array formula in the master worksheet's A2 (needs a row above it to avoid circular references).
=IFERROR(INDEX([ID_First.xlsx]Sheet1!$A$2:$A$999,MATCH(0, IF(LEN([ID_First.xlsx]Sheet1!$A$2:$A$999),COUNTIF(A$1:A1,[ID_First.xlsx]Sheet1!$A$2:$A$999),1),0)),"")
If you stack similar formulas consecutively, passing calculation on to them with IFERROR(), you can gain a unique list from three separate workbooks.
=IF(LEN(A1),IFERROR(INDEX([ID_First.xlsx]Sheet1!$A$2:$A$999,MATCH(0, IF(LEN([ID_First.xlsx]Sheet1!$A$2:$A$999),COUNTIF(A$1:A1,[ID_First.xlsx]Sheet1!$A$2:$A$999),1),0)),IFERROR(INDEX([ID_Second.xlsx]Sheet1!$A$2:$A$999,MATCH(0, IF(LEN([ID_Second.xlsx]Sheet1!$A$2:$A$999),COUNTIF(A$1:A1,[ID_Second.xlsx]Sheet1!$A$2:$A$999),1),0)),IFERROR(INDEX([ID_Third.xlsx]Sheet1!$A$2:$A$999,MATCH(0, IF(LEN([ID_Third.xlsx]Sheet1!$A$2:$A$999),COUNTIF(A$1:A1,[ID_Third.xlsx]Sheet1!$A$2:$A$999),1),0)),""))),"")
Array formulas require Ctrl+Shift+Enter to finalize. Once entered correctly, fill down as necessary to collect all unique IDs.
With a unique list of id numbers, you can use the same method of nested IFERROR functions to look through a series of three workbooks for additional data.
=IFERROR(VLOOKUP($A2, [ID_First.xlsx]Sheet1!$A$2:$Z$999, 2, FALSE),IFERROR(VLOOKUP($A2, [ID_Second.xlsx]Sheet1!$A$2:$Z$999, 2, FALSE),IFERROR(VLOOKUP($A2, [ID_Third.xlsx]Sheet1!$A$2:$Z$999, 2, FALSE),"")))
I'm offering this as you've mentioned a total of 50 member IDs. This method can quickly (and logrythmically) eat up calculation resources when applied to larger groups of numbers.

If you've got Excel 2016 or later, you could unpivot the data using PowerQuery, which is now built in to Excel under the Get & Transform section of the Data tab in the ribbon. Plenty of examples of how to do this if you search Google for 'unpivot' and 'Powerquery'.
If you have Excel 2010 or 2013, you can download the PowerQuery addin for free from https://www.microsoft.com/en-nz/download/details.aspx?id=39379 (assuming IT let you do so).
PowerQuery is a revolution in Excel data transformation, and the learning curve is a lot less steep than advanced formulas or VBA.