If you are an analyst or if you parse data on a regular basis, you must already have had the need to concile data from different sources regarding the same subjects.
Take a classic example: matching countries codes and phone prefixes. Usually you will find lists for each of those, but if you want the aggregate data by country based on those separate sources you can use this excel (with a sample included for you to evaluate; unzip to access file).
This excel matches the records in two sheets based on the first columns. While the columns match (from left to right) the data is put in a 3rd sheet in the respective row, and orphaned records are left to the end of the list. This means that any number of columns can identify a record. Any differences detected will be signaled in orange background (matched but differing records). In the example given you can see that there is a new column on sheet 2 and that several records were left unmatched.
This of course can also be applied to detect changes in two versions of the same file.
Save yourself precious time and just copy paste your data and click a button!
Compliments of the Author 