IntroductionGeneral QuestionsWhere to find Customer Service AreaHow xlCompare saves workbooks?I want to get previous version of my fileBrowse contents of the VBA ProjectWhat Filter icon meansCompare WorksheetsComparison OptionsColormarks on the scrollbarsCompare VBA ProjectsCompare 2 Visual Basic ModulesMerge multiple lines in the VBA modulesCompare protected Visual Basic Projects

Which options xlCompare uses to compare Excel worksheets?

As you already know xlCompare has as less options as possible. This is one of the principles of the our software. You should not spend your time deciding which option to select. xlCompare should do it for you.
However, you may want to use different comparison strategies:
You want to get all differences in the worksheets. This strategy means, that you want to get complete list of differences - if somthing different is found between cells - this should be reflected.
We call this comparison strategy - strict.
Get only actual changes done by user. This option needs more explanation. Imagine the following:
You have 2 formulas:
  • F10 =SUM(A10:E10)
  • F10 =SUM(A10:E10)
Both of them are equal. But if A10 in the first worksheet is different from the A10 in the second one, values of the F10 cells in the both worksheets are also different.
This strategy treats cells with equal formulas as equal, even if their values are different. It allows you to find the changes made by user, not changes produced after workbook was recalculation. If you resolve these differences and recalculate your workbook, you get source book again.
In this xlCompare this comparison strategy is named smart.
You can change comparison strategy using menu command:
Compare | Options | Strict (Smart)
By default xlCompare uses Strict comparison strategy - find all differences and do not filter them.