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Power Query: Compare two tables in Excel

Comparing two tables is a common task in Excel. You may want to identify items that are the same, different, or missing from the columns. For example, we have two similar tables with the same column names, but, there are some differences between the two tables. Now, you want to find the differences for comparing each row of the two tables as below screenshots shown. This tutorial will introduce how to use the Power Query feature to deal with this task in Excel.


Compare two tables in Power Query

Please follow the step-by-step tutorial to achieve this job:

Creating queries from the two tables

1. Select the first table that you want to compare, then, in Excel 2019 and Excel 365, click Data > From Table/Range, see screenshot:

Note: In Excel 2016 and Excel 2021, click Data > From Table, see screenshot:

2. Then, in the opened Power Query Editor window, click Close & Load > Close & Load To, see screenshot:

3. In the following Import Data dialog box, select Only Create Connection option, and then, click OK button to close the dialog. see screenshot:

4. Repeat the same step 1- 3 to create a connection for the second table. Finally, you should have two queries corresponding with your tables. And you can see the two tables in the Queries & Connections pane. See screenshot:

Joining queries to compare two tables

After creating queries from the two tables, next, you should join the queries into a new table.

5. Please go on clicking Data > Get Data > Combine Queries > Merge in Excel 2019 and Excel 365, see screenshot:

Note: In Excel 2016 and Excel 2021, click Data > New Query > Combine Queries > Merge, see screenshot:

6. In the popped-out Merge dialog box, please do the following operations:

  • Select the first and second table names from the drop down list separately.
  • Select the columns that you want to compare from the two tables. (To select multiple columns, please press Ctrl key to select them one by one) In this example, I will select all columns to compare.
  • And then, select Full Outer (all rows from both) under the Join Kind drop down.
  • At last, click OK button.

7. Then, a new column for the second table is inserted next to the first table:

  • Click the Expand icon next to the column title.
  • Check Expand option.
  • Check the columns that you want to insert into the comparison table.
  • Finally, click OK button.

8. Then, the data of the second table is populated at once. And now, please click Home > Close & Load > Close & Load to load the data into a new worksheet. See screenshot:

9. Now, you can find the different rows of the two tables quickly and easily. The rows contain the same data of the specified columns are listed in the same row, and the empty columns indicate rows with different data. See screenshot:

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