Why doesn't compare and merge work in excel?

[Guest]

I want to Compare two Excel Spreadsheets to highlight the changes that have
been made between one and the other.

Unfortunately the "Compare and Merge Workbooks" function in the Tools menu
is greyed-out. It's not an Add-In, and I've tried installing the
functionality from the CD, but can't find anything.

any ideas?

thanks

Paul Wilson

 

[Saruman]

Compare and Merge is only available after sending out a shared file with
track changes switched on that Excel tracks and knows what is in both files

It places markers in both files and when the second file is returned, it
knows that they are linked and the function becomes active so you can then
merge the changes

 

[Guest]

Okay - thanks! That works, but is a little complicated because I have to now
make sure that all documents that I email to people for comments have been
"shared" first.
Isn't there a way of just comparing two documents that haven't been
"shared"? It would be nice to be able to do this in the same way that you
can in Word.

Paul