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How to Merge Excel Sheets

by Author Profile Picture Adhaar Sharma on 2020-06-09

There are many ways to combine all sheets or tabs from an Excel file. We believe our tool, Merge Spreadsheets, is the easiest and most powerful way to combine all sheets or tabs from an Excel file.

You first have to pick how you want to merge the sheets. You can either Append or Join files.


Append

Merge Excel Sheets Append Example

Join

Combine Excel Sheets Join Example



Choose how you want to merge the excel sheets

Append

Join

1. Upload all your files to the tool


Upload Excel Files to Combine

You can always upload unlimited files under a total size of 1 MB. If you want to upload files that have a total size of over 1 MB, you can upgrade to a pro plan for just $4. With the pro plan, you can upload however big files you want.



2. Tool will default read the first sheet


Merge Excel Sheets Automatically

The first sheet is Actors in File1 and Actresses in File2


Multiple Sheets in Excel File

If there are multiple files, the first sheet of all files will be merged automatically based on column names. The tool will automatically align columns with the same name. The name must be completely identical. Completely.



3. Import and automatically merge other sheets


Import Other Excel Sheets to Merge

Pick which sheets you want to import. After your click Import Sheets, all the imported sheets will be automatically merged. Each sheet will be imported as if a new file.

Let's repeat that once again. EACH SHEET WILL BE IMPORTED AS IF A NEW FILE.


Excel Sheet Equals Excel File

The tool merges based on the column names in the sheets. The column name must be completely identical. Completely.



Additional Features



Change Column Names


1. Select which row the column names are on

Column names are not always on the first row of an Excel sheet, if they even exist.

If they are on another row, then we need to tell the tool which row they are on. This can be done with the Start at Row option.

If there are no headers in the sheet or tab, then you can check the Does File Have a Header? checkbox.

The columns will then be renamed in the format: [Filename]_[Column Number].
E.g., if [Filename] is Small-Demo-Data then column 1 will be renamed: Small-Demo-Data_1, column 2 will be: Small-Demo-Data_2...

The Sheet Name will not factor in to the renaming of the columns.

These options can be selected in the Read File Options under File Options. If all the files/sheets need to be changed then you can click on Read All File Options over the sample.

Add Source File Names to Merged Excel Sheets File


2. Rename the columns

The merged columns can be renamed by clicking on the name.

Rename Column Names in Merged Excel Sheets File

This will show up in the Downloaded Merged File.



Move Columns


1. Change the column order from each sheet

Using the Detailed View you can actually change the order the columns append. You can click on the values and move them to another column in the same row.

This is extremely useful when the column names don't match up.

Detailed Column Spreadsheet

2. Change the order of the merged columns

You can change the order of the merged columns by clicking on the left and right buttons.

Move Columns in Combined Excel Sheets File

3. Remove merged columns

Simply click on the close button on the column




Move Sheet Order


You can move the order in which the sheets or tabs appear by going into the File Options and clicking on Move File Up or Move File Down


Move Order of File in Merged Excel Sheets File



Parting Thoughts

This is one way of combining Excel sheets or tabs. There are many other ways of merging Excel sheets or tabs but we believe our tool is the easiest.

If you know Python, we have written another guide on Merging Spreadsheets with Python-Append on our blog at Medium.

1. Upload your files to the tool under the join tab

Upload Excel Files with Sheets to Join

You can always upload unlimited files under a total size of 1 MB. If you want to upload files that have a total size of over 1 MB, you can upgrade to a pro plan for just $4 per month. With the pro plan, you can upload however big files you want.



2. Import the sheets you wish to join

Select Excel Sheets to Join Merge

Click File Options under the file where you want to import the sheets. Then click Import Other Sheets.

Check all the sheets you want to import and click Import Sheets



3. Select the Left file (sheet), Right file (sheet) and Join Type

Select Options to Join Excel Sheets

You need to select three things in order for the files to join

  • Left File when merging Excel sheets all the values on the left side will come from this file (sheet)
  • Right File when merging Excel sheets all the values on the right side will come from this file (sheet)
  • Join Type is to select how the two excel files should be combined. It is a slightly advanced topic but nothing you can't wrap your head around with a few examples.

    There are 4 Join Types: Inner, Left, Right and Full. They all merge the file differently

    Join Types

    Read all about joins in our A Brief (yet Comprehensive) Introduction to SQL Joins



3. Select the column(s) you want to join on

Columns on which to Combine Excel Sheets

Finally, you need to select the column(s) whose values you want to join on. You need to pick the column name for both the left and right files. You can pick as many columns as you want. The joining will be done on the values of all the columns selected.



4. Download your merged excel file

Download Joined Excel Sheets File

Give the file a name and download your merged and joined file.




Additional Features



Change Column Names


1. Select which row the column names are on

Column names are not always on the first row of an Excel sheet, if they even exist.

If they are on another row, then we need to tell the tool which row they are on. This can be done with the Start at Row option.

If there are no headers in the sheet or tab, then you can check the Does File Have a Header? checkbox.

The columns will then be renamed in the format: [Filename]_[Column Number].
E.g., if [Filename] is Small-Demo-Data then column 1 will be renamed: Small-Demo-Data_1, column 2 will be: Small-Demo-Data_2...

The Sheet Name will not factor in to the renaming of the columns.

These options can be selected in the Read File Options under File Options. If all the files/sheets need to be changed then you can click on Read All File Options over the sample.

Join Read File Options


Parting Thoughts

This is one way of joining spreadsheets. There are some other ways but we believe our tool is the easiest.

If you know Python, we have written another guide on Merging Spreadsheets with Python-Join on our blog at Medium.

Let us know what you think