How To Merge Data In Multiple Excel Files

by Ben Stockton

When you’re working in Microsoft Excel, you may find that your data has become a little hard to follow, with data sets spread across separate sheets, pivot tables, and more. You don’t always need to use multiple worksheets or Excel files to work on your data, however, especially if you’re working as a team.

To help you keep your data organized, you can merge data in Excel. You can merge worksheets from separate files, merge separate Excel files into one, or use the consolidate feature to combine your data instead. 

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    Here’s how to merge Excel files and data together using these methods.

    How To Move Or Copy Single Worksheets In Excel

    A typical Microsoft Excel file is broken up into different sheets (or worksheets) which are listed as tabs at the bottom of the Excel window. They act like pages, allowing you to spread data across multiple sheets in a single file.

    You can move or copy worksheets between different Excel files (or the same file, if you wish to duplicate your data sets).

    The worksheets you selected will then be moved or copied, as desired, although this won’t merge them together entirely.

    How To Merge Multiple Excel Files Together

    You can use the Move or Copy Sheet tool in Excel to merge data in multiple Excel files together. You can do this by selecting all of the active worksheets in a file, then merging them into your single target file, repeating this process for multiple files.

    If you have more than one Excel file, you’ll need to repeat these steps to merge them together into a single file.

    Using The Consolidate Tool To Merge Data In Excel Together

    Using the methods above, you can move and copy sheets between different Excel spreadsheet files. This moves the data, but it doesn’t integrate it particularly well—the data is still kept in separate sheets.

    To get around this problem, you can use the Consolidate tool in Excel to merge numerical data together from multiple worksheets into a new, single worksheet. Unfortunately, this process doesn’t work with cells using text—you’ll need to cut and paste this data manually, or create a VBA script in Excel to do it for you.

    For this to work, your data will need to be presented in the same way across your sheets with matching header labels. You’ll also need to delete any blank data (for instance, empty cells) from your data before you begin.

    If you choose to create links to the source data, your new worksheet will act as a mirrored version of your separate sheets and files. Otherwise, your data will be copied into this sheet for you to edit directly.

    Using Merged Excel Data

    Whether you decide to merge data in Excel into a single sheet or a file, or if you prefer to spread your working across multiple files, these tips should help you to keep organized. When you’re ready, you can begin to share your Excel file with others to collaborate and analyze your data effectively as a team.

    If you’re worried about losing track of changes to your merged data, don’t worry—you can track changes in Excel easily using its built-in tracking feature. 

    Let us know your Excel data analysis tips in the comments section below.

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