How to Merge Workbooks in Excel

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By eHow Contributing Writer

Article Rating: (30 Ratings)

In Excel 2000, you can distribute copies of a spreadsheet, have reviewers provide input, and then "merge" the review copies back into one workbook. To do this, you first set up the basic workbook to be "shared," then merge the shared copies back into one.

Difficulty: Moderately challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Excel Book
Microsoft Excel

Preparing a Workbook to Be Shared

Step 1

Open the workbook you want to distribute.
Step 2

Open the Tools menu and click Share Workbook, and then click the Editing tab.
Step 3

Select the "Allow changes by more than one user at the same time" box.
Step 4

Click the Advanced tab.
Step 5

Under "Track changes," click "Keep change history for."
Step 6

In the Days box, type a few days longer than the number of days reviewers will spend making changes and comments in the shared workbook.
Step 7

Click OK.
Step 8

Save the workbook.
Step 9

Make copies of the workbook to distribute by using the Save As command in the File menu. Give each copy a different name, such as "Budget - Sulhi copy" and "Budget - Marina copy."

Merging the Shared Workbooks Back Together

Step 1

Open your base copy of the workbook you distributed.
Step 2

Open the Tools menu and select Merge Workbooks.
Step 3

Save the shared workbook if you are prompted.
Step 4

In the box that appears, select one of the copies you made of the workbook.
Step 5

Click OK.
Step 6

Repeats steps 2 through 4 until all copies of the shared workbooks are merged.

Comments

macgenius said

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on 8/28/2009 There is a Windows version of Excel File Merger called Bulk File Merger. This nifty program will merge pdf files, merge doc files, csv file, merge excel files, as well as csv and text files. Powerful little program for under $20.

on 10/13/2008 For those using Mac OS X and stuck with Excel 2008 where macros are no longer available, you can merge multiple excel, csv, or text (txt) files in a few seconds using Excel File Merger. It is no an add-in, it is a standalone program.

on 10/13/2008 For those using a Mac, you can download excel file merger application and do this in a few seconds. It is shareware that costs $12 bucks.

mryanaz said

on 9/19/2008 Keep in mind that you are limited to 12 workbooks using Excel's internal merge function. If you need to merge more than 12, I recommend looking at Distributed Spreadsheet, and add-in for Excel that can merge an unlimited number of shared workbooks.