How to join two Excel tables

Joining is where we take two Excel tables and merge the rows, side-by-side, using a common (‘key’) column. For example to turn:

Into:

(You can also merge tables one on top of another)

Excel doesn’t really support joining. One option is to write some VBA script to do this for you. Another is to import the data into a database and do an SQL join. But both these are time-consuming and require technical skills.

However it is really easy in Easy Data Transform:

1. Install Easy Data Transform on your PC or Mac, if you haven’t done so already. It will only take a minute. There is a fully fuctional free trial and you don’t have to give us your email or sign up to anything.
2. Start Easy Data Transform.
3. Drag the Excel spreadsheets you want to merge onto Easy Data Transform. A pink input item will be added for each sheet with data.
4. Drag the input items into the order you want to stack them (one you want on the left, at the top).
5. Select the two input items you wish to join using Ctrl+click (PC)/Cmd+click (Mac) (or by dragging a box around them).
6. Click the Join button in the left pane. A blue transform item is added and selected.
7. Set the Top key column and Bottom key column to the common (‘key’) column (Easy Data transform may have already guessed them correctly).

The Excel tables are now joined with the top input item on the left of the table. Easy!

Note:

• Set Include top non-matching rows and Include bottom non-matching rows depending on what you want to do with top and bottom table rows with no match.
• Change the vertical position to change the join order.
• If you just want to join row N of one table to row N of the other you can use the Row Num transform to create a common column before the Join.
• You can use the Concat Cols transform to join two or more columns to create a new column to use as the key.

When you are happy with the results output the result into a new Excel spreadsheet or CSV file.

Join is just one of the 53 transforms that Easy Data Transform supports. See our quick start guide for a brief overview of what else it can do.