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Free tool

Merge Excel files into one table.

Combine several workbooks, or several sheets from one workbook, into a single table you can check before it is emailed to you. XLSX, XLSM and XLS, up to 20 files at 100 MB each. One table comes back by email, as a workbook or as a CSV.

What you get

Free, and it deletes your files.

This tool is the front door to Mammoth. Use it on its own, or record the mapping once and have next month's files land in the same table.

  • Workbooks or sheets, either way

    Upload several workbooks, or one workbook whose sheets belong in the same table. Sheets are picked on the first step, so the summary tab can be left out before any column question comes up.

  • It survives a renamed column

    Combine & Load matches on the column name it finds, so a renamed column arrives as a new one with half the rows empty and nothing says so. This reads what each workbook has, matches the same column under a different name, and shows you what does not line up before it writes anything.

  • Free, and your files are deleted

    There is no account to create and no payment. Your uploads are deleted within the hour. An email address is asked for at the last step, once the merge has run and you have seen the result. The file is sent there, along with the occasional note about this kind of work — one click to unsubscribe.

Try it on last month's workbooks

Drop the workbooks in, pick the sheets that belong together, and see which columns line up before anything is written.

Doing this every month? Turn it into a pipeline that runs itself.

How to merge Excel files into one table

If every workbook holds the same columns in the same order, Excel does this without leaving Excel: Data > Get Data > From File > From Folder, then Combine & Load, and press refresh next month. These five steps are for the case that one does badly, which is the month a column gets renamed, added or reordered and half the rows arrive empty with nothing saying why.

  1. 1

    Add the workbooks

    Drop in the files you want stacked, up to 20 at 100 MB each and 400 MB in total. XLSX, XLSM and XLS, and CSVs can go in the same merge.

  2. 2

    Pick the sheets

    Where a workbook holds several sheets, the first step lists them so you can select the ones that belong in the same table and leave the summary tab out. Files that look like the same export twice are flagged here too.

  3. 3

    Read the grid

    The second step is one grid: a row for every column of the table being built, a column for every workbook, and a mark in each cell for filled, matched under another name, empty, or holding a different kind of value.

  4. 4

    Settle what is flagged

    Click a flagged cell and the fix opens under it, so three problems across twelve workbooks are three clicks rather than three screens. Click a workbook heading to make its shape the model for the table, or to leave that workbook out.

  5. 5

    Check the seam, then get the file

    The preview shows where one file stops and the next begins, which is where a bad match shows first. Then choose the format: an .xlsx workbook with the numeric columns already typed, or a CSV. It arrives by email — an address is asked for at that last step, and that is how the file reaches you.

Make it monthly

The merge you just did by hand is two orchestrations in Mammoth: the first one is what makes it recur, the second is what does the combining. Reply to the email the tool sends you and we will set it up on your account, or do it yourself:

  1. 1

    Put the files somewhere Mammoth watches

    Upload this month's files into a folder in your workspace, or point a File Collection orchestration at the Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive or SFTP folder they already land in and give it a schedule. That is the part that makes it monthly.

  2. 2

    Add a Data Consolidation orchestration on that folder

    Choose the table to add to and set the update method to Combine. Every new file that lands in the folder is appended to the same table, and any pipeline on that table runs straight after.

  3. 3

    Set the column mapping once

    The mapping you settled here is the same one Mammoth keeps: which incoming column feeds which column of the table, including the ones named differently. A file whose columns no longer match is held back with a notification rather than appended crooked, which is the behaviour you want when nobody is watching.

Questions people ask

Should I just use Power Query instead?
Often, and it is already on your machine. Data > Get Data > From File > From Folder, then Combine & Load, and next month you press refresh. It is the right answer for a folder of workbooks that hold the same shape every time. Where it struggles is the month somebody renames a column, adds one, or reorders them: Combine & Load matches on the name it finds, so a renamed column arrives as a new column with half the rows empty and nothing tells you it happened.
My workbooks stopped matching. What happens?
You see it before anything is written. The setup step is a grid: one row per column of the table being built, one column per workbook, and a mark in each cell for filled, matched under another name, empty, or a different kind of value. Clicking a flagged cell opens the fix under it, so three problems across twelve workbooks are three clicks.
Do I get an Excel file back, or a CSV?
Either one. You choose at the last step. Take the workbook if the next thing you do is work in Excel: its numeric columns are typed, so SUM and AVERAGE work on the merged table straight away, which is the one thing a CSV opened in Excel cannot promise you. Take the CSV if it is going into another tool on import, which is what most of them want.
It is one workbook with twelve sheets, not twelve files.
That works the same way. Upload the workbook and the first step lists its sheets so you can pick the ones that belong in the same table and leave the summary tab out.
How many files can I merge at once?
Up to 20 files, 100 MB each and 400 MB in total. Past four workbooks the ones that need no attention collapse into a single column in the grid, so twelve still fit on one screen.
Do I have to give an email address?
Yes, at the last step, after the merge has run and you have seen the result. The file is sent there — that is how it reaches you now, so it has to be an address you can open. You also get the occasional note about this kind of work, with one click to unsubscribe. Your uploads are deleted within the hour either way.
This is a monthly job across three teams.
That is the point at which a merger stops being the answer. Mammoth is the platform underneath this tool: the same merge, plus the column mapping recorded once and replayed, so next month's workbooks land in the same table. Mammoth can watch a folder and add each new workbook to the same table as it lands, or collect the files itself on a schedule.

Merging once is useful. Merging every month is the point.

Bring the files into Mammoth to record the column mapping once, join the result to everything else, and have it delivered on a schedule.

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