Git Diff Excel Workaround

Git does not natively support showing the differences in binary files such as Excel files.

This causes a variety of problems including:

• Unsure if file actually edited - VS Code will usually mark the file modified once it is opened
• Unsure what changes were made

To ease the inconvenience of this, you can make your own custom diff tool.

Setup Steps

1. Create "excel_to_text_dump.py" with the following code

   from io import StringIO
   import sys
   
   import pandas as pd
   
   
   for sheet_name in pd.ExcelFile(sys.argv[1]).sheet_names:
       output = StringIO()
       print('Sheet: %s' % sheet_name)
       pd.read_excel(sys.argv[1], sheet_name=sheet_name)\
         .to_csv(output,
                 header=True,
                 index=False)
       print(output.getvalue())
   

2. Add to .gitattributes file

   *.xlsx diff=excel
   *.xls diff=excel
   

3. Update .git/config file
   This creates a filter to convert the file to text so that it can still be compared with git diff

[diff "excel"]
    textconv = python {absolute path to file}

NOTE: The .git folder is a hidden folder

• To view the folder in Mac Finder:
  • shift + cmd + .
• To view the folder in VS Code:
  • Go into VS Code's Preferences > Settings
  • Search for files.exclude and remove the **/.git item
    • 

Push .gitattributes and Excel file

In order for the .gitattributes to take effect it must first at least be committed.

Run git diff

If there is no output, you know it is just because the file was open. For example:

git diff git_dif_excel_demo.xlsx

If there were changes,for example changing the text classification of a review in one row from "positive" to "neutral", the output will look like this:

• File before modifications:
  • 
• File after modifications:
  • 
• Git diff output
  • 

Handle merge conflicts

You can choose to use the version of the file on your active branch (--ours) or the branch you are merging in (--theirs)

For example:

git checkout --ours {path to file}
git add {path to file}