Using Gridline
Versions and comparing
Upload this month's export as the next version of the same file, and see exactly what changed.
Spreadsheets come back. The March export, then April's, then May's. Instead of a folder of near-identical files, upload each as the next version of the first. Gridline then shows you the file once, keeps the history, and can tell you exactly what changed between any two versions.
Add a version
Open the file
Choose it in Files. Any version will do.
Choose Upload new version
It is one of the buttons above the tabs.
Pick the new file
CSV, XLS or XLSX, up to 25 MB, the same as any upload. A percentage shows while it is sent.
Land on the new version
Gridline takes you to the new version's page. Its report is built in the background and fills in by itself.
What a version is
- A real upload. It counts toward your file allowance and gets its own quality report.
- Numbered 1, 2, 3 and so on. A number is never reused, even if a version is deleted.
- Shared like the file it joins. It takes the file's visibility and its list of people, plus the person who uploaded it, so an admin adding version 2 never locks out the employee who uploaded version 1. Colleagues are not notified again.
- Limited by plan. Free keeps up to 5 versions of a file, Basic 50, Premium any number. Past the limit you are asked to delete an old version or upgrade.
See every version
Open a file and choose the Versions tab. It lists every version you may see, newest first, with its size, who uploaded it and when. The newest is marked Latest and the one you are looking at is marked You are here.
If you open an older version, a yellow notice at the top says so and links to the latest.
Compare two versions
Open the version you want to start from
Usually the older one.
Go to the Versions tab
Each other version has a button, Compare with version N.
Choose it
The comparison always reads from the older version to the newer one, so a change reads forward in time.
Gridline compares the two stored reports, so nothing is read again and the answer is immediate. The page shows:
| Section | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| The banner | Green when no column was removed or changed type. Red when one was. That is the change that breaks whatever reads the file. |
| The totals | Rows, columns, repeated rows and the quality score, before and after, with how far each moved. A lower score or more repeated rows shows in red; a better one in green. |
| New columns and Columns that are gone | Matched by name, ignoring capitals. A renamed header shows as one gone and one new. |
| Columns that now hold something different | For example numbers that became text. |
| Noticeably more or fewer empty cells | Columns whose share of empty cells moved by 5 percentage points or more. |
When a comparison cannot be made
| Message | Why |
|---|---|
| A page that says the file was not found | You are not allowed to see one of the two versions. |
| The versions are not of the same file | Comparing only works between versions of one file. |
| A report is still being built | Wait a few seconds and open the comparison again. |
| A report failed or was not checked | An old .xls file is stored but not checked, so it has nothing to compare. |
See which rows changed
The comparison above is about the shape of the file. Under it, The rows says which rows were added, removed or changed, and what each changed cell used to say.
Choose the columns that identify a row
A customer number, an order id, an email address. Gridline ticks one when a column's name says it is one. You can choose several, and the combination is used.
Compare the rows
Every row of both versions is lined up by those columns, in the background. Case and spaces around a key do not matter, and a reordered file does not look changed.
Read the result
Counts of rows added, removed, changed and unchanged; the columns that changed most; and the first 500 changes, each with the old value struck through. Download all changes is a CSV of every one.
Compare every new version automatically
Tick Remember these columns for this file and each new version is compared with the one before it as soon as its report is ready. The person who uploaded it and the admins are told, for example “Version 4 of customers.csv differs from the one before it: 120 added, 3 removed and 57 changed.” A dataset.changed webhook is sent too. Only the uploader of the file or an admin can save the columns.
From code
Adding versions and comparing them are both available over HTTP: see Files, versions and reports.