Kayabyte

Help: Gridhand

Last updated: 31 October 2026

Setup and common questions. If something here doesn’t solve it, email support@kayabyte.dev with your Gridhand and macOS versions (Gridhand, About Gridhand). Please don’t send us your workbooks; a description, or a screenshot with the private details covered, is enough.

Contents

The basics

  1. Drop workbooks, CSV files or whole folders into the window, or use Add Files (Cmd-O) or Add Folder (Cmd-Shift-O). A folder can include subfolders and be filtered by file type and name.
  2. Pick a tool in the sidebar (Cmd-1 to Cmd-6) and set its options. The preview updates as you change them and nothing is written yet.
  3. Choose an output folder. Gridhand refuses a folder that is the same as a source folder, so originals stay safe.
  4. Press Run (Cmd-R). Cancel stops the run (Cmd-period) and leaves no partial files.
  5. Read the result: the files made, and notes grouped as Check these, Left out, Changed on the way and Good to know. Copy Report copies them as text.

A name that is already taken gets a number, “name (2).xlsx”. Nothing is overwritten and your originals are never modified.

Merge

Into one workbook, each selected sheet becomes a tab with its formatting, tables, charts, images and comments. Tab names use the sheet name, “file - sheet”, or the file name for files with one sheet; names are shortened to 31 characters and repeated names get (2). Open “Choose which sheets to take” to leave sheets out.

Into one sheet, the rows of all sheets are stacked under one header. Gridhand finds the header row (or you give a row number), matches columns by header text ignoring case and spaces, keeps columns that only some files have, and can add the source file and sheet as columns.

Not carried into a merged file: macros, pivot tables, slicers, links to other workbooks (they become their last values) and threaded comments (the note text stays). Each one is listed in the result. See merge Excel files on a Mac.

Split

One file per sheet; one file per value in a column (rows whose values match, ignoring case and extra spaces, go together, and blank cells go to “(blank)”); or a new file every N rows with the header rows repeated and parts numbered part 01, part 02. A safety limit stops a split that would create hundreds of files by mistake; you can raise it.

Results are .xlsx files with formatting, widths, merged cells, filters and validation kept. Tables become plain ranges, and drawings and comments of rows that moved elsewhere are dropped; the result lists both. See split by column value.

Compare

Pick exactly two workbooks. Sheets with the same name are compared, or you pick one sheet from each. Tick key columns (such as an ID) so moved rows still match; with none ticked, rows are compared by position. You can compare formulas as well as values, ignore case and extra spaces, and allow a small difference between numbers. A is the first workbook in the list and B the second; Swap exchanges them.

The result is a copy of B with differences highlighted, a Summary sheet and a Differences sheet with one line per change. Neither original is changed. See compare two Excel files on a Mac.

Clean

Tick the steps you want; the preview shows examples and counts first.

Each file stays the same type, macros included. In a workbook with pivot tables, Clean removes no rows or columns (a removed row would leave the pivot pointing at the wrong cells); the result says so. Duplicates are found within each file, so to remove duplicates across files, stack them into one sheet first.

Find and Replace

Options: match case, whole cell, regular expressions (in the replacement, $1 is the first group), values, formulas or both, numbers too (searches the digits of numeric cells), and a sheet filter. The preview lists every match before anything is written. Only files with matches are written; files without matches are listed and not copied. A changed formula loses its saved result and Excel recalculates when the file opens. Table headers are never changed, because Excel would repair the file. See find and replace in multiple Excel files.

Convert

CSV, TSV and text to XLSX: encoding (BOM, UTF-8, UTF-16, Windows-1252) and delimiter (comma, semicolon, tab, pipe) are detected, and you can choose them yourself if a file shows odd characters or one wide column. Real numbers and dates are made only when the whole column agrees, and IDs with leading zeros stay text. XLSX to CSV writes one CSV per sheet, with a choice of delimiter, encoding and line endings; dates are written as yyyy-mm-dd, formulas as their saved result and merged cells as the top-left value. See batch convert CSV to XLSX.

Free version and licence

The free version runs every tool on up to 3 input files per run, and previews are free on any number of files. If you add more, “Keep the first 3” trims the list. Gridhand Pro removes the limit: buy it here, then choose Gridhand, Enter Licence Key and paste the key from the checkout screen or your receipt email. One licence covers up to 2 of your Macs. Lost the key? Email us with your Paddle receipt.

Not supported and limits

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