A BOM Comparison report can be exported to Excel from the report toolbar using the Export Report button. The export merges both compared BOMs into a single sheet with columns from each source side by side, a Diff Notes column, and a quantity delta.
This article covers how the report's Compare level setting affects that export.
Compare level controls which row in the hierarchy the comparison starts at. Levels above the selected Compare level are not compared to each other, since they typically represent different top-level part numbers or revisions that would otherwise be reported as entirely different structures.
Compare level = None: rows are compared starting from the top level.
Compare level = BOM Level N: rows at or above level N are not compared. Comparison starts at level N.
When the report has a Compare level above None, the export dialog shows a checkbox:
Apply compare level (BOM Level N)
This is checked by default. With it checked, rows at or above BOM Level N are still included in the export, but they are marked "Skipped" in the Diff Notes column instead of being compared. Their quantity delta is left blank.
Uncheck this box to compare the exported BOM from the top level instead of from the report's Compare level. When unchecked, Violet derives differences for those top-level rows directly from the exported values (for example, comparing Revision or Name across the two sources) and reports them the same way as any other row.
If the report's Compare level is set to None, the export dialog does not show the "Apply compare level" checkbox. Instead it shows a note:
This report's Compare level is set to "None", so rows are compared from the top level. If you are comparing different top-level part numbers or revisions, set a Compare level before exporting so differences align cleanly.
If you are comparing BOMs with different top-level part numbers or revisions, set a Compare level on the report before exporting so the comparison aligns on matching sub-assemblies instead of flagging the mismatched top levels as differences.
Rows above the applied Compare level show Skipped (above the selected compare level) in Diff Notes, and their Match?/SubMatch? indicator columns show Skipped rather than true or false. Rows at or below the Compare level are compared and matched normally, with Diff Notes listing which properties differ (for example Revision differs).
A few equivalence rules apply consistently, whether a row is compared in the grid or its differences are derived at export time:
Status is excluded from comparison and never appears in Diff Notes.
For the Name property, an empty value, a missing value, and [Unnamed] are treated as equivalent on one side of a comparison, so a part that is unnamed in one source but has a blank name in the other is not flagged as a difference.
