Quickly pinpoint changes by comparing two versions of a PDF file. Acrobat analyzes the files and presents a report detailing differences between the documents.
Note:
If you have Acrobat DC subscription or Acrobat 2017, see Compare files below. If you have an older desktop-only Acrobat DC Classic version, see Compare files in Acrobat DC Classic below.
Compare files
Available in: Acrobat DC Continuous (subscription), Acrobat 2017
With the all-new Compare Files tool, you can now quickly and accurately detect differences between two versions of a PDF file.
- Click Select File at left to choose the older file version you want to compare. Click Select File at right to choose the newer file version you want to compare.
- Click Change File and then choose an already opened file or browse to select your desired file. Click the Swap arrows icon between the thumbnails to swap the position of the old and new files.
- To ignore differences between the graphic elements, select the Compare Text Only checkbox.
- You can modify settings by clicking the Settings gear icon, which opens the following dialog box.
- You can limit the comparison to a portion of the documents by entering the page numbers in the Old File and New Filefields.
- Under Document Description, select the type of documents that you are comparing, or select Autodetect to let Acrobat decide.
Tip: If your document content can reflow across pages, select Reports, spreadsheets, magazines layouts; otherwise select Presentation Decks. For comparing scanned files, select Scanned documents, drawings or illustrations. - Under Show in Report, select the elements of the documents for which you want to see the differences in the compare report.
- Click OK.
- Click Compare.Acrobat displays the results in a new document. The first page provides an easy-to-scan summary of all file differences.a – Comparison timestamp, b – Compared files information, c – Total changes, d – Distribution of changes,e – Formatting changes, f – The hyperlink to take you to the first change
- Click the Go to First Change button to begin reviewing each difference in detail.
- Side-by-side view: Use the Side-by-Side (Ctrl+) view to see a parallel view of results where the differences are shared in highlighted bands. The old file is displayed on the left and the new file is displayed on the right, with the changes highlighted in each band connecting across the files for easier review. Click a band to display a pop-up note detailing all of the changes within the band. You can also click the highlighted content to open the pop-up.
Right-click a change or its pop-up and set an appropriate status for the change.- Single page view: Use the Old File or New File button (Ctrl+/) on the toolbar to see the individual file with all changes highlighted.
- Use the Filter and Show options.
By default, annotations, formatting, and background differences are turned off. To see these changes in the report, select these options from the Filter menu in the toolbar. You can also filter comparison results by selecting specific types of changes in the Filter menu. From the Show menu, you can select an option to show or hide legends, row highlights, or results.- Use the Previous Change (Ctrl+.) or Next Change (Ctrl+,) button to go through the changes one-by-one.
The Previous Change and the Next Change button are also available in the pop-up notes detailing the changes.- Use the right pane. Click the triangle at the center of the right Acrobat window to open the right pane. This pane lists all the changes visible in the Compare Results report. Use the search text box to search for any specific change.
- Save the Compare Results file (File > Save). Click the cross button at the top right of the toolbar to close the Compare Files tools.
You can print a comparison report along with the summary of changes.
- Click the Print icon in the toolbar, and then click Print in the Print dialog box.
Compare files in Acrobat DC Classic
Available in: Acrobat DC Classic (desktop only)
Note:
If you have desktop-only Acrobat DC Classic version, follow the steps below. If you have Acrobat DC subscription or Acrobat 2017, see Compare files in Acrobat DC Continuous and Acrobat 2017 above.
You can use the Compare Documents tool to find differences between two versions of PDF files. After comparing two files, Acrobat provides a detailed report of every change, including text, fonts, images, and even the order of the pages.
- Choose the documents to compare. You can limit the comparison to a portion of the documents by entering the page numbers in the First and Last page fields under each filename.
- Under Document Description, select the type of documents that you are comparing. To ignore
differences between the graphic elements, select Compare TextOnly. Click OK.Acrobat displays the results in a new document. The first page summarizes the file comparison results.a - Differences between the files,b - Files compared,c - Get Started hyperlink to take you to the first difference,d - Moved or deleted pages,e - Key to the symbols used within the report - Use the Compare panel on the left side (default).
- Page through the thumbnails in the Compare panel. An icon below a thumbnail indicates a difference. A green arrow signifies moved or deleted pages. A purple arrow designates a change on the page.
- Return to the first page and click Get Started to go to the first difference.
- Changes are highlighted on the main screen. Hover your mouse over the highlight to see the details. The color legend in the upper right provides a guide.
- Page through the thumbnails in the Compare panel. An icon below a thumbnail indicates a difference. A green arrow signifies moved or deleted pages. A purple arrow designates a change on the page.
- Use side-by-side view.
- In the Compare panel on the left, click the options icon, and select Show Documents Side
By Side. - Changes are highlighted on the main screen. Hover your mouse over the highlight to see
the details. The color legend in the upper right provides a guide.
- In the Compare panel on the left, click the options icon, and select Show Documents Side
The Compare options provide you tools to customize the document comparison.- Use the Compare panel on the left side (default).
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Working on a computer on a daily basis also adds up those files and documents. The more the files, the more the junk, and so they need your special attention. You don’t want to keep adding up on duplicate files or miss any changes made to the files by someone else, do you? Comparing your files at regular intervals is the solution to this.
Comparing hundreds of files manually is a tedious task and virtually impossible. There are high chances that you would miss out on something. You might also want to double check with the files if there have been any changes made by hackers! The smartest thing to do here would be to use a file comparison tool to compare files effectively, while you save time.
While applications like Google Drive, or Dropbox may help you to a certain extent by running file revisions, you would need to use these services. For that, you would also need an internet connection. Besides, you need to use these services and upload the files to keep a track of the service on a regular basis.
Here we have shortlisted some of the best file comparison tools that makes things easier and saves time.
AptDiff
AptDiff is a freeware that’s now discontinued, but still available to download through some third-party websites. Despite being free, it’s an advanced and responsive file comparison tool for Windows. It lets you compare two files (text or binary) to check if any of them is a duplicate. It gets downloaded quickly and is pretty easy with no complications involved. From options to customize keyboard shortcuts, getting file backups, or personalizing the UI fonts and colors to supporting multiple languages, there’s a lot that it’s capable of.
Price: free
DiffMerge
Those looking for a file comparison tool would find DiffMerge much helpful due to its powerful features. The application visually compares files and even merges them on major platforms like Windows, Mac, and Linux. Moreover, it graphically represents the modifications between the two files. Also, it features options like intra-line highlighting and complete support for editing. Similarly, it also shows the modifications (merging) between three files, graphically.
It enables the files to merge automatically whenever possible, and also allows complete control on the editing of the file generated. Furthermore, it compares the two folders side-by-side, while displaying which files are only present in a single file or in the other. It also shows the file pairs that are either similar or different.
Price: free
Diffuse
If you are looking for a simple, yet powerful graphical tool that helps to merge and comparing text files, Diffuse can be your best bet. It can easily compare random file parallelly while providing you the option to manually adjust line-matching and also the option to edit files directly.
Not just that, it can also recover amendment of files from Darcs, SVK, Monotone, Git, Mercurial, Bazaar, RCS, Subversion, and CVS libraries for comparison and merging. What’s more? Line-matching can be manually amended by the user, option for syntax highlighting, or easy navigation of keyboard are some of its other major features to look out for.
Price: free
ExamDiff
It’s an easy to use file comparison tool, that allows you to compare to documents. Examdiff is a freeware that does not need you to mention both the filenames, but just entering the directory name for one of the files for comparison should be fine. Among its significant features are auto pick feature to remember matching files, automatic detection of file changes and notifying users to repeat the file comparison, quick selection of the two files to compare, drag and drop option to add one or two files in the program window, or easy editing of both the files.
There are any more features offered by this tool which you can explore on your Windows platform.
Price: free
KDiff3
Kdiff3 allows you to upload up to 3 files to compare at a time. It shows up a prompt where you need to load the files you want to compare. You can view the files next to each other on the interface later. All you need to do is to scroll through to view all of them at once.
The program compares or merges two or three text input files or directories, and also displays the results line by line and by each character (!). Moreover, it offers an automatic merge-option and an inbuilt editor for easy solving of merge-conflicts.
Furthermore, it provides support for Unicode, UTF-8, and other codecs, and also KIO on KDE that lets you access ftp, sftp, fish, smb, and more.
Among its other major features are, printing of differences, alignment of lines manually, and merging of version control history automatically. The best thing is, it comes with a responsive graphical user interface.
Price: free
Workshare Compare
If you are looking for a bit advanced tool that’s fit for business, Workshare Compare is perfect. It allows you to compare word documents and even PDFs (text-based). It can run on browsers, mobile phones, PCs, or can also be embedded in other document creation, sharing and management platforms.
The program makes sure that it completes the process fast and accurate while ensuring that no little change is missed. Despite the length or complexity of the content, you can toggle through easily between separate changes. You can also focus on the modifications grouped in categories.
It allows you to perform a comparison from Outlook, and also review Word, PDF, Excel and PowerPoint files. What’s more? It also provides you the option to compare snippets of text or code, or you can compare two images or tables, or for that matter, any content. Ability to access documents while on the move is one of its other great features.
Price: free trial available; pro version starts from $15
WinMerge
Winmerge is a free and open source file comparison tool designed for Windows. It helps you compare both files and folders, that generate differences in a visual text format which is easy to manage and understand. It’s extremely handy in identifying the changes that took place between different project versions, and accordingly blending the changes between different versions.
This program can also be used as an external comparison or merging tool, or also as a standalone application. It comes with a tabbed interface, supports Unicode, and handles Windows, Unix and Mac text file formats. Folder compare, image compare, version control, or shell integration, are some of its other major features.
Price: free
Meld
Meld is a file comparison tool specially designed for developers. This visual diff and merge tool that allows you to compare files, directories, and projects that are version controlled. The program offers two to three-way file and directory comparison. It also supports several well-known version controls. It also helps you to review code changes and get hold of patches. What’s interesting is, it can also help you to determine what’s happening inside that merge.
It can edit files and comparison updates on the go, and also allows you to effortlessly operate between differences and conflicts. Syntax highlighting is another of its file comparison feature. You can also compare two or three directories by each file, while displaying new, missing, and changed files. Moreover, it can directly open file comparisons, and can even filter out files or directories to avoid viewing false differences.
The program provides support for several version control systems, such as Git, Mercurial, Bazaar and SVN. In addition, it also lets you launch file comparison to analyze the changes made, see file versioning status, and more. Furthermore, it merges two files automatically with the help of a common ancestor, mark and show the base version, locks down read-only merge bases to do away with mistakes, and much more.
Price: free
tkdiff
Tkdiff is a plain and simple application for file comparison that can be used to compare the matter within two files. It works with plain text documents (in text format), and the TCL ones. The best part is, the tool is easy to use and so, can be handled by any type of user whether beginner or experienced.
It comes with the usual type of interface with a simple design, where you have the option to choose the files for comparison using the file browser. You can view the results in a dual-pane window. Here you can clearly notice the differences found between the file contents marked in blue. This is possible due to the syntax highlighting feature.
It shows line numbers, bypasses the white spaces, synchronizes scrollbars, and also go the first, previous, last or next difference. It can also write a merge file, or utilize a search feature while handling huge amounts of data. The program hardly uses the CPU and system memory and hence, it does not hinder the runtime of other active processes.
Price: free
Diff Doc
Diff doc is a straightforward file comparison tool that helps you compare files fast, accurately, and effortlessly. Whether you are using MS Word, Excel, WordPad, Notepad or any other editor, all you need to do is to load the original and changed files, and then click the refresh button to compare files (or press F5on keyboard) and the file comparison shows up instantly.
It also allows you to compare folders to understand exactly which files have changed prior to carrying out a detailed file comparison. The application is able to show the file differences in two likely views, such as in ‘All In One’ or ‘Side By Side’ mode. The benefits of both the views are that hanging between them is as smooth as the click of the mouse (or just by pressing F6). And, finally, there is a wide range of report types and options that help share the differences detected with your peers.
Price: free trial available; upgrade available for $399.95
Comparing your files on a regular basis will not just keep you safe from hackers or changes you missed, it also frees up as much space on your system that duplicate file would take up. So, keep your system clean with these super file comparison tools and get the maximum performance.
DocuProof Enterprise
Docuproof by GlobalVision compares two different files to manage the preciseness of the text contained in an artwork, document, and packaging development plan. This way you can make sure that there are no unexpected modifications when your text shifts from the copy of the document to the print.
Automatic proofreading feature helps avoid even the smallest of the errors. The program offers different tools that can identify differences in any language. It makes it much easier to evaluate text and proofread foreign languages you are aware of.
It also works as a document comparison software, that can check the final PDF generated compared to the original text document. This helps make sure that the comparison is consistent. It allows you to compare PDF documents, two-word documents, two text files, or files of two different varieties. It can also detect errors in spelling, changed, added or removed copy, and if any location changes.
From font size sensitivity, web page inspection, or checking of templates to the inspection of tables, and handling native files, it offers many features to look out for.
Price: starts from $150 per user
Beyond Compare Version 3
Beyond Compare is another great file comparison tool that uses its intelligent technology to compare files and folders. It uses simple, yet strong commands that highlight the difference you are looking for ignoring the ones you are not interested in. It helps merge changes, synchronize files, and even produce reports.
What’s more? Using this tool, you can also access data (FTP sites, media devices, WebDAV resources, svn repositories, and cloud storage) anywhere. Best of all, it’s compatible with all major platforms, such as Windows, Mac, and Linux. Moreover, it offers integrated comparison viewers for different types of data.
Price: pro version priced at $60, per seat
Recommended for You:
Figuring out how a document has changed from one version to another isn’t always the simplest task. It’s further complicated when that document is longer or more complex, like source code.
The tools collected here can help you analyze and compare your documents and files, as well as merge them if necessary. There are tools to compare everything from Word docs to WAV files, and everything in between (including plenty that support syntax highlighting for code). Some are free and some are paid, and there are options available for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux.
File and Document Comparison Tools
Beyond Compare lets you easily compare files and folders, including text files (with syntax highlighting for HTML), Word Docs, and PDF files, among others. Available for Windows and Linux for $30 (standard edition) to $50 (pro edition).
Kaleidoscope lets you compare text documents (including source code) and images. It has built-in integration with other programs, and can read .psd, .txt, .png, .jpg, and .html files. Available for Mac OS X for €29.
Workshare Compare is an enterprise-level document comparison tool that lets you compare Word documents and text-based PDFs. You can compare one document to multiple others. It’s available for Windows for $145 for a one-year subscription. There’s also a Basic version for $99/year that only compares Word documents.
Doc-Proof works to compare XML, Word, text, and PDF files. It makes it possible to quickly compare fonts, sizes, deletions, insertions, spelling, and location.
ExamDiff is a freeware visual file comparison tool for Windows. It includes automatic change detection, one-click recompare, drag and drop support, and is fully customizable. There’s also a Pro version with more features for $34.99.
Diff Doc can be used to compare Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, RTF, text, HTML, XML, and other document types. It’s available for Windows.
Compare Suite lets you compare by keyword, compare two folders, ignore certain words, and includes syntax highlighting to make it easier to compare code documents. Compare Suite is available for Windows for $70 for a single user license.
WinMerge is an open source differencing and merging tool for Windows. It shows comparisons visually and makes it easy to merge documents.
Araxis Merge is a three-way document comparison, merging, and folder synchronization tool. It can be used to compare source code, web pages, XML, and other text files, as well as Word and Excel documents, PDFs, and RTF files. It’s available for both Windows and Mac OS X for $129 for the Standard version and $269 for the Professional version.
Changes lets you sync folders, compare both code and prose, and even compare right inside a variety of text and code editors (including Coda and TextWrangler). Changes are available for Mac OS X for $49.95 for a single license.
CodeCompare is a source code comparison tool built on the .NET framework that includes support for syntax highlighting, Visual Studio integration, three-way merge, version control integration, and folder synchronization. Basic functionality is free, but there’s also a Pro version for $49.95.
Compare++ has built-in analysis functions for C/C++, C#, Java, CSS3 and more. It’s available for Windows for $29.95 for a single user.
DiffMerge is a free document comparison and merging tool for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. It includes full editing support for compared files, and merging for up to three files.
Pretty Diff is a free web app for comparing code, written entirely in JavaScript.
Kompare is a graphical difference viewer that lets you compare two text files It’s included in the KDE Software Development Kit.
UltraCompare is a file and folder compare utility that works for text files, Word documents, zip files, and jar archives. In addition to local/network directory compare, it also supports FTP compare. It’s available for Windows for $49.95.
This is a free, bare-bones, web-based comparison tool. Just enter the master text and the second text and choose whether you want it compared inline or side-by-side.
Diffuse is a free Python text comparison and merge tool for Windows and Linux.
Compare & Merge is a file comparison and merging utility for source code, HTML, XML, and other text-based files. It’s available for Windows for $39.95.
Active File Compare has syntax highlighting support for C++, C#, Java, Visual Basic, HTML, PHP, XML, and many other programming languages. It can also compare files that exist in Zip, Tar, and GZip archives. It’s available for Windows for $15.95 for a business license or $9.95 for a personal license.
Colored Diffs is a Thunderbird plugin for highlighting differences in CVS or SVN email notifications about changes made by other users.
Compare It! lets you compare not only text files, but also binary and image files, and includes an editing engine. It’s available for Windows for $29.
Compare PDF has support for both PDF and text file comparisons. It can be integrated with other software products. Compare PDF is available for Windows for $35 for a single user license.
DiffPDF is a free program that lets you compare two PDF files, with both text and appearance views (to check things like reformatting of a paragraph or if an image is changed). There are versions for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
Meld is a free visual comparison and merging tool for Linux. It allows for comparison of two or three documents, and in-place edits. It also allows folder comparisons.
Files Compare Tool is a visual comparison app for files and directories. It offers color-coded side-by-side comparison and a powerful editing engine.
Quick Diff is a simple, free online comparison tool. Just copy and paste the two bits of text you want to compare, and indicate whether you want it to compare side-by-side or inline.
FourierRocks is a graphical WAV file comparison tool. It’s open source, and works on the .NET framework.
Conclusion
The tools above can be a great way to compare documents and files. But don’t overlook the document comparison tools built into many programs developers and designers already use. Dreamweaver has built-in tools for comparing documents. So does Google Docs. Even WordPress has comparison tools for posts and pages. Leave us a comment and tell us what your favorite comparison tools are?
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by Chad Reid | June 28, 2019
If you’re on a collaborative team of workers, or you’re simply dealing with several revisions of your own work, it’s important to be able to track incremental changes. In Microsoft Word, the ability to compare every difference in two nearly-identical documents is built in to the Compare tool. Here’s how to use it.
First, open Word and any document file. (It can be one of the ones you’re comparing, another document entirely, or simply a blank project.) Click the “Review” tab at the top of the screen to open the ribbon menu, then click the “Compare” button—it will be near the right side of the menu.
Click “Compare” again if another menu opens. Then in the new window, select your two documents: the “Original” (or earlier) document, and the “Revised” (or later) document. If you don’t see either in the dropdown menu, click the folder icon on the right to browse to the document using your file browser.
Under “Label changes with,” you can set a note to help you keep track of which difference belongs to which document. Here I’m going to label mine “later” since it’s the latest revision of the manuscript. You can only add a tag to the revised document, but you can switch between them with the double-arrow icon.
Click the “More” button to see advanced option. Most of these are self-explanatory, and all options are enabled by default. Note the “Show changes at” option, which shows individual changes either one character at a time (very slow) or one word at a time.
Comparing Documents In Text File Format
Click “OK.” Word will open up a complicated-looking selection of panes in a single document. From left to right, you have an itemized list of changes, a full view of the “Revised” document with red marks on the left margin indicating changes, and a double pane showing the original and revised documents stacked. Scrolling with your mouse wheel will scroll all three of the primary panes at once, but you can use the scroll bars on the right of each to scroll the individual panes to each.
The Revisions pane is the most useful here. It shows each change, what was removed, and what was added, in order from the top of the document to the bottom. It’s a fantastic way to see the differences in the text and formatting at a glance. Clicking on any of the entries in the Revisions pane will instantly scroll the other panes to the relevant position. Neat!
Once you’ve used the Revisions tab to find the specific revision, you can right-click on the relevant text in the center pane. Click “Accept” or “Reject” (followed by the corresponding action) to keep or revert the change, respectively.
You can save this compared document as a separate file that won’t affect either of the documents you’re currently viewing. Just click File>Save as, and save it like any other Word document.
Note that the Compare feature isn’t available if either document has password protection or its changes are protected in Word. You can change this setting in the individual documents by clicking Review>Track Changes.
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Summary: Microsoft Scripting Guy, Ed Wilson, talks about using Windows PowerShell to compare two files.
Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a script that I wrote to compare two files, but it seems really slow. I am wondering what I can do to speed things up a bit.
—JW
Hello JW,
Microsoft Scripting Guy, Ed Wilson, is here. I looked at the script you supplied, where you use Compare-Object to compare two files. Here is your script:
$fileA = 'C:fsomyfile.txt'
$fileB = 'C:fsoCopyOfmyfile.txt'
$fileC = 'C:fsochangedMyFile.txt'
if(Compare-Object -ReferenceObject $(Get-Content $fileA) -DifferenceObject $(Get-Content $fileB))
{'files are different'}
Else {'Files are the same'}
When I run the script and compare FileA with FileB, the script returns the correct response:
When I change it to use FileC, the script also works:
The three files are shown here:
So JW, this is a very simple test case. What is really going on when using Compare-Object?
I can use the Windows PowerShell ISE to run a portion of the code and look at it. To do this, I highlight the Compare-Object statement and press F-8 to execute only that portion of the code. This is shown here:
Minecraft tower defense 2 hacked free game. PS C:> Compare-Object -ReferenceObject $(Get-Content $fileA) -DifferenceObject $(Get-Content $fileC)
InputObject SideIndicator
———– ————-
Additional values =>
And when I compare FileA with FileB, the following appears:
Please write something in the textbox to kick off the discussion (e.g. Videos will be included under this until we figure out something that isn't useless.DISCUSSION: Thought-provoking posts that start discussions. This is not for links.LEAK: Thread announcing that a project has leaked. Torrent yungblud, halsey 11 minutes ft. travis barker. Discussing the leaks is fine, but no links. Suggesting examples or providing your own opinion), don't just pose a question.
PS C:> Compare-Object -ReferenceObject $(Get-Content $fileA) -DifferenceObject $(Get-Content $fileB)
PS C:>
File Compare Tool Download
This triggers the ELSE portion of the code. Although this works, it can be a bit slow, and on more complex files, I would think it would also be a bit unreliable.
So a better way to do this is to use Get-FileHash and compare the HASH property. Your revised script is shown here:
$fileA = 'C:fsomyfile.txt'
$fileB = 'C:fsoCopyOfmyfile.txt'
$fileC = 'C:fsochangedMyFile.txt'
if((Get-FileHash $fileA).hash -ne (Get-FileHash $fileC).hash)
{'files are different'}
Else {'Files are the same'}
Now, when I look at the portion of the code that executes, I can see that I am dealing with a Boolean, instead of trying to evaluate whether output (which is basically ignored) appears or not (as in your previous script).
In the following, I execute only the Get-FileHash portion of the script:
Beyond Compare Online
PS C:> (Get-FileHash $fileA).hash -ne (Get-FileHash $fileC).hash
True
PS C:> (Get-FileHash $fileA).hash -ne (Get-FileHash $fileB).hash
False
In addition, the Get-FileHash code is rather efficient because Windows PowerShell is pretty fast when it comes to getting the file hash. Plus this operation simply obtains the file hashes, and compares the two hashes. Your original script reads in the complete file, and then compares it line-by-line, so it is much less efficient.
JW, that is all there is to using Windows PowerShell to compare two files. Troubleshooting Week will continue tomorrow when I will talk about more cool stuff.
I invite you to follow me on Twitter and Facebook. If you have any questions, send email to me at [email protected], or post your questions on the Official Scripting Guys Forum. See you tomorrow. Until then, peace.
Ed Wilson, Microsoft Scripting Guy