How to compare two Word documents ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mark Richards
  • Start date Start date
M

Mark Richards

I have two big word documents (approx.300 pages) which differ presumable only in a few words
Is there a side-by-side comparison or other diff tool which shows the exact lines where
the differences are?

"Normal" diff tools would show also differences in formatting and escape sequences which I
don't want. I want only the pure text changes.

Mark
 
Use Word's Compare feature: Tools, Track Changes, Compare Documents.

Here's the Help info on this in Word 97:

Compare two copies of a document

1 Open the edited copy of the document.
2 On the Tools menu, point to Track Changes, and then click Compare
Documents.
3 Locate and click the name of the original document, or type its name
in the File name box.
4 Click Open.
5 Accept or reject the changes.

How?

Notes

· You can change the color and other formatting Word uses to mark
changed text and graphics. For more information, click .
 
Since Mark specifically said he wants only text changes, this might not
appear to be the answer, but in Word 2002 and 2003 at least, you can elect
(via the Show menu on the Reviewing toolbar) to see only insertions and
deletions, omitting Formatting, Comments, and Ink Annotations.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
Hi Mark,

I haven't gotten around to trying it in more recent versions of Word, but in
Word 2000 the Compare Documents feature had a tendency to "get tired" after
100 pages or so and mark *everything* from that point forward. Whether and
where this happened seemed to be related to the formatting complexity of the
document.

Since you're concerned only with changes in wording, it would be a good idea
to use Save As to make text-only copies of the before and after documents,
and compare those. If Word's Compare Documents feature handles them well for
you, that's good.

If you can't get Word to behave properly, open a command prompt window and
enter the command

FC /L [path]firstdoc.txt [path]seconddoc.txt

The ancient FC (file compare) program does a nice job on plain-text files.
There are other switches, which you can read about by entering the command

FC /?

The results can be sent to a third text file like this:

FC /L [path]firstdoc.txt [path]seconddoc.txt > [path]diffs.txt

and then you can use this file together with Edit > Find in Word to locate
the indicated places in the document.
 
You might want to try the following software:

Shareware Trial/Limited Software:
http://www.softinterface.com/Compare-File-Programs/Compare-File-Programs.HTM

Free Single User Software:
http://www.homestead.com/adriancarter/compare.html
http://www.componentsoftware.com/Products/CSDiff/

In order to use some of the free ones you might have to convert both
Word documents to ASCII (you can do this by opening the document going
to "file" then "Save As" and select Acsii from the drop down box below
the file name.

For more FREE software visit http://www.freewarehome.com/

Hopefully this helps
 
John said:
You might want to try the following software:

Shareware Trial/Limited Software:
http://www.softinterface.com/Compare-File-Programs/Compare-File-Programs.HTM

Free Single User Software:
http://www.homestead.com/adriancarter/compare.html
http://www.componentsoftware.com/Products/CSDiff/

In order to use some of the free ones you might have to convert both
Word documents to ASCII (you can do this by opening the document going
to "file" then "Save As" and select Acsii from the drop down box below
the file name.

For more FREE software visit http://www.freewarehome.com/

Hopefully this helps
Click to expand...
Word Tools>Track Changes>Compare Documents
 
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