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See exactly what changed between two versions of a document.
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Somebody sends back a revised contract and says a few small changes were made. Reading both side by side to find them is slow, and easy to get wrong. This lines the two up and shows exactly what moved.
Only the words are compared. A document that was restyled but not rewritten comes back as identical, which is usually what you want when checking what actually changed.
The text of both files is read, and then the longest run of lines the two have in common is worked out. Anything outside that run was either added or removed. It is the same approach that version control uses for code, and it holds up well on documents.
There is one awkward case worth knowing about. Change a single word in a sentence and that line counts as removed and a different one added, which tells you very little. So when a removed line is followed immediately by an added one, the two are checked against each other, and if they share most of their words they are shown as one line reworded with the changed words marked inside it.
It does not compare images, colours, fonts, or where things sit on the page. A logo swapped for another logo goes unnoticed. If the visual layout is what matters, you still have to look.
It also cannot read scans, because those hold pictures of words rather than words. Run them through the OCR tool first, and bear in mind that any mistakes OCR makes will show up as differences that are not really there.
Add the original first, then the newer version. The text of both is read and lined up, and you are shown what was added, removed, or reworded.
The words. Formatting, fonts, colours, images, and layout are not compared, so a document that was only restyled comes back as identical. That is usually what people want when checking what changed in a contract or a draft.
When a removed line is followed straight away by an added one, the two are checked against each other. If they share more than half their words, they are treated as the same line reworded, and the changed words are marked inside it. Otherwise they are shown as separate changes.
Comparing works by checking every line of one file against every line of the other, and that grows quickly. Past a few thousand lines a browser runs out of room. Pull out the section you care about with Extract PDF Pages and compare that instead.
Ignoring spacing is on by default and almost always right, because PDFs put spaces in odd places. Leave capitals alone unless you genuinely do not care about them, since a change from may to MAY can matter in a contract.
They are probably scans, which hold pictures of words rather than words. Run them through the OCR tool first and then compare the results.
No. Both files are read inside your browser on your own device, which matters when you are comparing two versions of something confidential.
Yes. It is completely free with no sign-up and no limits.
Continue working with your images and PDF files using these free browser based tools.