What is the best document comparison software? A document comparison tool, also known as a file comparison tool is something that can be used to compare files and folders. These files could be any type of documents, eBooks or even executable files.
The best document comparison software allows users to compare documents, spreadsheets and presentations in a variety of ways including side-by-side, stacked or by transparency. This software is ideal for comparing several versions of a document, such as business plans or contracts.
One of my friends is fond of saying if you do not know how to use a particular tool, it is still the best one. In fact, in every trade or profession, each has its own set of tools and software which are used to carry out its day-to-day duties properly. The same concept applies to software for file comparison or document comparison as well.
Our document comparison software is the best solution for comparing, merging, and synchronizing MS Office documents, PDFs, images and other files. It can help you find differences between copies of the same file or merge them into one copy.
Compare Files With a Single Click
Whether you need to view the changes to any document or want to find differences between codes, a file comparison tool can make your job easier. Thanks to the above-mentioned sites, you can compare files online.
However, in some occupations, like programming, writing, or law, you are often required to compare files. In this case, it’s a good idea to consider desktop apps as they offer far more features and work offline too.
Draftable
Draftable is a popular online software for comparing PDF and Word documents. You can perform a side-by-side comparison of two documents; simply drag and drop the files in the provided space or click and upload.
You can use Draftable to compare documents online for free. You don’t have to create an account and you can compare documents with up to 300 pages. However, each document shouldn’t be more than 10 MB.
You can set Draftable to check for content changes only, style changes only, or content and style changes. Content changes check for word and sentence changes while style changes check for changes in text color, font style, size, and other formatting styles.
From the comparison window, the changes are featured in the right-aligned tab and also highlighted in the document. You can print either or both documents directly from the website with all the highlights visible. You can download it as a PDF too.
Aside from PDF and Word, you can compare PowerPoint files too. After comparing, you can share results with others using a secret URL or embed the comparison in your website. Draftable also includes a paid desktop version.
Copyleaks
Copyleaks is a platform against plagiarism. The free File Compare tools lets you compare up to 10 documents at a time. You don’t need an account to compare documents with Copyleaks unless you want to perform a private comparison.
To compare documents, you either upload the files or copy and paste the text in the provided space. If the work is published online, you can simply enter a URL to compare. Hence, with Copyleaks, you can compare documents with web pages. Note that Copyleaks only supports Word and PDF documents.
Copyleaks is an advanced online document comparison software as it uses AI technology. The multi-language adaptability feature allows you to compare files in different languages.
This online software calculates the similarities and differences in percentages. It checks for identical words, minor changes, and paraphrased and omitted words; you can turn off any of these features. The overall score tells you how unique or not one document is from the other and you can view the total number of similar words.
If you have an account, you can download the comparison reports to your device. To get the best experience with Copyleaks, you should use Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome browsers.
Diffchecker
This is a user-friendly online text comparison software. As the name states it’s a difference checker and helps you find the differences between two documents. You can copy and paste text or select a Word file.
DiffChecker features an exclusive PDF comparison tool. Also, there are free tools for comparing images and Excel files. This tool works very fast. After pasting your text or uploading documents, you’ll get results in less than five seconds after clicking the Find Difference button.
As mentioned earlier, this tool is only concerned about differences. It highlights differences in the first document in red and the other in green. You can switch text windows and merge texts/files.
When you compare PDFs, you can check for differences in text, image, OCR text, and file details. DiffChecker lets you save your comparison to expire in 24 hours, one week, one month, or never. You can share the results via public links and directly share them to Facebook and Twitter.
Although DiffChecker is available for free, you can access features like real-time comparison, unified view, character review, and private sharing if you purchase the pro version for $8 per month. In addition, DiffChecker features a desktop version.
Adobe Acrobat Pro DC (suggested)
Adobe Acrobat Pro DC is an excellent tool to compare documents, and especially PDF files. You can use this feature to compare two different documents or multiple versions of the same document.
If several persons are working on the same document, keeping track of all the revisions can be quite difficult. With Acrobat Pro DC, you can quickly compare the text and other elements to quickly spot the differences.
You can visualize the files side by side to better identify the changes. Alternatively, you can also apply a series of filters so that Acrobat Pro DC highlights the changes regarding particular elements such as text, images, annotations, and more.
Adobe Acrobat Pro DC offers amazing features and it’s without a doubt the best program to compare two documents.
How to compare documents using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC
- Navigate to Tools
- Click on Compare Files
- In the left-hand pane, click on Select File to choose the file to compare
- Click on Select File this time in the right-hand pane to select the second document or the newer version of the same document
- Hit the Compare button to launch the comparison process
- Select the Go to First Change option to review each different individually.
Other great features:
- Can create and edit PDF files
- PDF conversion
- Compare documents
- Ability to sign PDFs
- Text recognition
Soda PDF (recommended)
Soda PDF is a full-featured PDF creation and management software that allows you to edit, convert, e-sign, and compare documents.
The popular Acrobat alternative is accessible through any device with a web browser and it comes in two editions. Both the Standard and Pro versions can be used to compare two documents.
The Review Module in Soda PDF lets you compare two documents, as well as insert comments and add shapes like arrows or stars.
On the other hand, its ability to work from the cloud and on multiple devices can enhance productivity if several persons are working on the same project.
Here are other great features included in this tool:
- Create PDFs from 300+ file formats in just a few clicks.
- Convert PDF files to Word, PowerPoint, Excel, HTML, and image formats with no loss of information.
- Scan a document and extract the text with the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Module.
- Protect your documents by adding 256-bit passwords, different permission levels, or a digital signature.
- Insert images, links, or even add watermarks to the background of your documents via the Insert Module.
ABBYY FineReader
Using this program, you will get the opportunity to find the differences in text between two versions of a document. This tool will eliminate the time-consuming line-by-line matching.
The Compare Documents feature is able to identify the changes between the document’s versions in various file formats that include PDF, Word and more.
The result can be saved in Word or PDF formats, and insignificant differences can be ignored and removed from the report before you finalize it.
ABBYY FineReader is simple to use and powerful, so it’s a must-have program that compares two text files.
Other great features:
- With the help of ABBYY FineReader, you will be able to enjoy a comparison between files that will save you time and effort.
- This software allows you to detect all the differences in a text between two versions of the same document in just a matter of seconds.
- The software is incredibly intuitive, and you can use it to compare texts productively.
- You will be able to compare two versions of a text across different file formats such as Microsoft Office files, PDFs, paper scans and more.
- Of course, you will also be able to compare the same type of files.
- ABBYY FineReader supports text comparison in 35 languages, and the program is able to detect a document’s language automatically.
- There will not be any change left to go unnoticed.
- The changes are highlighted in the two documents, and they will be displayed side by side making them easy to notice.
- Only the changes that affect the content meaning will be highlighted, and the irrelevant modifications are excluded.
Beyond Compare Version 3
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
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
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.
Docu-Proof Enterprise
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.
Bonus tools
Microsoft Word 365
The desktop version of Microsoft Word charges a sky-high price and Microsoft is aware of it. That’s why the company has developed a free version of Microsoft Word and other Office apps that can be only accessed through the web. It means that you can’t use the free version of Microsoft Office while you are offline.
Also, keep in mind, the feature disparity between Microsoft Word 365 (online version) and Microsoft Word Desktop version is quite huge. You simply do not have ample Layout and formatting options in the free version. For a full list of differences between Microsoft Office 365 and Desktop apps, head over to our linked article.
Apart from that, bear in mind, formatting breaks on the online version if you try to import an MS Word 2019 file. Simply put, Microsoft Word 365 can be a great free word processor if you don’t have a complex project at hand. For basic stuff, it’s quite good and does the job well.
Conclusion
Document comparison software can help you save time and money by verifying documents before sending them to the client. Such tools show the differences between two or more documents so that users can identify the new content, areas of disagreement, or other issues before printing or sending electronically.Have you ever ever in a scenario the place you need to take a stance in the choice of any pair of records files and do not know how to do it? Or you must duplicate records from one platform to one other? If so, file comparability tool will come in helpful. However you have to find out very properly what are the features that you might be on the lookout for in a file comparability tool. You may also go prepared with a checklist. There are many choices on the market right now when it comes to file comparison tools.
You updated your CV for the first time in a long time and you wonder if those skills are still relevant. Or you downloaded a document from the web and wonder if it’s legit or not. In this modern era of technology, there are a lot of file comparison tools which can help you with these tasks.