Comparing

Two versions of a document, and what changed between them.

Doing it

Open both. They can be two tabs of the same pane, two panes, or two separate windows. Compare works on the two leftmost open documents, and the one further left is the original, so put them in that order. Linking the two is optional; it makes them scroll together while you read the differences.

With two documents built to differ in one word, the status line reads compare-a against compare-b - 1 difference(s) marked; 0 touch a number, and the Changes list holds one row, three → five.

What you get

The differences are painted onto the pages, and listed in the Changes list. The painted differences are ordinary highlight marks while the comparison is showing; Stop Comparing, or a new comparison, takes them off again. Nothing reaches either file unless you save while they are still on the page.

Two counts are reported. The second one matters most: how many differences touch a number. A changed figure, fee, date or percentage is a different kind of finding than a changed word, so it is counted on its own.

Compare ▸ Next Change and Previous Change step from one difference to the next. Clicking a row in the Changes list moves both documents to it. Right-clicking a row offers Comment on This Change. This adds a thread to Talk, quoting the new wording and naming what it replaced. The finding becomes a comment, in a file that can be sent on its own.

Stopping

Stop Comparing takes the painted differences off the pages of both documents, empties the Changes list, and moves the right panel to Marks. It is greyed out when there is no comparison to stop.

It does not unlink the tabs. Linking and comparing are two separate acts. Stopping removes the finding from the screen, but the two documents stay paired. Compare can run again on the same two without asking which files to use. Removing the chain from a tab is the other act, and it clears any comparison on screen as it happens.

Linking makes the two scroll together, and once any documents are linked, a zoom change carries only to the linked ones. It does not choose what Compare compares; that is always the two leftmost open documents.

Comparing

Doing it

What you get

Stopping

See also