Comments on: Document Comparison (aka redlining) on a Mac

By: QCanywhere

QCanywhere — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 11:37:22 +0000

QCanywhere is a full web-based application that is compatible with Mac and PC that allows for comparing text and images online - no software install required.

By: Brett Burney

Brett Burney — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 18:42:14 +0000

You are most welcome Ryan, I am thrilled to hear that Kaleidoscope worked for you. Thanks for posting the comment!

By: Ryan Nagy

Ryan Nagy — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 16:32:48 +0000

I just wanted to say thanks for this article. I am not a lawyer but I am comparing documents from a transcription project and words "compare" function was very confusing to me. I followed your suggestion and grabbed a copy of Kaleidoscope and was up in running in about 3 minutes. Literally.

A big help, thanks again.

Ryan

By: Brett Burney

Brett Burney — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:45:14 +0000

What version of Word are you using? This was changed by Microsoft in Word 2007 (http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-word/archive/2006/10/13/nice-move-move-tracking-in-word-2007.aspx) and it looks moves are recognized in Word 2011 for Mac.

It looks like your documents have to be in the newer version of a Word files (.docx and NOT .doc in “Compatibility Mode”), and you need to make sure that “Track Moves” are checked under the Track Changes Preferences in Word.

By: Kris

Kris — Fri, 25 May 2012 13:36:02 +0000

The other problem with word is that is doesn't recognize moved text. Moved text appears as deleted in one place and added in another. I really wish Workshare would get around to a mac version.

By: Brett Burney

Brett Burney — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:53:33 +0000

When you do the "Compare Documents" task in Word, make sure that you have "New Document" selected under "Show changes in:" down in the right corner of the "Compare Documents" dialog box. I believe this is the default setting. This option literally creates a new document that shows all of the changes. You can do a File > Save As of this document and save it as a permanent comparison of the two documents. You then should be able to copy & paste from that document into other Word documents with all the formatting intact.

By: Ira

Ira — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:20:57 +0000

My problem with MS Word for Mac's Compare Documents feature is this: The redlining does not give me a PERMANENT redlined version. That is, if deleted text in a paragraph is shown in red with a strikethrough put through that text, I would like to copy, and later paste, the paragraph with this NEW formatting permanently in place. I've tried saving as a PDF as a workaround. While the PDF document looks OK, copying and pasting from the PDF loses strikethrough and underline format.

Any help for me (in this regard)?

Thanks.

Ira

By: Brett Burney

Brett Burney — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 01:14:24 +0000

Yes, Pages does indeed have a nice Track Changes feature. I should have been more clear in my post above, however - Pages does not have a document COMPARISON tool that is equivalent to the "Compare Documents" feature in Microsoft Word. Track Changes in Pages allows you to highlight the changes you make to a document, but you cannot compare two similar documents side-by-side in Pages.

By: Andrew Douglass

Andrew Douglass — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:07:08 +0000

Pages does have redlining / document comparison. See Edit > Track Changes