Compare Documents

[Barbara Graham]

When we run Tools, Compare Documents the result frequently shows entire
paragraphs as having been retyped when that is not the case at all. Most
times only one word in a paragraph would have been actually revised. The
versions of Word being used are 2000 and newer. Does anyone know if this is
an issue with the Compare Document function? If so, is there a fix or a
workaround?

 

[sf]

When we run Tools, Compare Documents the result frequently shows entire
paragraphs as having been retyped when that is not the case at all. Most
times only one word in a paragraph would have been actually revised. The
versions of Word being used are 2000 and newer. Does anyone know if this is
an issue with the Compare Document function? If so, is there a fix or a
workaround?

Would you please explain (in simple terms, if that's
possible) how one does a "compare documents" for the
initiated?

My search only turned up Pint View vs. Layout view...

 

[Mark Tangard]

It's quite simple, just a series of clicks on the Tools menu.
As I recall you're using Word 97, meaning the steps are:

Click Tools-> Track Changes-> Compare Documents
Select the file to compare with the active document
Click Open.

The doc on your screen gets marked up, tracked-changes style.

 

[Barbara Graham]

Mark, do you have an answer to my original question?

 

[sf]

It's quite simple, just a series of clicks on the Tools menu.
As I recall you're using Word 97, meaning the steps are:

LOL! You remembered.

It depends on which computer I'm at - I use '97 & 2000.

Click Tools-> Track Changes-> Compare Documents
Select the file to compare with the active document
Click Open.

The doc on your screen gets marked up, tracked-changes style.

Ahhh, so that's what it is. I envisioned a screen shot of
two pages.

 

[Mark Tangard]

No, sorry. I've noticed the same sort of thing, as have others.
Track Changes does similar things on a smaller scale and with
no pattern I can discern (e.g., sometimes I change one letter
of a word and only that letter and its replacement are tracked;
other times the whole word shows as deleted and replaced).

At the one time when I was trying to make heavy use of the
feature and looking for answers, I remember seeing a lot of
posts about it on Google whose threads contained only ONE
message, which is always a bad sign, since it means good
answers were scarce. I see today that hasn't changed much.
I'd call Compare Docs the evil stepbrother of Track Changes
if Track Changes weren't already evil enough.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

It is an issue with Compare Documents. Microsoft recommends using
third-party software for complex documents. If checking text, try saving one
or both documents as text files and running the comparison on the text
files. See <URL: http://addbalance.com/usersguide/track_changes.htm>.
--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory:
<URL: http://addbalance.com/word/index.htm>

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide)
<URL: http://addbalance.com/usersguide/index.htm>

See also the MVP FAQ: <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/> which is awesome!
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