Compare & Merge backwards?

[SnoozyFL]

I'm trying to Compare and Merge two documents but no matter which document I
start with, it notes the changes backwards. For example - in the original
document the word Chart was used but in the New document they deleted Chart
and used Form Book - but when the compare and merge is completed it shows it
the opposite way - that Form Book was deleted and Chart was the new word.
Does anyone know what causes this problem and how to correct it?

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

What version of Word are you using and what are the steps you're using for the Compare? What documents are open when you start?

===========
I'm trying to Compare and Merge two documents but no matter which document I
start with, it notes the changes backwards. For example - in the original
document the word Chart was used but in the New document they deleted Chart
and used Form Book - but when the compare and merge is completed it shows it
the opposite way - that Form Book was deleted and Chart was the new word.
Does anyone know what causes this problem and how to correct it?>>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

How this works depends on the order in which you open the documents. I find
that I always get it backward. No matter how much I try to think about this
logically, I always end up doing it wrong the first time, then close them
both, forget which I opened first the time before and usually repeat the
error before I finally get it right.

 

[DeanH]

I use the rule "new for old" (like the insurance policy), ie. open new file,
compare to old, and always into a new document. The results seem to work
consistently and as expected. This works for 2000 and 2003 but I am sure that
MS in their wisdom have arrange it to work differently for 2007 ;-)
Hope this helps
DeanH

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Dean,

In Word 2007 the Review=>Compare feature starts off with a dialog that has two 'blanks' to fill in or browse to
Original Document
Revised Document
with 11 comparison granularity settings, a choice to show settings at word or character level and the choice to show it all in the
original document, revised document or a new document, along with a choice of how to label the changes.
http://blogs.msdn.com/microsoft_office_word/archive/2007/01/29/who-changed-what-when.aspx

==========
I use the rule "new for old" (like the insurance policy), ie. open new file,
compare to old, and always into a new document. The results seem to work
consistently and as expected. This works for 2000 and 2003 but I am sure that
MS in their wisdom have arrange it to work differently for 2007 ;-)
Hope this helps
DeanH >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[DeanH]

Thanks Bob for the insight into the murky world of 2007 ;-)
I have read the link and it seems to me that the compare function has been
improved and certainly clears the problem as to which document to open first!
Thanks again.
DeanH

 

[SnoozyFL]

Thank you Bob, Suzanne & Dean,

I'm using Word 2003 and it does not seem to matter which document I open
first, it always does it the same way which is backwards of the way the
changes were done. For the sake of troubleshooting this problem, I named the
documents Old.doc and New.doc. If I open New then compare and merge w/Old it
shows the New changes as deleted and the Old wording as substituted for the
New - Same if I Open Old First - its very odd.

My Manager has Word 2007 on her PC. I'll check and see if she can let me
use it for a few minutes and see if being able to choose more variables will
help with this problem. If any of you have other ideas, please keep them
coming! Thanks.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

That does look very exciting. I have to say that's one feature that gets me
more motivated to install Word 2007!