Tip #69 - Comparing Documents in Word

100 Computer Tips in 100 Days

Tip #69 - Comparing Documents in Word

There I was merrily working on a document for a client, making changes and saving frequently, as I should, when I noticed I was not working on the most current version of the document. Ugh. I now had two versions and needed to combine them into one file. Fortunately Word has our back on this and we can use the Compare Documents feature. Whew.

Click the Review tab and, from the Compare group, choose Compare and then Compare again. The Compare Documents dialog box shows up.

Select the original document from the Original Document drop-down list. If you can't find the original document, click the wee folder icon to browse for it.

Select the edited document from the Revised Document drop-down list. As with the original document, you can locate the revised one by clicking the folder icon to browse.

Click OK. Word compares the two documents and notes all changes. Then it displays a list of changes, the compared document with changes marked, plus the original and revised documents.

Now use the Accept/Reject options on the Review tab to go through the document identifying the changes you would like to keep or reject.

Whew, saved again by a feature in Microsoft Office.

Happy Computing!