Document comparison mode
Key point: A type of document view showing differences with another version or another document.

The document comparison view lets you see the differences between the different versions, histories or variations of the current document.

For your convenience, you can also compare the document with another document, using the compare documents panel, but the results are only useful if the document structure or content have similarities.

Structural and content changes

There are several types of changes when comparing documents. In all cases, the changes are differences between the version of the document you’re viewing (View) with the version you’re comparing it with (Compare).

Click the icon in the left sidebar to open the compare documents panel, choose a version to view and a version to compare, then use the icon in the document toolbar to toggle between the structure and content comparison.

An indication of whether structural changes and content modifications have occurred is shown at the top of the main section. The scope of percentage of difference is represented numerically and also by a progress bar.

Content changes

Content changes are the most visible changes in the document. They are shown as highlighted text with the following:

  • Insertions in green and with an underline – for content which has been added to the version you’re viewing.
  • Deletions in red and with a line-through – for content which no longer appears in the view.

Some content changes are not directly visible, for example, the dimensions of an image or the address of a link. To see these types of changes, hold the pointer over the icon, located directly to the right of the changed content.

Structural changes

Although content changes capture most differences, they don’t necessarily make it straightforward to see when these changes occur as a result of content being reorganized.

Structural changes are changes in the arrangement of the fragments, sections and metadata in the document. Examples of structural changes are:

  • A fragment or property is added – shown in green.
  • A fragment or property is deleted – shown in red.
  • Fragments which have moved – shown as lines crossing in the side-by-side view.
  • New or deleted sections as a result of an upload overwrite.

Content changes are also available in the structure compare – shown in yellow. Click a fragment to view its change history.

Consolidated and side-by-side

Click the icon in the left sidebar to open the compare documents panel, choose a version to view and a version to compare, then use the   icon in the document toolbar to switch between consolidated and side-by-side views.

The consolidated comparison view shows the differences as a mix of insertions and deletions within a single document.

The side-by-side comparison view shows differences between the View document (on the left) and the Compare document (on the right), by putting the two documents side by side. The insertions only appear in the view document, and deletions in the compare document.

Collapsing similarities

To make it simpler to identify differences in the document, you can collapse fragments which are identical.

When using content or side-by-side comparison, the icon in the document toolbar can be toggled to hide or show identical fragments.