Use Document Comparison Feature in Word 2010: Compare Documents

Understanding Compare documents requires more than a headline. The overview below breaks down the key facts, changes, and user impact.

Compare Documents Overview

The document comparison feature is easy to use, to start, click the Review tab in the main ribbon, then click the Compare icon:

You will receive a drop down menu as follows:

Select Compare. A window will open:

Click the arrow in the Original document section to select the original document, do the same for the modified document in Revised document. When the name of the two documents is selected, the box will appear. Two-way arrow button is used to change the role of original documents and modified documents. You can tick or unmark the box to set comparison options but it's better to leave the default. Click OK to get the result:

Results are displayed in the full Word screen in 4 small Windows, we will learn the function of each window. On the left is the Summary window that summarizes the changes between the two documents. Next, the window in the center of the screen displays the document containing both original and edited information. Finally, on the right are 2 Windows showing copies of the original and modified documents.

You can see clearly the middle and right Windows:

Here you can see the red letters are new modifications, while the dashed letters indicate that they have been corrected.

Also, notice the Tracking feature in the Review tab that is turned on when you use Compare mode:

This means that you can use this option when comparing documents. For example, if you click on Track Changes, then Change Tracking Options, you will get the following pop-up window:

The purpose of these options is to allow you to define attributes of changes that Word registers when comparing two documents.

You can also adjust how Word displays changes in documents, for example you want them to be displayed as " bubbles ", click Show Markup, point to Balloons and then Show Revisions in Balloons:

Here are the results:

In addition, under Change:

You can click on the Previous or Next button to move back and forth changes in the document and then click Accept to accept or Reject to deny changes at each step every time you move. Once you have edited it, you just need to save the document in the normal way to export the most complete product.