Compare answers a simple question with precision: what exactly changed between two versions of this document? It lives on the Review tab, works on any pair of .docx files, and produces a paragraph-level diff styled like tracked changes so you can work through the differences with the usual accept and reject controls.
Run a comparison
- Open the Review tab and choose Compare.
- Pick the original document — the older or canonical version.
- Pick the revised document — the version you want to inspect.
- Confirm. A comparison document opens showing every difference as markup.
The result is a third document; the two originals stay untouched. Read it like any tracked-changes file: inserted text is marked, deleted text is struck through, and paragraph-level rewrites are shown in place rather than as a wall of red.
When Compare is the right tool
Track Changes and Compare solve different problems:
| Situation | Right tool |
|---|---|
| One person edits while tracking is on | Track Changes |
| Two copies were edited separately, without tracking | Compare |
| A contractor returned a document and you want to audit it | Compare |
| You need a legally careful record of what changed | Compare |
The second row is the everyday case: a colleague worked offline on a copy, email attachments multiplied, and now two plausible versions exist. Compare merges the truth — run it with the known-good original and the edited copy, then accept the changes you want into the result.
Reading the diff efficiently
A paragraph-level diff shows rewrites as whole-paragraph changes, which keeps context visible but can bury small edits. Work through it in this order:
- Scan the structure first — scroll for large blocks marked as inserted or deleted; these are the real decisions.
- Then sweep detail — word-level changes inside surviving paragraphs.
- Decide as you go — accept or reject each change in the comparison document, exactly as with Track Changes.
Leave comments on anything ambiguous, then send the comparison document back to the other author for confirmation.
Compare as a quality gate
Comparing the version you are about to send against the version you started from is a cheap final audit: it surfaces accidental deletions, pasted-over paragraphs and lost formatting that neither author noticed. Two minutes of diffing beats an embarrassing "wait, where did section 4 go" email after delivery.
Pair it with the revision model
Because the comparison output uses the standard .docx revision model, the accepted result can continue through the normal pipeline: track further changes, protect with Restrict Editing, and export the final PDF from the cleaned file.
What to explore next
- Track Changes to avoid needing Compare next round.
- Comments and collaboration for discussing the differences.
- DOCX compatibility for how revision markup travels to Word.