Skip to main content
Participant
June 21, 2016
Question

Acrobat XI Pro, View | Compare Document functionality

  • June 21, 2016
  • 3 replies
  • 1347 views

I've been using the document compare functionality in Acrobat Pro for years, but I only recently switched from Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro to Adobe Acrobat XI Pro. The documents I compare are admittedly quite complex. However, when I run the document compare feature in Acrobat XI Pro using any combination of document descriptions, almost everything on the page is marked with the color of 'replace color' on both documents, so virtually every line and every word is marked. The issue is that about 95% items that are marked with the 'replace color' are identical between the two documents. As a result, since everything is marked as 'different', it is now almost impossible to find actual differences between the two documents--I may as well print them out and proof read the documents manually. I've tried almost every setting I can think of to solve this problem to no avail. Is there a way to get the Compare Document functionality to work correctly in Adobe Acrobat XI Pro? Is there a work around, or is the Compare Document functionality just broken in Acrobat XI Pro?

This topic has been closed for replies.

3 replies

Adobe Employee
October 20, 2016

Hi,

We have significantly improved Compare functionality in our new release of Adobe Acrobat DC. Please update to the latest version to give it a try. The new Compare Files Tool offers a Side-by-Side view which provides a better experience in identifying differences and a modern UI.

Latest version for Adobe Acrobat DC build number: 2015.020.20039 (Continuous).

For more info about the new Compare tool, visit: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/compare-documents.html as well.

If you are still on Acrobat X or XI, you can check out our trial version at: https://acrobat.adobe.com/in/en/free-trial-download.html​

Thanks,

Adobe Acrobat DC Team.

alanbdoc
Participant
July 10, 2016

I just used this feature in Acrobat XI Pro for the first time and had the same disappointment.

I was comparing two book proofs for a 750 page book. The only changes I made were the

insertion of two words on page 1, and two word changes on page 3. That's what I was hoping the

Compare feature (with the 'Text only' option) would report back. Instead, I got a huge

marked up mess -- totally useless!

(A tedious manual compare strongly suggested that, indeed, the only changes in the two documents

were the 4 words alluded to above).

CharuMaheshwari
Adobe Employee
Adobe Employee
August 16, 2016

Hi,

Thanks for reporting issue related to Compare documents.

In past couple of months, we have been addressing lot of issues and feedback that we collected from forums. If you want to play with the early build and provide more feedback, please join our pre-release program.

If you are interested please let us know, we will contact you to get registered in our pre-release program.

Thanks,

Adobe Acrobat DC Team