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Varinder_Saini
Adobe Employee
Varinder_Saini
Adobe Employee
December 12, 2016
Question

Compare Files - Acrobat

  • December 12, 2016
  • 1 reply
  • 5087 views

Reviewing and comparing documents can take forever, especially when multiple people are involved in the process. Consider the scenario: You receive a new version of the press release you’ve been working on from your PR Agency. Press release is due tomorrow. So, now you have the mammoth task of comparing it to the previous version to identify all the changes. Any change gone unnoticed could pose huge legal and reputation risk. When deadlines are looming, finding and reviewing a few small changes in a 30-page document can be a frustrating experience!

This is where Acrobat DC's  new “Compare Files” feature comes handy. With the all-new Compare Files tool, you can now quickly and accurately detect differences between two versions of a PDF file. You can find more information at :

Compare two versions of a PDF file in Adobe Acrobat.

Compare two versions of a PDF: Tips and tricks | Adobe Content Corner

Thanks

Varinder

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

L
Community Expert
LaubenderCommunity Expert
Community Expert
December 12, 2016

Hi Varinder,

two observations on comparing two related PDFs with "Compare Text":

1. It would be cool if Acrobat's "Compare Text" feature could do single comparisons on "paragraph basis".
I found, that often the smallest unit of a single "comparison" is made accross the border of a single paragraph.

Or is a feature there where I can control this?
E.g. Let a single paragraph sign be the border of a single "comparison".

2. If text is hyphenated differently—the compared text is running in text frames of different width—but otherwise the text is all the same, Acrobat will highlight a difference. The result is a false positive, so to say.

Note: Just did some first "baby steps" using "Compare Files".

Regards,
Uwe

    Varinder_Saini
    Adobe Employee
    Varinder_SainiAuthor
    Adobe Employee
    December 12, 2016

    Thanks Uwe for the feedback. We are aware of the hyphenated scenario. But is it really a false positive? I understand the text is same but from rendering or printing perspective there is actually a diff.

    Keep providing the feedback

    Thanks

    Varinder

    Varinder_Saini
    Adobe Employee
    Varinder_SainiAuthor
    Adobe Employee
    December 14, 2016

    Hi Uwe,

    If a font uses overlapping composites, I think Acrobat would have no choice but to see them as their distinct glyphs as that's what they really are despite their appearance. However, if the ligs are a distinct non-composite single glyph, Acrobat should pick that up. But in the first instance above, I cannot see how Acrobat would know that what appears as a single glyph is a change because technically it isn't.

    Anyway, my personal take on the compare feature is meh. I cannot see me ever using it. I don't get changes sent to me as PDFs from which I then need to copy text from. I generally get Word files that supersede a previous Word file. Perhaps my customers think I am too stupid to compare PDF versions and make the appropriate changes...

    I think the Acrobat team is searching for features to add that may or may not have real-life uses. At this point I don't think comparing PDFs is a useful feature--at least in the scenario given. And I cannot think of any other reason either that has ever effected me as a contractor or even when I was an employee of a mid-sized corporation for a short period.

    Mike


    Mike,

    Compare feature is there in Acrobat since last 10 years. Customers use this feature and it's critical part of their quality control during the review workflow. In Acrobat DC we improved the comparison engine and the UI.

    The use case is more for the reviewer rather than author. As a lawyer if I am getting an updated copy of contract, I would like to see what's different in the newer version. Similar as a Marketing Manager I want to review the new marketing collateral that agency sent me to find out whether they incorporated my comments or not.

    Also since PDF as a file format doesn't have a structure information the comparison is based on heuristics and we always strive to improve upon them. So it's not 100% perfect but it's the best PDF comparison solution out there.

    Thanks

    Varinder

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