Compare PDF
Drop two versions of a PDF, a contract before and after the other side’s edits, and every difference is marked on the pages themselves: text taken out in red, text put in in green, a paragraph that moved in blue at both ends. The comparison goes word by word and pairs the pages by what they say, so reflowed text and an added page are not counted as changes.
What it does
- Word-by-word comparison, with reflowed text left alone and the pages paired by what they say.
- Running headers, footers and page numbers compared once, not on every page; capitals and punctuation ignored if you ask.
- A list of changes to step through, a click on a mark to find it there, and the whole text as one redline.
- Scans and drawings compared as pictures: side by side with the differences outlined, laid over each other, or with a divider to drag.
- A report as a PDF: each pair of pages side by side, every change highlighted with a note your reader lists.
- Zoom to fit, 150% or 200%; a locked PDF asks for its password.
- Three hundred pages of 162,000 words read in half a second and compared in a tenth.
How to use it
- Drop the two versions: the original, then the changed one.
- Read the list of changes and step through them on the pages.
- Switch to pictures for a scan or a drawing.
- Download the report to send on.
What it does not do
- Reading the text of a scan: OCR needs WebAssembly, which this site does not load, so scans are compared as pictures.
- Word and PowerPoint files: they need turning into PDFs first, which takes an office suite.
- Formatting changes such as bold or font size: a PDF does not reliably say which letters are bold, and a guess is not proof.
- Share links: that needs a server, and contracts are the files that must not go to one.
Questions
What counts as a change?
A word added, removed or replaced. Text that moved to another line or page because something before it changed does not count; a paragraph moved as a block is marked as a move, not as a removal and an addition.
Does it work on scanned PDFs?
As pictures: the pages are laid over each other and the areas that differ are outlined. The words in a scan cannot be read without OCR.
What is in the report?
A summary, then each pair of pages side by side with every change highlighted and annotated. The notes show up in your reader’s comments list, so the report can go to the other side as it is.
Are contracts safe here?
They never leave your device. Both files are opened and compared in your browser, and the report is written there too.
Everything here runs in your browser. Nothing you type, paste or open is uploaded, and there is no account and no queue. How that works.
Often used with
- Text Compare: the same comparison for plain text, with changes taken across
- Watermark PDF: a draft marked as one before it goes back
- DOCX Viewer: two Word versions saved as PDFs first, in the fonts they were written in
More in PDF Tools
- Merge & Split PDF: Merge PDFs, split one into many, and reorder, rotate or delete pages in your browser, with thumbnails, and nothing uploaded.
- JPG to PDF & PDF to JPG: Turn JPG, PNG and other pictures into a PDF, or the pages of a PDF into JPG or PNG pictures, in your browser, with nothing uploaded.
- Unlock & Protect PDF: Take the password off a PDF you can open, or put one on with AES-256 and the printing and copying you allow, each copy checked by a second reader.
- PDF Page Numbers: Number the pages of a PDF: any corner, any first page, Roman numerals or Bates numbers across files, each copy read back by a second reader.
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