TextCompareLab
Guide: Compare Word and PDF files
How to compare two Word documents or PDF files
You have two versions of the same document - a draft you sent and the one that came back, a report from last month and the one from this month. Opening both and reading them side by side works until the fifth page, when your eyes start skipping. A comparison reads both files for you and lists only what changed, so a swapped number or a quietly removed sentence actually gets noticed.
TextCompareLab has a Word compare and a PDF compare. Both read the file inside your browser and compare the text they find. The files are not uploaded anywhere.
Steps
- Open the Word comparison for .docx files, or the PDF comparison for PDFs.
- Choose the older version in the left panel and the newer version in the right panel. You can also drag the files onto the panels.
- The tool reads the text out of each file and shows a preview, so you can check it picked up the right document before comparing.
- Run the comparison and read the changed blocks from top to bottom. The arrows beside the counter jump from one change to the next.
- Use "Changed lines only" for a short list, then go back to the full view for the context around anything that matters.
What a small change can look like
The changed line highlights the exact words that differ, so a 24 turning into a 12 stands out even when the rest of the sentence is identical.
What the tools can and cannot read
- The comparison works on the text inside the file. Layout, fonts, images and tracked changes are not compared - accept or reject tracked changes in Word first if you want a clean result.
- PDFs made of scans (a photo of each page) carry no text to read, and encrypted files cannot be opened. If a PDF will not load, exporting or printing it to a new PDF sometimes helps.
- PDF text comes out in reading order, and a paragraph that is wrapped differently between versions can show as changed even when the words are the same. Tables may flatten into plain lines.
- Only .docx files are supported for Word. An old .doc file needs to be saved as .docx (or as PDF) first.
Your files stay with you
The reading and comparing happen on your own device. The files, the text inside them and their names are not sent to the site, and they are not added to your browser history list unless you choose to save the comparison. If you want to keep or share the result, you can copy or download it, or make a password-protected share link.