Compare Versions

When a new version of your content is uploaded, it can be hard to see what has changed. Checking by eye takes time and it is easy to miss something.

Compare Versions puts two versions next to each other and marks every difference. It finds changes to the text, and it finds changes you can only see: a moved logo, a swapped image, a different strength on a label. It is also a quick way to confirm that nothing changed except what your reviewers asked for.

Opening Compare

1. Open the draft and click Version History in the side panel.

2. Click Compare at the bottom of the Versions panel. The button is available once the content has at least two versions.

3. Compare opens in a new browser tab, so your content stays open in the first tab and you can move between the two.

You can also open Compare right after you upload a new version, from the Compare to Last Version card.

Reading the comparison

The two latest versions are selected to begin with. The older version is on the left and the newer version is on the right.

Text, or text and artwork

The switch at the top, to the right of the version names, sets what Compare checks.

• Text compares the words only.
• Text + artwork compares the words and also how every part of the page looks.

Compare picks one for you based on the type of file:

• Word, Excel and PowerPoint files open in Text. These files are turned into pages each time they are saved, and two saves of the same words can come out a fraction of a pixel apart. Checking the artwork would mark those tiny shifts as changes, even though nothing really changed.
• PDFs and images open in Text + artwork, so a moved logo or a swapped picture is caught.

Click the other option to run the comparison again. Compare remembers your choice the next time you compare the same type of file. Your choice for Office files does not change the choice for PDFs and images, and the other way round.

Compare marks two kinds of change.

Changes to the text

• Green highlights on the right mark text that was added.
• Red highlights on the left mark text that was removed. Text that was reworded shows as red on the left and green on the right.

Changes to the artwork (with Text + artwork on)

Anything that looks different is outlined on both versions and given a number. This covers images, logos, colours, shapes, and text that is part of a picture. In the Changes list these are called Graphic change.

The Changes list on the right shows every change, grouped by page, with a count at the top.

Moving through the changes

Click a change in the list, or use the arrows in the bar above the two versions.

• The change you picked is filled in blue and the others fade, so you can find it on the page.
• If the change is already on screen, the page stays where it is. If it is somewhere else, the page slides to it.
• A close-up of the change appears at the top of the Changes list, with both versions laid over each other. Parts only in the old version are pink, parts only in the new version are light blue, and parts in both are dark blue.

The bar above the two versions has the rest of the tools.

• Side by side, Overlay, Blink and Heatmap are four ways of looking at the same comparison. They are shown with Text + artwork on. In Text, the versions are always side by side. See Compare views.
• The arrows take you to the previous and next change. The number between them shows which change you are on.
• Synchronize scrolling keeps both sides at the same place as you scroll. Click it to turn it off when you want to move one side by itself.
• Synchronize zoom keeps both sides at the same size. Click it to turn it off when you want to zoom one side only.
• Exit compare closes the Compare tab.

Choosing which versions to compare

• To compare a different version, click a version name at the top and choose another from the list.
• To switch the two sides, click the swap icon between the version names.

Good to know

• Admins and Authors see Upload New and Compare in the Versions panel. Viewers see Compare only.
• Compare is opened from a draft. Once content is released, the Versions panel no longer shows the button.
• One edit can show as two or three changes in the list, for example a barcode. See Understanding compare results.
• Parts of the page that always change, such as a lot number or a date stamp, can be left out. See Ignore zones and cropping in Compare.
• Seeing changes marked on a Word, Excel or PowerPoint file where nothing looks different? Switch to Text.
• Comparing labels or packaging? Keep Text + artwork on. See Compare label and packaging artwork.
• Videos cannot be compared.
• To make changes yourself and see them compared, edit the file in Papercurve Office. Every save becomes a new version, and Office files compare in Text to begin with.