Compare Documents in Acrobat
Acrobat 9 has a vastly improved Document> Compare Documents feature. Just select two PDFs, and Acrobat will display a copy of the newer PDF, with changed areas highlighted. It helps if you tell Acrobat what kind of document you’re comparing: page layout, illustration, or a scanned document.
Acrobat will show the newest version of the document, with changes highlighted. When you roll over a highlighted item or text, Acrobat displays a pop-up window that shows the older version of the content. Amazing.
Jeff Gamet is a contributing editor for Design Tools Monthly, the executive summary of graphic design news. He is also the morning editor and reviews editor for The Mac Observer and iPodObserver.com, and contributing writer for Layers Magazine and Photoshop User. He writes the InBrief column for InDesign Magazine, and is the author of “The Designer’s Guide to Mac OS X,” from Peachpit Press
When Jeff isn’t writing about the graphic design world, he’s talking about it on the Design Tools Weekly podcast with co-host Jay Nelson. He also talks about Apple and the Mac world every week on The Mac Observer’s Apple Weekly Report.
Jeff studies, tests and reviews new software and technologies for the Macintosh community as well as the design and print industries. He is a former Pre-press specialist, and has nearly 25 years experience with computer technology. Jeff trains, lectures and consults on techniques for more efficiently using Mac OS X in creative environments throughout the country.
In the rare moments when he can get away from his MacBook Pro, Jeff spends his time climbing and biking in the Colorado mountains.
The compare documents feature described is not available in the ubiquitous Adobe Acrobat Reader Version 9. Presumably it is a feature of one or more of the pay (standard $300, pro $450, or suite $1,200) versions. One of the hazards of being a reviewer is that the publishers push so many tools at them gratis it becomes all but impossible to be sure the features they have available to review are in the free version – and all the more when the paid version is an indensible part of a professional writer’s tool kit.
I’d have to disagree. Acrobat has rendered comparing documents utterly useless with this update. The older versions worked at least 100x better. The older versions (<= Acrobat 8x) didn't look as nice but it was more functional – picked up all my text, highlighted words that were different fonts. I'm comparing documents daily and this version either says my document is too complex (so I have to pick another method) and returns results that the image was replaced when it was actually text. I've even tried 1 page at a time, but it's complete garbage. So to say that Adobe has vastly improved the feature, you must've never have used/noticed this feature before.
polychromeuganda: Many people are confused about the difference between Adobe’s free PDF reader and the paid Acrobat. The products’ names are not in any way the same (Adobe Reader vs. Adobe Acrobat), but for some reason people still get confused. The story never mentioned Adobe Reader, so…
peacefrog: Thanks for the heads-up!
peacefrog hit the nail on the head! I’m 10 months later, but am going to have to revert back to version 8 so I can do “useful” pdf compares. I am using version 10 pro and the compare tool is worthless. We went to version 8 pro just for the compare tool. Now it looks like I’ll have to start the search for a new tool all ove again or use version 8 until windoze no longer supports it.
peacefrog and Dave both are on target. I hate te new compare feature. I took the exact same PDF file and saved it under separate file names, then compared them just to see what happened. The results stated that pages were deleted or added, text was missing or added, and many more comments that I really couldn’t understand. Every page was different according to the Compare feature, but they both were EXACTLY the same! Come on Adobe, stop sending out “downgrades” and start sending out some useful “upgrades”!!!
I agree with peacefrog and Dave. The document compare feature in Adobe Acrobat 9 does not work very well at all. It gives me false positives, lots of text marked as if it changed when really it did not. In the pop-up comments for the changes, the text appears without spaces — clearly a bug of Adobe. In my opinion, this software is broken. I am downgrading to Acrobat 8.
Yuck! How about the Compare Documents feature in newer versions of Acrobat? Does anyone have experience with them?
I have been testing Acrobat 9 and 10 for the compare functionality – and agree it is garbage. If you have two pdf files you created and did not scan, it seems to work. However, once you try to compare a scanned pdf with its matching non-scanned PDF, it either finds no changes (when there are changes) or finds many changes – such as September 1 is now converted to September I. Tried several settings such as setting the document type, OCR settings and scenarios with no luck. Very frustrating.
Ok, I think I may have found a solution. I’ve been using a new free open-source program for the past 3 months that seems to do the trick. It’s called DiffPDF. Not the prettiest or most user-friendly, just a barebones comparing tool, but once you get the hang of it, I think you’ll like it.
There are a few flaws:
1. Like the old Acrobat, it sometimes picks up words that are similar – but I also haven’t had it miss words that were dissimilar. Just make sure you have it set to Compare Words. Never had any luck with the Compare Appearance feature.
2. It gives you only one way to view your files – through a side-by-side horizontal comparison. Which is not bad, but you can’t change it. I also haven’t figured out how to rotate any of my pdfs within the program.
Having said that, it’s free, so definitely worth a try. I’m using the Mac version, but there’s also a Windows version available. Check it out at http://www.qtrac.eu/diffpdf.html
Peacefrog: That’s a great find! Thanks for sharing it with all of us!