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How to compare two documents in Microsoft Word

Office Windows

Microsoft Word is an excellent program to manage your documents. With Microsoft Word, not only can you create and edit documents, but you can even compare two documents for differences. For example, if you are a student and have two versions of the same essay, you can easily view and compare the two docs.

If you are unaware of this feature, follow this tutorial and you’ll be able to compare and determine the differences between your documents within minutes.

  1. Open Microsoft Word and go to Review > Compare.
  2. It will open the Compare Document dialog box where you can browse the documents you want to compare. In the Original document field, select the original document and from the Revised document field, select the document in which you made changes.
  3. Click on More to view more comparison settings and check what data in the documents you want to compare. Check the fields and once you are satisfied, click OK.
  4. This will open a window that displays the comparison results. It will have a series of columns and panes. The ones to focus on are Compared Document, Original Document and Revised Document.

  5. click to enlarge

  6. In the Compared Document field, the changes between the two documents will be highlighted for you.
  7. This way you can compare two documents and can find all of the differences.

Posted in Office, Windows.


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5 Responses

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  1. MAP says

    And how to compare a document in linux:
    diff file1 file2

    I’m not sure I can remember all that :-)

  2. Ross McKillop says

    MAP – yes but it won’t work w/ MS Word Docs and all their weird formatting etc :)

  3. mike.smith @ microsoft word help says

    Just be careful about what document you pick as a first. This is important for to which document changes will be written and you will be able to work.

  4. hgfh says

    Thanks a lot. It’ll save time a lot.

  5. SmamZ says

    Informative and thanks.



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