How does comparison work in Word?

I did a "comparison" of two documents. The display showed what looked like a document with the differences marked with black lines down the margins. When I exited I was asked if I wanted to save Doc2.docx. I saved it, but when I looked at it I didn't see any place where the differences were identified.

What kind of permanent result do you get when you do a comparison?

Thanks,

LAS

Hello Laurel,

My name is Charles Kenyon and I am an Independent Advisor in this forum . This forum is a user-to-user support forum. I am a fellow user with decades of experience using Microsoft Word. I have written extensively on using Word and have help articles on the Microsoft site.

The comparison is similar to running tracked changes to get from one document to another. The differences are there. Open the comparison document that you saved.

Go to the Review tab and change how you view changes in your document.
Turn on the Reviewing Pane.
Change how Revisions are displayed (in-line/balloons)

I hope this information helps.

I like to also provide this link about Ransomware even though it has nothing to do with your question:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/for...

Please let me know if you have any more questions or require further help.

You can ask for more help by replying to this post (Reply button below).

Stay well
Charles Kenyon
Attorney at Law
Madison, Wisconsin
wordfaq[at]addbalance[dot]com

The Importance of Styles in Microsoft Word
https://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm#Overview

1 person found this reply helpful

·

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

In Word, you can compare the differences between two documents or you can combine edits from different reviewers. For more, see https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/compare-document-differences-using-the-legal-blackline-option-dbfc7351-4022-43a2-a0c4-54d1898702a0.

The result of a combine or compare will be presented in a separate document window and you can save that document. You can't save the specific view which is the initial result of the process, though.

Stefan Blom
MS 365 Word MVP since 2005
Volunteer Moderator
MS 365, Win 11 Pro
~~~
Note that I do not work for Microsoft
https://mvp.microsoft.com/
~~~
Please specify Word version & OS in your question

2 people found this reply helpful

·

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

 
 

Question Info


Last updated April 13, 2025 Views 206 Applies to: