How to Compare PDF Files

The Document Compare feature lets you see the difference in two versions of a PDF, as well as select the type of differences you’re looking for to verify that the appropriate changes have been made. The Document Compare feature does not compare comments in the PDF.

Comparing a revised PDF to an earlier version

1. Choose View >Compare.
2. Specify Old File and New File to be compared. Click Choose… to select the file. In the pop-up Open dialog box, you can select a local file or click Open from ECM to select a file from ECM systems or cloud services.
3. You can preview the pages of both files. Choose the specific page you want to preview by dragging the slider or clicking the list box to select the page number.
4. Choose the specific pages you want to compare.
5. Click Options and select options as needed:

• Include

Compare Text Only: Select it to compare the text content only.

Compare Table: Select it to compare tables. This option is recommended for documents that contain tables.

Detect Page Deletions or Inserts: In documents where some contents are removed or inserted, select it to mark the removed or inserted contents only in the comparison results, rather than mark them along with their following contents.

Select the desired highlight color for the markups that indicate the replaced, inserted, and deleted objects in the comparison results.

Specify the opacity for the markups that indicate the replaced, inserted, and deleted objects in the comparison results.

Specify the line thickness for the markups that indicate the replaced, inserted, and deleted objects in the comparison results.

• Set current properties as default

Select it to apply the current settings to future comparison.

6. Click OK. And then a PDF document named “The result of Comparison.pdf*” will be automatically created and opened in a new tab within the application window, and the Compare Results tab appears on the ribbon.

The result document arranges pages side by side showing Old File and New File with the changes marked by different icons and colors. The first page shows a summary of the comparison results including the total number and the marks for different changes. The second page shows the detailed comparison results including the names and sizes of Old File and New File, time compared, and the classification of changes, with a color legend in the upper right corner. You can click Go to the First Change (page *) on the second page to jump to the first change.

7. In the Compare Results tab, do any of the following:

• Click Next/PreviousChange to navigate through the changes in the document pane in both files.

• Click Filter and select items to show specific changes you need by text, images, annotations, and formatting. Or click Filter >Everything to show all changes.

• Click Show and select items to show/hide the results and the color legend. Clicking Show >Show Summary navigates to the summary page.

8. You can also use the Comments panel in the navigation pane to see each change. Click a change to quickly locate it in both documents.

9. You can save the results document as needed.

3 thoughts on “ How to Compare PDF Files ”

1. RavenNovember 11, 2021 at 9:44 pm Document comparison is very hectic when you do this manually but nowadays there are tools through which you can compare two different docs. These tools can easily highlight minor changes which have been done in the newer doc version.

1. KarolinDecember 19, 2022 at 9:31 am Hi Adriano, yes it’s available in the latest version of Foxit PDF Editor. Go to View > Compare
   Have a nice day!