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Open Adobe Acrobat and select 'Tools' from the main menu.
Choose 'Compare Files' to launch the comparison tool.
Select the older version of your PDF as the 'Old File' and the newer version as the 'New File.'
Best practiceFor best results, avoid using scanned documents as input; text-based PDFs yield more accurate comparisons.
Click the 'Compare' button to start the comparison process.
Review the comparison results summary to see an overview of all detected changes.
Click 'Go to First Change' to navigate through individual changes if detailed review is needed.
Export the comparison summary by selecting the option to export comments or the summary report, choosing your preferred format (e.g., PDF, Word, or FDF).
NoteOn Windows, you can export comments directly to Word or AutoCAD using Acrobat Pro.
Share the exported summary file with your team or approvers for collaborative review or approval, using Acrobat's sharing features or your organization's workflow tools.
Best practiceStreamline approvals by sharing the summary with all reviewers simultaneously rather than sequentially.
You can quickly export a summary of changes after comparing PDFs to streamline team review and approval.
This runs in the Acrobat app - there is no separate API for this task.
The 'Compare text only' option tells Acrobat to ignore pictures and graphics when it looks for differences. It will only show you changes in the words. This is useful if you only care about text edits and not image changes.
Compare Files fails because one or both PDF documents are protected. Security settings on a PDF can stop features like comparison. To fix this, you need to remove the security protection from both files before you try to compare them. This ensures Acrobat can fully access and analyze the content.
Comparing signed document versions is a specific feature in Acrobat. It helps you see changes made after a document was signed. The act of comparing itself does not invalidate the signature. However, if changes were made to the document *after* it was signed, the signature might show that the document has been altered, which could affect its legal validity. You can use the 'Compare signed document versions' feature to understand these changes.