Opposing counsel sent a redline late; I need to know if our indemnity and limitation-of-liability clauses were altered…
Open Adobe Acrobat on your computer.
Go to Tools and select Compare Files.
Click Select File under 'Compare' and choose your first PDF (the older or original version).
Click Select File under 'With' and choose your second PDF (the newer or revised version).
Click Compare to start the comparison.
Review the results in the comparison summary and use the side-by-side view to examine highlighted differences.
Best practiceFor best results, avoid using scanned PDFs as input files, as text recognition may be inconsistent.
You can filter the comparison results to focus on text, images, or formatting changes for a clearer review.
This runs in the Acrobat app - there is no separate API for this task.
The 'Compare text only' option tells Acrobat to ignore all images and graphics in your PDF files. It will only look for changes in the written words. This is useful if you only care about text changes and not visual layout.
No, if your contract revision or the original file has security settings, Compare Files will not work. You will get an error message about security. You must remove the security protection from both PDF files before you can compare them. Check the document's properties for security options.
Using Compare Files is much faster and more accurate than looking at documents yourself. It highlights every single change, even small ones you might miss. This saves time and helps you be sure you haven't missed any important updates, especially in long or complex documents like contracts.