When you email a Microsoft Word document to a colleague for review, they are supposed to turn on “Track Changes” before editing so you can easily see what they modified. Unfortunately, many users forget this crucial step, returning a seemingly identical document with hidden changes scattered throughout. Instead of manually reading both documents side-by-side to spot the differences, you can use Word’s built-in Compare tool to instantly highlight every single addition, deletion, and formatting change.
How to Compare Two Documents
To use the Compare feature, you must have both the original file (the one you sent out) and the revised file (the one you received back) saved on your computer.
- Open Microsoft Word. You can open a blank document or either of the two files you wish to compare; it does not matter.
- Click on the Review tab in the main ribbon menu at the top of the screen.
- Locate the “Compare” group on the far right side of the ribbon and click the Compare button.
- Select Compare… (Compare two versions of a document) from the drop-down menu.
Configuring the Comparison Settings
A new dialog box titled “Compare Documents” will appear.
- Under the Original document section on the left, click the small folder icon to browse your computer and select the original, unedited file.
- Under the Revised document section on the right, click the folder icon to select the edited file you received back.
- In the “Label changes with” text box, type the name of the person who edited the document (e.g., “John Smith”). This is crucial because it ensures all the modifications are attributed to the correct reviewer.
If you want to be incredibly thorough, you can click the More >> button at the bottom of the dialog. This allows you to specifically instruct Word to ignore minor changes like white space, text formatting (bolding/italics), or casing, focusing strictly on the actual words added or deleted.
Reviewing the Combined Output
Once you click OK, Word will process the two files and generate a brand-new, third document titled “Compare Result”. It does not overwrite your original files.
This new document looks exactly like a file where “Track Changes” was perfectly utilized. Everything the reviewer deleted is crossed out in red (a strike-through), and everything they added is underlined in red.
You can now navigate through this new document using the standard Review tab tools. Click the Next button to jump from change to change, and use the Accept or Reject buttons to finalize each modification. Once you have reviewed everything, save this new combined document as your final, master copy.