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Compare PDF and Word documents

You can compare a PDF document to a Word document. The typical scenario is that a PDF was created from a Word document, but the Word document was later modified and you need to locate those differences.

Note You can also specify the Word document as initial and the PDF as changed. In this case, Comparison Type settings in the middle area of the dialog box are not accessible.

The PDF file is passed to Convert Assistant to be converted to a Word document. The comparison between the two documents is made within Word, allowing a visual comparison or a textual comparison with the result displayed in a temporary file that you can save if required.

Note If the PDF document contains more material than the Word document, you may split the PDF document to isolate only the part that should be compared. See Split a document for detailed steps.

To compare documents:

  1. Compare Documents icon Select Advanced Processing > Process > Compare Documents.

    The Compare Documents dialog box appears.

  2. Accept the currently active open PDF document offered as the initial one, or click Browse to select another.

    The Open dialog box appears. Browse to the initial document.

  3. Select the revision in the list below the document preview.
  4. Click Browse and select Word Document (*.doc, *.docx) as file type, then select the desired Word document in the Open dialog box.
  5. Select a Report type for the comparison result:
    Note Text differences are usually best displayed in Side by Side format, while for visually-based documents a Combined format may be preferred.
    1. Side by Side
      Scroll both documents synchronously to visually check differences, if any.
    2. Combined
      A consolidated temporary document is created in Word's Track Changes mode that displays the newer version of the document and indicates visual and textual changes. Changes in text formatting are not considered to be differences.
  6. Click OK. Confirm conversion from PDF format and click the Convert All button in the PDF Converter Assistant. A read-only copy of the original PDF file is displayed in Microsoft Word, with .pdf extension.
  7. If necessary, confirm conversion from RTF format for the Word file.