Glossary: the terms of document comparison

Whoever compares documents meets terms that are not familiar to everyone. This glossary explains them as CompareDesk uses them, briefly and without advertising.

Terms from A to Z

Batch comparison: The comparison of two folders in which the files are matched and compared pair by pair. See Compare folders.
Cell-by-cell comparison: The comparison of spreadsheets cell by cell, reporting changed values, formulas and formats as well as inserted and removed rows and columns. See Compare spreadsheets.
Change bar: A vertical line in the left margin of every line in which something has changed. It allows quick leafing through a comparison version: where there is no bar, nothing has changed.
Checksum (SHA-256): A value of 64 characters computed from the complete content of a file. Any change to the file yields a different value. CompareDesk states the checksums of both compared files in every output. See Comparison certificate.
Comparison certificate: A signed file next to the output containing the checksums of both versions, the time, the program version and the number of changes, verifiable without a network connection.
Comparison PDF: A coloured reading copy of the comparison: deleted text struck through in red, inserted text underlined in blue, moved text in green, with change bars, legend, summary and list of differences.
Document comparison: The juxtaposition of two versions of a document with marking of all insertions, deletions, replacements and moves. See Compare documents.
Move: A paragraph or passage that reappears elsewhere in the document. It is marked as a move and not as a deletion plus an insertion, so that the reader does not check it twice.
Original version and comparison version: The original version is the older, the comparison version the newer version of a document. The comparison describes the way from one to the other: what is missing in the comparison version is deleted; what is new in it is inserted.
Replacement: A deletion and an insertion at the same place, for instance "fourteen days" against "twenty-one days". It is shown as old and new wording side by side.
Similarity: The share of the word stock of both versions that has remained unchanged, in per cent. It is computed from the measured extent of the change.
Text recognition (OCR): Reading a scanned document that consists only of images into searchable text. CompareDesk performs it entirely on the computer. See Compare scanned PDF files.
Tracked changes: The revision marks of Word. A comparison version with genuine tracked changes can be opened in Word, and every change can be accepted or rejected one by one.
Version chain: Several versions of the same document in chronological order; every transition is compared. See Version comparison.
Version history: The result of the version comparison: the complete text of a document in which every change is labelled with the number of the version that caused it. See Version comparison.

Perguntas frequentes

What is the difference between a comparison PDF and Word with tracked changes?

The Word file is for further editing: changes can be accepted and rejected. The comparison PDF is for reading and handing on; it cannot be altered by accident.

What does similarity 89.8 per cent mean?

That about one tenth of the word stock of both versions is affected by insertions or deletions. Moves do not count because the wording is preserved.

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