Version comparison: several versions of a document as one version history

Whoever wants to know who introduced a clause and when needs more than a comparison of two versions. The version comparison of CompareDesk arranges three, five or twenty versions of the same document in time, compares every transition and produces a single version history in which every clause carries a note of the version that brought it in and the version that removed it again.

The version history

The version history is a PDF with the complete text of the document in which every insertion and every deletion is labelled with the number of the version that caused it. A wording inserted by version 2 and removed again by version 3 stands in one place with both notes. It is completed by a list of the versions, the changes per version, the passages changed more than once and the wording of every changed passage in every version.

How the order is determined

The versions are arranged in time using the date in the file name and the document properties and presented for confirmation; the order can be corrected by hand. Every transition is then computed as a comparison of its own and reported with the checksums of the files involved.

What it is for

For contract negotiations with many rounds, for the genesis of articles of association or a foundation deed, for the traceability of draft resolutions and for every question that reads: since which version has it said this. The version comparison is part of the free version; one chain counts as one comparison.

Preguntas frecuentes

How many versions can I compare?

There is no fixed upper limit; all versions placed in one field are compared. The duration grows with the number of transitions.

What if the order is recognised wrongly?

The recognised order is presented before the run and can be changed by hand; on the command line with the --reihenfolge switch.

How does the version comparison differ from the batch comparison?

The batch comparison compares many different documents in pairs. The version comparison compares many versions of the same document in their chronological order.

Try CompareDesk

CompareDesk is available in the Microsoft Store and as a direct download. The first twenty-five comparisons are free, with no registration. Your documents stay on your own computer.

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