Your customer has sent you an updated draft of a really long legal contract in Microsoft Word format. You have to respond right away. Here's how to use Araxis PMdiff to make sure that you notice every change.
Step 1
Open the original draft of the contract in Word. Choose Save As... From the File menu.
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PMdiff works best with plain text files. But this doesn't mean you can't compare your other documents. Most word processors can save a document as plain text - ideal for use with PMdiff. |
As shown in the picture, save the file as type Text Only with Line Breaks.
Now open the updated contract draft in Word. Save it in text format to the same folder as the original.
Step 2
Use the Windows Explorer to open the folder containing both text versions of your contract drafts. Now start PMdiff.
Position the PMdiff window and contract draft folder window so that you can see both of them on screen at the same time. Select the two text versions of the contract, then drag and drop them on to PMdiff.
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PMdiff supports drag and drop of both files and folders. You can drop on existing file comparison windows, on the folder name entry fields in folder comparison windows, or on to the PMdiff window background. |
PMdiff has opened the two files so that the original version of the contract is on the right, and the updated version on the left. You probably want the original on the left.
Display the file panel context menu by right-clicking on one of the file panels. Choose Swap Files. PMdiff has now swapped the files over so that the original is on the left and the updated draft is on the right.
Step 3
PMdiff opens a file comparison window and displays the two contracts side-by-side. PMdiff automatically shows you the first difference between the files.
Notice that PMdiff has drawn the changed text in red and used an italic font. It has also drawn lines connecting the two blocks of changed text. This is to visually relate the two files.
Step 4
Notice the overview strips by side of the two vertical scroll-bars. Each mark represents a change. If the scroll-bar thumb is adjacent to a mark, the change that it represents is currently visible on-screen.
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PMdiff’s overview strips give you an instant representation of the extent of the differences between two files. |
You can see from the picture that there are a number of differences between the two contract drafts.
It is possible to jump straight to a change either by clicking on the overview strip, but we won’t do this now.
Step 5
The contracts are quite long, and we might miss some changes if we were to manually scroll through the files. We need to be able jump straight each change in turn. Fortunately, PMdiff lets you do this.
The double-headed arrow buttons at the bottom of each vertical scroll-bar jump to the previous and next change, respectively.
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Use the double-headed arrow buttons to jump directly between changes. |
You can step through every change between two files by starting at the top of the files and then repeatedly clicking the Next Change button.
Step 6
Step through the changes using the Next Change scroll-bar button. Look at this section of text which has been inserted.
PMdiff has drawn the inserted text in blue, using a bold font. The colour and font enable you to quickly identify the text as being inserted, rather than changed. Again, the lines drawn between the two files show you visually how the two files are related. In this instance, the lines show you exactly where the text has been inserted.
Your copy of PMdiff might display inserted text in a different font and colour. PMdiff is very configurable, and you can tailor fonts and colours to your personal preferences.
To change PMdiff settings, click the Options toolbar button and the PMdiff Options property sheet will appear.
The Styles page of property sheet lets you change colours and fonts.
Step 7
The next difference between the two files is a block of text which has been deleted from the original file.
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PMdiff has excellent printing support, so you can make a hard copy of your file and folder comparisons. |
This copy of PMdiff has been configured to show deleted text struck-out and in green. The lines linking the two documents show you exactly where the text has been deleted.
Summary
We've reached the last of the changes!
The Next Change scroll-bar button has been disabled to show that there are no more differences between the files.
You have stepped through every difference between the two contracts in turn. You know that you haven’t missed anything and you are able to respond confidently to the updated contract draft.