Compare guide

Getting started with Compare

Compare shows what changed between two versions: texts and code, JSON and CSV, PDFs and pictures. Everything is read in your browser and never uploaded.

Open Compare

Put in the two versions

The page has two sides: A, the original, and B, the changed version.

1. Type or paste a text into each side, or click Open… on a side to pick a file. Files… opens a file you keep in Files.
2. Or drop a file on a side, or drop two files at once on the page: the first becomes A and the second B.
3. Swap (⇄, between the sides) exchanges A and B. Clear empties one side.

Tip: A text file opens in its side as text, so you can still edit it; the comparison follows as you type.

Read the changes

JSON files are compared by key path and CSV files by row and cell. PDFs are compared by the text of their pages, pictures by their pixels.

1. Choose Compare at the foot of the panel (or press Ctrl+Enter). Two files dropped together are compared at once.
2. Removed lines are red and added lines green; inside a changed line, the words that changed are marked darker.
3. The line above the result counts the changes. Next and Previous (F7 and Shift+F7) go from one to the next.
4. Unchanged lines around each change are shown; a longer unchanged run is one folded line. Click it to open it.

Change how it compares

The panel on the right (a sheet from the bottom on a phone) holds the settings. Compare as: Automatic picks text, JSON or CSV from the files; choose one to force it.

View switches between Side by side and Unified. Ignore whitespace and Ignore case leave out changes of spacing or capitals. Unchanged lines around changes sets the context; -1 shows every line.

For pictures, Picture view chooses Side by side, Slider or Difference, and Picture threshold how different a pixel must be. For PDFs, PDF view chooses Text or Pages.

Save the result

1. Choose Export: Download the report (HTML), Download the report (PDF), or Download a .patch (for two texts).
2. Save the report to Files keeps it with your files; Open in… hands the report to another app.
3. In Workflows, the step Compare two files makes the same report for two files.

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