In direct response to user feedback, the Draftable team is developing a dedicated comparison algorithm to compare PowerPoint files and produce a PowerPoint file with changes shown as redlined markup. This is currently available as a Preview feature, and will be released to all customers in November 2024. If you want access to this feature before it is released to all customers, please contact your Account Executive or contact product@draftable.com.
Otherwise, Draftable Legal currently supports PowerPoint file comparisons via two approaches:
- Using the Side-by-Side comparison type (Recommended)
- Using PowerPoint's Native Tracked Changes comparison
This article shows you how to run both of these comparisons.
Video Resource: This topic is included in our specially crafted explainer video, accessible via this link.
How to compare PowerPoint files in the Side-by-Side Comparison Type
- Open the Draftable Legal New Comparison window.
- Select the two documents you want to compare, either by browsing your files or dragging and dropping them into the compare window.
- Once the documents are selected, tick the box for Side by Side in the comparison type row.
- Click the Compare button to run the comparison. When the comparison is complete, it will open in the Draftable Comparison Viewer with the older PowerPoint file on the left and newer on the right. Side by side comparisons show changes using highlights instead of redline markup.
Reviewing your comparison in Draftable
- The Comparison Viewer shows all changes in a dynamic Change List on the right-hand side of the screen.
- You can scroll through the Change List and click on any change to jump to its location and have the change highlighted with a blue box on both versions shown.
- Users can tag changes by selecting the Tag Icon on the top right corner of the individual change card in the change list. This will display a list of 5 tagging options to choose from. Multi-tagging of changes is also possible.
- Users can also leave Notes on changes by selecting the Change Card, writing a note at the bottom of the card and hitting Enter to save the Note.
- Users can filter changes by using the Interactive Filter Menu, available at the top of the change list. This can be opened by selecting the Details drop-down menu in the top right corner of the Change List.
- Users can see filtering options by selecting either the Only Show or Do Not Show entry forms. This will display a list of filtering options including Change Type, Style Changes, Tags and Notes.
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Once all changes have been reviewed, users can share the Change List, along with any Tags and Notes with colleagues or external parties via the output options, via the Changes Report export option.
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The Changes Report option, a drop-down list will provide options to export changes as a DOCX or exporting to a .csv using either the All changes or the Matching filters.
Saving / printing / sharing your PowerPoint comparison as a PDF
To save, print or email the Side by Side comparison, note all the export options at the top of the comparison viewer as a ribbon menu.
These options allow you to quickly and easily share your PPTX comparison results via your preferred method or DMS. A quick summary of these options are:
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Open the results directly in your preferred Word processor or PDF reader.
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Save the comparison result to your computer.
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Save to DMS, e.g. iManage, NetDocuments
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Print a hard copy of the comparison results.
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Copy to Clipboard and save the comparison output to your clipboard.
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Email the comparison results and/or the input documents using Outlook.
For more information about these specific output options, please see our Using Draftable section of our Knowledgebase.
How to compare PowerPoint files in the PowerPoint's Native Tracked Changes Comparison Type (Native in MS Office)
For users who wish to run a PowerPoint comparison to continue working in PowerPoint, a Side-by-side comparison may not be suitable. In these cases, Draftable offers comparisons via PowerPoint's native Tracked Changes comparison function. This section outlines how to use this feature.
- Open the Draftable New Comparison Window
- Load your PowerPoint input files, set the Comparison Type to Native in MS Office and hit Compare
- After running the comparison, the comparison file will open directly to PowerPoint.
- Once open, users can navigate changes using the review pane on the right-hand side of their PowerPoint or by using the 'next' and 'previous' change options in the PowerPoint Ribbon menu.
The revision pane will list the changes in the slide shown (in the top half) and changes in the entire presentation (in the bottom half). - Specific details of a change can be seen by clicking on the change in the slide or in the review pane. This will show a dialog with the details of the change. By default, the original view is shown.
To see the change implemented, select the check box in the dialog. - Changes can be accepted or rejected as with MS Word outputs.
- When you have completed your review of changes in PowerPoint, you can use the standard PowerPoint functionality (and any add-ins you have) to save, print, email or share your compared presentation.