We are pleased to share the latest updates to Draftable Legal v24.11.0 & 24.11.100, released in November 2024. This update focuses on enhancing document comparison accuracy, user workflows, and administrative features while addressing key issues to improve reliability and user experience. Let’s explore the improvements.

Key benefits in November updates include:

• All users can now Redline PowerPoint presentations with our new ‘Redline in PowerPoint' Comparison Type, as we have moved this feature out of 'Preview mode'.
• Achieve more accurate document comparisons with enhanced algorithms for Word numbering formats and Excel sheet matching, including visibility of hidden sheets.
• Increase productivity by continuing to work in Draftable while comparisons are running in the background, reducing workflow interruptions.
• Ensure consistent and predictable results with the ability to convert dynamic fields like cross-references into plain text before comparison, using the new redline profile setting.
• Enhance administrative control with a new GPO setting for cleaning up input files post-comparison and the ability to edit email subjects for exported comparisons.
• Address key issues with fixes for missing revision lines, PowerPoint grayscale errors, and garbled text in signed redlines, improving reliability across file types.

Let's explore these updates in more detail.

But first, a note from our product team

Our product improvements are the direct result of insights from our customers. We are extremely grateful for the excellent feedback we received which allowed the 24.11.0 and 24.11.100 releases to be possible.

If you have feature ideas or product performance feedback, we would love to hear from you. Please share any suggestions with us by contacting product@draftable.com.

New Features & Improvements

Core Functionality

PowerPoint Redline Comparison

We are thrilled to announce that from v24.11.100 all users have access to our new 'Redline in PowerPoint' Comparison Type. Users can easily find changes in presentations by using this Comparison Type to generate PowerPoint files that have all changed marked up in a redline format. This capability, previously released as a 'Preview' feature to selected clients, will be the default Comparison Type option when users load PowerPoint files into Draftable.

As a reminder, the Redline in PowerPoint uses a newly developed Draftable PowerPoint comparison algorithm and supports identification of changes in:

• Text (insertions and deletions)
• Tables (insertions, cell / row / column deletions, text changes within tables)
• Images (including icons, graphics and shapes)
• Speaker notes (insertions and deletions, shown without coloring)
• Slide numbers 
• Whole slides (insertions, deletions)
• Grouped shapes / smart art (insertions and deletions as well as text changes)

You can watch a short demonstration of the Redline in PowerPoint feature by our Product Lead in the video below:  

Reduced File Size for PDF Exports

Users will be able to save storage space on their machine and share comparison outputs as PDFs faster thanks to a new enhancement that has reduced the file size of PDFs generated by Draftable.

Quality Improvements

Improved display of changes to numbered lists 

From v24.11.100, users will enjoy a cleaner comparison output when comparing Word files with numbered lists. Draftable has made improvements to its algorithm to reduce the number of changes that weren't actually made (AKA 'false positives'). 

As an example, when breaking a numbered list into two paragraphs as shown below:

The latest update improves the comparison Draftable produces as shown in the images below:

Comparison produced by Draftable BEFORE the November update:	Comparison produced by Draftable AFTER the November update:

Improved display of matching paragraphs

The November release (v24.11.100) also includes improved display of changes within paragraphs. Specifically, the update reduces the production of redlines with too many deletions and insertions in a single paragraph.

Example of paragraph comparison with previous Draftable algorithm 

Instead, Draftable will now detect where paragraphs have a large number of insertions and deletions and instead wholly replace the paragraph, while showing any matched text as 'moved text' instead. Users will notice more consistent and accurate outputs, especially in complex documents.

Example of paragraph comparison with new Draftable algorithm

Improved sheet matching and maintaining hidden sheets for Excel Redlines 

The November release improved our Excel Redline algorithm to better match spreadsheets based on header rows, ensuring users get the comparisons they expect. The update also added better handling of hidden sheets, by ensuring the (in)visibility of hidden sheets is now preserved when producing outputs so users receive the redline as expected.

Markup Configuration

Convert Dynamic Fields to Plain Text

Draftable Legal users can now enjoy cleaner and more reliable comparisons of documents with dynamic fields thanks to a new redline Profile setting "Flatten Dynamic Content" that converts these to plain text. The setting is designed to remove unnecessary noise in comparisons, by avoiding the default Draftable behavior that compares the underlying dynamic field data (e.g. the hyperlink behind the text, rather than the text itself). Another benefit of this setting is that it can be used to avoid errors caused by dynamic field discrepancies, providing for a more reliable comparison experience.

New brighter Green color options in Markup Schema

At the request of users, from v24.11.0 users and administrators will be able to select one of two brighter green color options for markup schemas. These two options "Classic Green" and "Leaf Green", are designed to complement the "Classic Blue" and "Classic Red" options added earlier this year.

Users can access these colors in the Redline tab of the Settings under the 'Markup Schema' section. 

Note: After additional customer feedback, Draftable will be adding a new 'Vintage Green' option which will replicate a specific green color used in legacy comparison software. This will be released in our December update.

Ease of Use

Work While Comparisons are Running

From v24.11.100, users will be able to continue working on their comparisons (e.g. reviewing comparisons in Draftable) while simultaneously running a comparison in the background. Previously, Draftable would lock all windows while a comparison was running. After feedback from our customers, we have updated this behavior to allow users to remain productive while document comparisons are in progress. This enhancement minimizes downtime and supports multitasking in Draftable.

Administrator Features

Group Policy for Input File Cleanup

From v24.11.100, administrators can use Group Policy to configure whether Draftable clears files or leaves them in the New Comparison Window after a comparison is run. This setting is shown to end users in the 'General' tab of the Settings window, and is often disabled to make it easier for users to rerun their comparisons without reloading files. Administrators may wish to configure this setting to be enabled to ensure users are always loading the latest versions of their files into Draftable when running comparisons. Note: From v24.9.0, Draftable will automatically reload DMS-stored files left in the New Comparison Window before rerunning comparisons to ensure the most up to date version is being used. 

Editable Subject for Draftable-generated emails when sharing comparisons

The November releases also included a new Group Policy Option for administrators to customize the email subject used when users choose to 'email' comparison outputs from Draftable. This is designed to enable organizational standards to be implemented when users are emailing comparisons from Draftable.

Expanded Telemetry for Usage Insights

The 24.11.100 update also included a cleanup of Draftable's fully anonymized Telemetry data system. This work deduplicated some data fields and allowed logging of new in-app events. The new fields captured cover the following themes:

• How users trigger comparisons (e.g. from Document Management Systems, from the New Comparison Window, from the System Tray)
• Use of the Document Swap option in the New Comparison Window
• Usage of the 'Help' and 'Settings' options in the New Comparison Window
• Comparison Viewer usage (opening the viewer)
• Generation of key artefacts by Draftable (Redline PDF output, Redline in Word output, Redline Change List, etc)

You can read more about our Product Telemetry system here.

Bug Fixes

The November releases also resolved a number of bugs reported by customers, including: 

• Restored Revision Lines: Addressed issues causing missing revision lines in the Comparison Viewer and PDF exports, ensuring all non-style changes are indicated via this feature.

• Numbering and Formatting Fixes: Improved handling of formatting issues in Word documents, particularly around numbering.

• Error Resolution in PDF Conversions: Fixed a comparison error when using the Draftable Engine for PDF conversions, ensuring smooth workflows.

• Garbled Text in Signed Redlines: Resolved text corruption issues in documents signed with Kappris, improving the integrity of redline outputs.

• PowerPoint Grayscale Fixes: Fixed errors in PowerPoint redlines when the Grayscale option was enabled.