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Draftable Legal offers five JavaScript add-ins for Microsoft 365. Their names are similar, so it is easy to mix them up. This article explains what each one does and which ones your organization should deploy.
Short answer: for most organizations, deploy Draftable in Office for Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and Draftable in Outlook for Outlook. Add Redline in Email if your users want to mark up the text of emails. The for add-ins are for teams who would rather run every comparison in the Draftable desktop application.
The names Draftable for Office and Draftable for Outlook are also used for older COM add-ins. The descriptions below refer to the JavaScript add-ins.

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The five add-ins at a glance

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”In” versus “for”: the key difference

The word in the name tells you where your users do their work.
  • Draftable in Office and Draftable in Outlook open a Draftable panel on the right-hand side of Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Users choose their files, pick a comparison type and profile, run the comparison, and save, email, print or copy the result, all without leaving the Office app. When they want the full comparison viewer, View in Draftable opens the result in the desktop application.
  • Draftable for Office and Draftable for Outlook add buttons that send the current file, selection or email attachments to the Draftable desktop application. Send commands load files into New Comparison; commands that launch a comparison use the desktop workflow settings.
Both types give users the same comparison results. The difference is where users do the work: in the Office app, or in the Draftable desktop application.
An easy way to remember it: in Office means you stay in Office. For Office sends your file to Draftable.

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What each add-in does

Opens a Draftable panel inside Word, Excel or PowerPoint, so users can run a comparison without leaving the app.
  • Choose files for each side: the current document, text you type or paste, a file from your computer or document management system (DMS), or a recently compared file.
  • Choose the comparison type: Redline, Tracked Changes, or Side by Side.
  • Choose a profile: use the default comparison profile from Draftable Desktop, or choose a different profile in the add-in. A saved add-in profile choice takes precedence.
  • Compare Open: compare saved files open across Word, Excel and PowerPoint, including files where the add-in has not been opened. The full list requires Desktop 26.10.0 or later and add-in 2.69.0.0 or later; older supported Desktop versions show the shorter list registered by the add-in.
  • Compare Versions: compare versions of a document stored in iManage, NetDocuments, SharePoint or Epona.
  • Excel: compare a single worksheet or a selected range of cells.
  • PowerPoint: compare selected slides.
  • Next steps: open, save (including to your DMS), email, print or copy the result from the panel, or open it in the full Draftable viewer.
Using Draftable in Office · Installing Draftable in Office
Adds buttons to Word, Excel and PowerPoint that send content to the Draftable desktop application for comparison.
  • Send as Older / Send as Newer: load the open file into Draftable as the older or newer document.
  • Send Text as Older / Send Text as Newer (Word): load selected text into Draftable.
  • Compare Open: pick two files open across Word, Excel and PowerPoint and launch their comparison in Draftable. The full list requires Desktop 26.10.0 or later and add-in 2.69.0.0 or later.
  • Compare Versions: pick two versions of a document from iManage, NetDocuments, SharePoint or Epona and launch their comparison in Draftable.
  • Excel: send a worksheet or a selected range of cells.
  • PowerPoint: send selected slides.
Users configure the comparison type and profile in Draftable Desktop. Launch Comparison uses the desktop workflow settings.Using Draftable for Office · Configuring Draftable for Office
Opens a Draftable panel inside Outlook, both when reading and when writing an email.
  • Choose files for each side: an attachment from the current email (including DMS links in the email), text you type or paste, a file from your computer or DMS, or a recently compared file.
  • Choose the comparison type and profile, just as in Draftable in Office.
  • Next steps: open, save, print or copy the result, or attach it to the reply you are writing.
Using Draftable in Outlook · Installing Draftable in Outlook
Adds buttons to Outlook that send email attachments to the Draftable desktop application, so users do not have to save attachments before comparing them.
  • Compare attachments: send attachments and supported DMS links to the New Comparison window, then choose and arrange the files there.
  • 1-Click Compare: send attachments and supported DMS links to Draftable. A pair starts a comparison automatically; otherwise you choose the files in the New Comparison window. A single DMS document may expand into its versions.
  • DMS links: document links from iManage, NetDocuments and other DMSs in the email are picked up along with attachments.
Using Draftable for Outlook · Installing Draftable for Outlook
Redline in Email is different from the other four. It does not compare documents or attachments. It compares the text of emails.
  • See what changed: open an email and see how it differs from the email before it, marked up as tracked changes.
  • Compare with a different email: pick another email in the conversation to compare against.
  • Edit with tracked changes: everything the user types, deletes or moves is tracked.
  • Accept or reject changes, one at a time or all at once.
  • Send the result: put the marked-up text into the draft or a reply.
Because it does a different job, Redline in Email works well alongside Draftable in Outlook or Draftable for Outlook. It does not replace them.Using Redline in Email · Configuring Redline in Email

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Which should you deploy?

We recommend the in add-ins for most organizations. They give users the whole comparison workflow, from choosing files to sharing the result, without switching applications.

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What every add-in needs

  • Draftable Legal installed and running on each user’s computer. Draftable does the work behind every add-in, even when users stay inside Office. Redline in Email needs Draftable to check the user’s license.
  • A minimum Draftable Legal version. Draftable in Office, Draftable for Office, Draftable in Outlook and Draftable for Outlook need version 25.10.000 or later. We recommend 25.12.000 or later for Draftable in Office and Draftable in Outlook. Redline in Email version 3 needs version 26.9.0.1 or later. If you can’t update Draftable yet, deploy the earlier Redline in Email release that matches your version of Draftable from Older versions on its card in the deployment guide; those releases do not need 26.9.0.1.
  • Deployment through the Microsoft 365 admin center. An administrator deploys each add-in once from Integrated apps. Each installation article above has the steps. The manifest URL, the version of Draftable each add-in needs, and any older versions are on that add-in’s card in the Draftable Office add-in deployment guide.
  • Access to dl.draftable.com from users’ computers.
These five are Draftable’s modern JavaScript add-ins. Draftable Legal also includes older COM add-ins for Word, Excel and Outlook, which show a Draftable tab in the ribbon. If you are unsure which ones your users have, see COM add-ins vs JavaScript add-ins.