Pdf Compare for PDF-Xchange Viewer

[islandmyth]

Hello again!

Is it possible to have a pdf compare within the viewer?

This is how it should work;

I have 2 pdf files both have the same content but with different corrections from different sources.
Is there a way that I can manage to see the differences of the 2 files? Maybe the differences will be save in a new pdf
This new pdf will highlight the differences of the two files.

I was thinking about it for long time. I think it is very difficult and useless unless you have this need.
Please don't hesitate to post your comments about this.


Many thanks.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello islandmyth,

There is no way to directly compare the changes, but something I think might be a good idea is this:

All changes done to a pdf file are generally done over the initial content in an "annotations layer" so if you try the Comments -> Summarize comments" and then compare the resulting files you will see where the differences are.

Regards,
Stefan

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Further to Stefan's comments there are quite a number of tools that handle differences in text files:

diff (http://www.gnu.org/software/diffutils/ http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/diffutils.htm)
ComparteIt - use to be 'windiff' (http://www.grigsoft.com/wincmp3.htm, http://www.grigsoft.com/download-windiff.htm, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinDiff)
kdiff (http://kdiff3.sourceforge.net/) spring to mind.

These make it very easy to compare the output from the comments summary.

[islandmyth]

This is very helpful to me. Thanks a lot. I will check this out

More power

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

[PDFvieweruser]

I don't need to compare text files but I do need to compare PDFs that are generated by a CAD program to see what changes occurred. Is there any ability in the software to overlay documents, say one in black and one in semi-transparent red? We have both the PDF-XChange 4 Pro and the PDF-XChange Viewer applications available to us.

[John - Tracker Supp]

Lovely thought - but no I am afraid this is not available - in Version 3 (released later this summer) we will be adding the option to add to the feature's available via plugins.

The 'beauty' of this expansion method for the future is that users can add features that are relevant to them and avoid adding 'bloat' that might confuse above and beyond the generally useful feature set with a wider audience - and this sounds an ideal subject for just such a 'Plugin' set - we do intend on adding a 'CAD' plugin authored by ourselves - but plugins will also be available for 3rd party specialist authors to create and provide, as well as supporting those compatible with Adobe's products too.

We will be starting a forum specifically for plugins and all suggestions etc and would invite you to subscribe just as soon as it becomes available and add your requests there.

Many thanks

[PDFvieweruser]

OK, I'll have to wait for that. BTW, XChange with Viewer is a great software package - highly useful and user friendly. Keep up the good work!

[John - Tracker Supp]

Many thanks for the kind words - always appreciated !

[bhud]

very good thread ! Helped alot. Waiting for version 3. A very good utility

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

We all are bhud