How to Compare Two Versions of Word 2013 Documents

If you have two Word documents and want to see the differences between them, use the Compare feature in Word. You can also merge two versions in the same document.

However, be careful. Make sure you merge A into B, not B into A.

How to Compare Two Versions of Word 2013 Documents

You can compare and merge two versions of a document and see how they differ.

In both cases, revision marks show the differences.

Do either of the following:

  1. Open the first document that you want to compare.
  2. On the Review menu, click Compare.
  3. In the Original document list, select the original document.
  4. In the Revised document list, browse to the other version of the document.
  5. Select the Comparison Settings check boxes.
  6. Select Show changes at Character Level or Word level.
  7. Select Show changes in Original, Revised, or New document.
  8. Click OK.

Word merges changes from the revised copy into a new document that is based on the original version of the document.

The original is not affected. Revision marks show differences introduced by the revised document.

How to Compare Two Versions of Word 2010 Documents

Note that if you have a different version of MS Word, these steps might be slightly different. For example, the Compare button might be in the Track Changes section of the Review tab. Besides that, the steps should be the same.