The fastest way to see what changed between two versions

Microsoft Word has a built-in comparison tool that shows you every difference between two documents side by side or in a single marked-up view. Open the newer version of your document, go to the Review tab, click Compare, and select the older version from your files. Word will create a new document highlighting additions in blue, deletions in red, and moved text in green — you can then accept or reject each change one at a time.

This method works whether the documents have the same filename or completely different names, and whether you edited them days apart or minutes apart. The comparison happens when ready on your computer, not online, so your documents stay private.

Key Takeaways

  • Word's Compare feature is found on the Review tab and creates a marked-up document showing every addition, deletion, and moved phrase.
  • You can view changes in a single document with tracked edits visible, or in a side-by-side layout with both versions open at once.
  • Accepting or rejecting changes one at a time lets you keep some edits and discard others, rather than accepting all changes at once.
  • The comparison runs on your computer, not on Microsoft's servers, so neither document is uploaded or stored in the cloud unless you save it there yourself.

Opening the Compare tool and selecting your documents

Start by opening the newer version of your document in Word. This is the file you want to compare against an older version. Once it is open, click the Review tab at the top of the ribbon.

In the Review tab, look for the Compare button — it is usually in the upper left area, often grouped with other review tools. Click it and select Compare from the dropdown menu (not Combine, which is a different feature for merging edits from multiple people). A dialog box will open asking you to choose the original document — this is the older version you want to compare against. Navigate to the file, select it, and click Open.

Word will now create a new document that shows the differences. This new document is temporary — it exists only while you have it open, and closing it without saving means the comparison disappears. If you want to keep a record of what changed, save this comparison document with a new name like "Document_Comparison_Final.docx".

Understanding what the colors and markings mean

By default, Word displays the comparison in a three-pane layout. The center pane shows the combined document with all changes marked. The left pane shows the original document, and the right pane shows the newer version. Additions appear in blue, deletions appear in red with strikethrough, and text that moved to a different location appears in green.

At the top of the center pane, you will see a list of all changes grouped by type — insertions, deletions, moves, and formatting changes. You can click any change in this list to jump directly to it in the document. This is useful when comparing long documents where you want to focus on specific sections rather than scrolling through the entire file.

If the three-pane view feels crowded on your screen, you can switch to a simpler view by clicking Review again and looking for display options. Some versions of Word let you hide the original and revised panes to see only the combined document with tracked changes, which takes up less space.

Accepting or rejecting individual changes

Once you have the comparison open, you can decide which changes to keep. Click on any change in the center pane — it will highlight in blue. Then click Accept to keep that change, or Reject to remove it and revert to the original text. You can also use the arrow buttons next to Accept and Reject to move through changes one by one without clicking each one manually.

This approach gives you control over which edits stick around. If someone else edited your document and made changes you disagree with, you can reject those specific edits while accepting others. If you want to accept every single change at once, click the dropdown arrow next to Accept and select Accept All Changes — but use this only when you are certain you want to keep everything.

After you finish accepting or rejecting changes, the comparison document becomes a regular Word file with all the tracked changes resolved. You can then save it, print it, or continue editing it normally.

Comparing documents with different formatting or structure

Word's comparison tool works even when the two documents have different fonts, spacing, or paragraph breaks. However, if one document is heavily reformatted compared to the other — for example, if someone changed the entire layout or moved large sections around — the comparison may show more changes than you expect, because Word treats formatting changes as separate from text changes.

If the documents have very different structures (one is single-column and the other is two-column, or one has a table and the other does not), Word will still compare them, but the visual alignment in the side-by-side view may be harder to follow. In these cases, focusing on the center pane with the combined marked-up version is often clearer than trying to read both versions side by side.

For documents that have been reorganized significantly, you may want to skim the comparison first to get a sense of the scope of changes, then decide whether to accept or reject them in sections. This prevents accidentally keeping a large structural change you did not intend to keep.

What happens to your documents during comparison

The comparison happens entirely on your computer. Word does not send either document to Microsoft's servers or store them in the cloud during the process. The new comparison document that Word creates is also stored locally on your machine until you save it — and even then, it goes only where you choose to save it.

If you are working with sensitive documents and privacy is a concern, this local processing is an advantage over some online document comparison tools that require you to upload files. However, if you then save the comparison document to OneDrive or SharePoint, it will be stored there like any other file you save to those services.

After you finish comparing, you can delete the temporary comparison document if you do not need to keep a record of the changes. The original two documents remain unchanged unless you explicitly save over them.

Comparing documents when one is in Track Changes mode

If one of your documents already has Track Changes turned on (meaning edits are already marked with the red strikethrough and blue additions), using Compare can create a confusing layering of tracked changes. Before comparing, turn off Track Changes on both documents by clicking Review and then Track Changes to toggle it off. This ensures the comparison shows only the actual differences between the final versions, not the edits that were already being tracked.

Once you have turned off Track Changes on both files, proceed with the comparison as normal. The new comparison document will show clean, clear differences without the confusion of nested tracked changes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I compare more than two documents at once?

Word's Compare tool works with only two documents at a time. If you need to compare three or more versions, compare the first two, save the result, then compare that result against the third document. This creates a chain of comparisons, though it can become hard to track which changes came from which version.

What if the documents are in different file formats, like one is .docx and one is .doc?

Word can compare documents in different formats as long as both are Word documents. The comparison will work the same way. However, if one document is in a completely different format (like PDF or Google Docs), you will need to convert it to a Word document first, which may introduce formatting changes that show up in the comparison.

Does Word show me formatting changes like font size or bold text?

Yes, Word tracks formatting changes separately from text changes. If someone changed a word from regular to bold, or changed the font size, those changes will appear in the comparison. You can see formatting changes listed in the changes pane at the top of the document, and you can accept or reject them just like text changes.

Can I undo the comparison if I accidentally reject too many changes?

If you reject changes and then realize you made a mistake, you can undo your rejections by pressing Ctrl+Z (or Cmd+Z on Mac) when ready after rejecting them. However, once you close the comparison document, you cannot undo rejections from that session. This is why saving the comparison document before closing it is a good idea — you can reopen it and make different choices if needed.

What is the difference between Compare and Combine?

Compare shows you the differences between two versions of the same document. Combine is used when multiple people have edited separate copies of the same document and you want to merge all their changes into one file. For comparing an old version against a new version, always use Compare, not Combine.