Articles on: Recital Basics

Comparing documents with Recital

Recital document comparison is powered by Litera. It works with Word and PDF documents, providing a 100% trustworthy redlining experience every time even when comparing Word and PDF documents.

This article covers:
How to compare documents
Redline colors
Comparing protected documents

How to compare documents


Click Compare in the left navigation:

Left Navigation - Compare Link

This brings you to a blank comparison page.

Blank Comparison

From here, you can click Upload file to browse to the file on your computer. Or, you can drag and drop the file:

Drag and Drop a Word File

Recital's comparison works best when comparing Word documents. Comparing PDF documents is supported, but results will vary depending on the formatting of the PDF.

Once two files have been uploaded, Recital will load the comparison directly in your browser:

Displayed Comparison

Changes are indicated as blue underlined text for additions, red and strike-through for removed text, and green and underlined for moved text.

The comparison can also be opened in Word (with changes as Word Track Changes) or downloaded in PDF format from a button on the top right (click the down arrow to see PDF option).

Open in Word or Download PDF

Word Track Changes does not support indicating moved text, and instead shows moved text as a deletion and a fresh insertion.

Redline colors


Green means text that has been moved in the document. The green text that is strikethrough is the location of the text in the original document, and the green text that is underlined is the new location in the revised document.

Blue, underlined text means text that has been inserted in the revised version of the document vs the original version of the file.

Red, strikethrough text means text that has been deleted in the revised version of the document vs the original version of the file.

Black text means text that hasn't changed from the original version to the revised version.

Comparing protected documents


It’s not uncommon to attempt to discourage negotiation by sending a file that is restricted for editing in some way. There are also sometimes attempts to keep a file confidential by adding a password to even open it. These protections are barriers to comparing them in Recital; Litera will not compare Word documents that have a password required to open it, or PDF files with a password required to edit. This restriction is understandable for Word, if a bit of a blocker, but doesn’t make sense for PDFs.

Many of these restrictions, however, are not technical; they are merely suggestions. Tools are available to remove them, allowing them to be compared in Recital. In future, Recital may automatically remove passwords during the comparison process. If you'd like to vote for us to prioritize this work, send us a message explaining which files (Word or PDF) you'd like us to improve and how much time that would save you.

Word


If the Word document requires a password to modify, or if the document is “protected”, Recital can compare the documents as-is with no action needed by a user.

If the Word document requires a password to open, the password must be removed before the document can be compared in Recital. Here is how to remove the password.

PDF


Recital cannot compare PDFs that are locked with a password.

It's possible to remove a PDF password using Chrome. The PDF without password can then be compared in Recital. Drag and drop the PDF into a new tab in Chrome, or use Chrome's File > Open. Then click Print, choose "Save as PDF" for "Destination," and click Save. (There's a slightly-out-of-date walkthrough here, starting after you've opened the PDF in Chrome.) The saved file will have the password removed, and can be compared using Recital.

Updated on: 23/01/2024

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