Diff Checker
Frequently asked questions
What is a diff, and where does the term come from?
The word "diff" comes from programming – it is the name of a utility for comparing code files line by line. The same idea works for ordinary text: what matters is not only the difference itself, but exactly where in the document's structure it happened.
Why did the comparison show a difference where the text looks the same?
A common reason is invisible characters: an extra space, a non-breaking space, a different type of quotation mark, or a line break. Such discrepancies are invisible to the eye, but the tool catches them because it compares characters, not how the text looks visually.
Is the text sent to a server when comparing?
No, the comparison runs right in the browser – neither of the two texts is sent to a server. This also applies to confidential documents: they never leave the device while working with the tool.
Is there a limit on the length of text being compared?
There is no practical limit on text size – precisely because the comparison is calculated locally. You can compare not only paragraphs but entire large documents.
Can Word or PDF documents be compared?
The tool works with text pasted into the field. Text from a document needs to be copied out first – formatting, images and tables are not compared, only the text itself.
Does the comparison take paragraph order into account?
Yes, the comparison is line by line: if paragraphs were swapped, the tool will show it as a removal in one place and an addition in another, not as a match between the moved fragments.
Paste the original text on the left, the new version on the right – the tool instantly highlights the difference: removed words in the left panel, added ones in the right, down to a single word inside a changed line.
How to compare two texts
Comparing 2 texts takes three steps and needs no settings.
- Paste the original on the left. This is the "before" version – what the new text will be compared against.
- Paste the new version on the right. The comparison runs right away, with no separate button – the result updates as you type.
- Look at the highlighting. Removed fragments are marked in the left panel, added ones in the right. Inside a changed line the difference is shown at the level of single words, not the whole line, so you see exactly what changed.
What comparing texts is used for
- Editing an article. Check what changed in a new draft without reading it all over again.
- Checking a meta description. Compare the old and new version of a title or description before publishing.
- Code review. Work out the difference between versions of a small piece of code or config.
- Checking a contractor's edits. Make sure exactly what was agreed on was changed in the text – and nothing more.
What to do after comparing
If after comparing you need to merge the edits or rephrase something once more, the find and replace tool comes in handy. Before comparing two versions copied from different sources, it is worth running both through the text cleaner first – otherwise a difference in invisible spaces will look like a difference in content. It is also convenient to check the final length of the finished text with the word counter.