Document compare software alternatives

[NaphtaliPress]

What do folks know as far as alternatives for document comparison programs. I found something online but after a few freebies they want monthly or annual subscription. I'm comparing the transcription of a manuscript version to the published version of a text and want to see matches and similarities to be able to note or quantify the extent of the changes (e.g., almost unchanged to drastically revised with few similarities). I've basically been reading in parallel but need to move faster than that. So far I'm not getting as good results as the manual check. MS Word document compare is little good for this.

 

[fredtgreco]

Chris,

The best compare program I have used (in legal work) is Workshare Compare. But it is not free (or cheap) about $150 per year for a license.

 

[NaphtaliPress]

Chris,

The best compare program I have used (in legal work) is Workshare Compare. But it is not free (or cheap) about $150 per year for a license.

Thanks Fred; that is a bit too much for the budget when I'm not sure it will be used beyond the next month.

 

[Logan]

If it is just plain text (or can be easily converted to plain text, e.g. with a copy/paste) then Notepad++ has an excellent Compare plugin that can be easily installed from directly inside the application (Plugins>plugin admin>search for Compare). It will highlight green for added text, red for missing text. It's free open source.

 

[Logan]

Did you find a solution?

 

[NaphtaliPress]

I didn't find anything that worked for lectures with too many differences, but the lectures of late have been similar enough that Word document compare has worked much better. But I'm now using a process where I use the final text published as a base to modify back to the manuscript reading and simply note the changes between the two that way in both texts. It's slower going than typing but since I have to do the compare after typing otherwise, it is faster in the long run. It would be nice if a program would find the same bits even if drastically in different places.

Did you find a solution?