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ICT Skills 2

Can you find the differences between two versions of the same document without going through them manually? (14/24)

Yes

Find out

You can compare two documents either in one document or side by side.

To compare two documents:

  1. Use Tools|Compare and Merge Documents to merge them in one of the compared documents
  2. A dialog box opens where you need to select the document you want to compare the existing one with
  3. As a result, the second document opens – the parts from this document that coincide with parts from the first document will appear as normal, in black, while the parts that are missing/in surplus will be inserted/deleted and colour marked
  4. They will look like any Track Changes additions or deletions (see topic 13 for more on Tracking Changes)

Why is this information important for translators and translation teachers?
Knowing how to compare documents can be extremely useful for translators since it can help them, for example, to find out what changes have been made to an original document that they already translated before, or what changes have been made by the proof-reader to the translation they did – this only in case the proof-reader has forgotten to use the tracking-changes function –, among others.

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