# Executing the Difference Detection Plug-in

This topic describes how to detect differences between documents by using the Difference Detection plug-in.

- Detecting differences
- Display configuration of comparison results

Note

- This plug-in compares the contents of documents page by page, provided the documents have the same page size (height-to-width ratio). The contents cannot be compared across pages with different numbers.
- The plug-in cannot be executed if the total number of pages in the selected two documents exceeds 100.
- Differences cannot be detected and an error will occur if:

- Either or both documents are locked.
- Security settings are applied to either one or both documents.
- Either or both documents have 0 pages.
- A document or page has collapsed.

- If the page size is too large, differences may not be detected.
- In image comparison mode, deskewing and color correction are not performed. Therefore, differences in scanned documents may not be accurately detected.
- The text comparison mode cannot detect differences in the following text:

- Text converted to an image in the original file
- OCR-processed text in the original file
- Annotations in DocuWorks or PDF documents
- Layout information such as left-align and vertical writing, text formatting styles such as bold, underline, and text color, font type and text size, etc.

- The text comparison mode may not detect differences in vertical text or rotated text.
- It may identify changes made during text conversion to an image as differences.
- You cannot perform any other Desk operations while detecting differences.

## Detecting differences

Procedure
1.
Select two documents of the same format (DocuWorks document, DocuWorks binder, or PDF document), then click the [Difference Detection] plug-in button in the toolbar or the task toolbar.
The [Difference Detection Settings] dialog box appears.
The path of the first selected document is entered in [Comparison Source], and the path of the later selected document is entered in [Comparison Target]. Click [Swap] to switch between [Comparison Source] and [Comparison Target].
If you select only a single document, its path will be entered in [Comparison Source]. If no document is selected, [Comparison Source] and [Comparison Target] will remain empty.
2.
Select [Convert to image and compare] or [Compare text only], then click [Execute].
A dialog box will appear, displaying the progress of detecting differences.
Once the differences are detected, a summary of the comparison results will be displayed in the web browser.
3.
Click [Display Content] in the summary of the comparison results.
The results will be displayed.
Note
If you click [Execute] again with the [Difference Detection Settings] dialog box displayed, the previous results will be deleted.

## Display configuration of comparison results

### Action bar

#### [Side-by-Side View]

Displays the source document on the left and the target document on the right, side by side. The box is selected by default.

#### [Comparison Source Document]

Displays only the source document.

#### [Comparison Target Document]

Displays only the target document.

#### [Overlay View]

Superimposes the source document and target document.

#### [Previous Change] (Different location/ Total number of differences) [Next Change]

Navigates to the previous or next section with differences.
Immediately after displaying the comparison results, "0" will appear for the different location.

#### [Summary of Comparison Results]

Displays a summary of the comparison results.

### Difference highlighting

Sections with differences will be highlighted with a box or color.
How to display differences varies depending on the comparison mode.
When [Side-by-Side View] is selected, hovering the mouse cursor over anywhere in a document will highlight the corresponding location in the other document.
Note
When [Side-by-Side View], [Comparison Source Document], or [Comparison Target Document] is selected, an icon () appears in the upper left corner of the page that could not be compared. Click the icon to view the reason.

#### Image comparison mode

By default, detected differences are highlighted with a red box. You can modify the shape and color settings for the section enclosed in a box.

#### Text comparison mode

Different text will be highlighted with color and marked with an icon. Clicking the highlighted text or its icon will pop up information about the difference.
The highlight color changes according to the type of difference.

Highlight color | Type of difference | Description | Icon
--- | --- | --- | ---
Yellow | Replacement | Text change Text in both the source and target document is highlighted. | Not displayed
Green | Insertion | Text not found in the source document Text in the target document is highlighted. | Corresponding location in the source document
Red | Deletion | Text not found in the target document Text in the source document is highlighted. | Corresponding location in the target document

### File name

The name of the currently open file is displayed.

### Settings

Settings are displayed only when [Overlay View] is selected.

#### When [Side-by-Side View], [Comparison Source Document], or [Comparison Target Document] is selected (in image comparison mode)

The file names of the source document and target document are displayed.

- [Shape of Difference Area]
  Select a box style to highlight different locations. The default setting is [Line].
- [Color of Difference Area]
  Select a frame color to highlight different locations. The default setting is [Red].

#### When [Overlay View] is selected

The file names of the source document and target document are displayed.
Switches between the file names of the source document and target document.
Displays the file name. Click here to hide the file name.
Hides the file name. Click here to display the file name.

- [Transparency of the document placed below]
  Select the transparency level of the beneath documents, from 0 to 100. The default setting is 50.
- [Shape of Difference Area] (in image comparison mode)
  Select a box style to highlight different locations. The default setting is [Line].
- [Color of Difference Area] (in image comparison mode)
  Select a frame color to highlight different locations. The default setting is [Red].