The legal blackline option compares two documents and displays what changed between them in a third new document. The documents that are being compared are not changed.Â
Caution:Â If you want to compare changes from a number of reviewers, do not select this option. Instead, choose Combine revisions from multiple authors into a single document.
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Open the two documents that you want to compare.
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On the Review tab, in the Compare group, select Compare.
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Click Compare two versions of a document (legal blackline).
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Under Original document, browse for and select the document that you want to use as the original document.
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Under Revised document, browse for and select the other document that you want to compare.
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Choose the options for what you want Word to compare, such as comments, formatting, and text changes. Under Show changes, select whether you want to display changes at the character level or the word level. Â
Notes:Â
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By default, Word displays the comparison results in a new document. Under Show changes in, you can choose to display the comparison results in the Original document or Revised document instead.
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Selecting either option will modify the selected document.
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Select OK.Â
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If either version of the document has tracked changes, Microsoft Word displays a message box about this. You can click Yes to accept the changes and compare the documents.
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Microsoft Word displays a new third document in which tracked changes in the original document are accepted, and changes in the revised document are shown as tracked changes.
The source documents that are being compared are not changed.Â
