WD97: Compare Documents Reinserts Deleted Paragraph Marks

ID: Q185483

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Word 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

When you compare editing revisions between an original document and its revised counterpart (on the Tools menu, point to Track Changes, and click Compare Documents), the layout of the document may change. For example, additional lines and page breaks may appear, and line wrapping may change.

For an example of this behavior, see the "More Information" section later in this article.

CAUSE

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Word.

When comparing documents, if revisions include deleted paragraph marks or manual line breaks, new lines may appear to indicate lines that were deleted. Word must display any paragraph marks that were deleted to accurately display the differences between the compared documents.

Also, the word immediately preceding the deleted paragraph mark or manual line break is listed as part of the revision, and therefore appears twice (as being deleted and then added back).

WORKAROUND

Although you cannot work around this behavior, you can quickly turn revision marks on and off. To do this, use either of the following methods.

Method 1: Create a Macro

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about the support options available from Microsoft, please see the following page on the World Wide Web:

http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/refguide/

For additional information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q163435 VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications

Q173707 OFF97: How to Run Sample Code from Knowledge Base Articles

To quickly turn revision marks on and off, use the following sample Visual Basic for Applications macro:


   Sub ToggleShowRevisions()
      ActiveDocument.ShowRevisions = Not ActiveDocument.ShowRevisions
   End Sub

You can also assign this macro to a toolbar or menu for quick access.

For more information about adding a command to a menu, click Contents And Index on the Help menu, click the Index tab in Word Help, type the following text

menus

and then double-click the selected text to go to the "Add a command or other item to a menu" topic. If you are unable to find the information you need, ask the Office Assistant.

Method 2: Use the Highlight Changes Command

To manually turn revision marks on and off, follow these steps:

On the Tools menu point to Track Changes and click Highlight Changes.

In the Highlight Changes dialog box, click to clear (uncheck) or select (check) the "Highlight changes on screen" check box.

MORE INFORMATION

The following sample text demonstrates this behavior.

NOTE: denotes a paragraph mark.

Original Document (Document 1) - Before Revisions

The Title.
More Title.
SubTitle.

Copy of Original Document (Document 2) - After Revisions

The Title.More Title.
SubTitle.

After Comparing Documents

The Title.(<- Red Strikethrough: Deletion)(<-Red: Deletion)
The Title.(<- Red Underline: Addition)More Title.
SubTitle.

NOTE: Although it is not shown here, the deleted paragraph mark would be displayed as red, given default Track Changes settings (on the Tools menu, click Options; then click the Track Changes tab). Additional text around the deleted paragraph mark may be displayed as strikethrough and/or underlined.

To reproduce this behavior, follow these steps:

In Word, create a new document.

In the new blank document, type "Title." and press ENTER.

Type "More Title." and press ENTER.

Type "SubTitle."

Save the document as Before.Doc.

Delete the paragraph mark you created when pressing ENTER in step 1.

Your text should now appear as follows:

Title.MoreTitle.
SubTitle.

Save your changes as After.Doc.

On the Tools menu, point to Track Changes, and click Compare Documents.

In the "Select File to Compare With Current Document" dialog box, select the "Before.Doc" that you created in step 5, and click Open.

If Show/Hide is turned on, you should see the deleted paragraph mark.

For additional information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q112165 WD: Separate Modifications Marked as a Single Revision

Q121919 WD: Formatting/Drawing Layer Change Unmarked in Compare

For additional information on Third-Party document conversion solutions, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q192079 WD97: Third-Party Document Comparison Solution "CompareRite"

Additional query words: add chop disk file markings marks redline redlining remove review revision screen strikeout workgroup unmarked first untracked

Keywords : kbdta kbdtacode kbmacroexample word97
Version : WINDOWS:97
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbprb