#  Other Applications & Softwares  > Word Formatting & General >  > [SOLVED] Comparing Multiple Word Documents

## liquidmettle

Hi Everyone,

I'm currently sorting through a folder where many copies of the same documents were placed. I have been using the Compare feature in MS word but it is damn tedious. 

Is there a macro I can use that will run the compare feature and open the file picker so that after running the macro the only two clicks I need to make are the 2 files to compare? For some files there are up to 8 copies and I need to rule out which are the same vs have differences (and many are not named exactly the same, but have (#) after them- if there were a way to automate comparison of all files with the same name up to the first parentheses that would be amazing!))

I know this is a relatively simple macro conceptually but my brain is broken at the moment.

Thanks in advance for all your assistance!

----------


## macropod

You might start here: https://www.excelforum.com/word-prog...ml#post5323754

----------


## liquidmettle

Hi Macropod that was very helpful! I did try searching but none of what I searched for was in that thread I guess.

A few questions:

Is the revised document just combining everything into one? For instance I am looking through documents that have verses/stanzas and I'm trying to determine which are identical so I can just delete them. Of the ones that are not identical, I do not want to necessarily just combine the content that isn't identical as some may be older drafts or have only one or two elements I want to keep.

Honestly I would be happy if this just told me Yea or Nay on identicalness or not. I could burn through the files and delete the duplicates then go back and compare the differences. Open to suggestions, and thank you so much for your quick reply!

----------


## macropod

If you want to compare whether files are the same, you could use any of the plethora of Windows file comparison utilities. You could delete all the duplicates so that you then need only compare the differences within Word.

----------


## liquidmettle

My problem is I don't know which are duplicates (content wise) and I can't assume. The MS Word Compare feature is slow and tedious to use on a large number of files since it can only compare 2 things at a time and its generally terrible.

Your script accomplishes the first thing I was hoping for (easy/quick automation of the filepicker that I can tie to a command button), but really all I need beyond that is to know if the docs are the same, not to necessarily have them combine into a new doc (or, if they do combine into a new doc, if the combined text could be different colors so I can see what was unique between them, etc. and then auto delete the old).

----------


## macropod

> My problem is I don't know which are duplicates (content wise) and I can't assume.



Which is precisely why I suggested:




> If you want to compare whether files are the same, you could use any of the plethora of Windows file comparison utilities. You could delete all the duplicates so that you then need only compare the differences within Word.







> The MS Word Compare feature is slow and tedious to use on a large number of files since it can only compare 2 things at a time and its generally terrible.



Word's file comparison utility does an excellent job of comparing everything - including formatting.




> Your script accomplishes the first thing I was hoping for (easy/quick automation of the filepicker that I can tie to a command button), but really all I need beyond that is to know if the docs are the same



which is exactly what a file comparison utility does.




> not to necessarily have them combine into a new doc (or, if they do combine into a new doc, if the combined text could be different colors so I can see what was unique between them, etc. and then auto delete the old).



which is precisely what Word's document comparison tool can be used for.

One way or another, you're going to have to eyeball each non-exact duplicate.

----------


## liquidmettle

I don't mind eyeballing the unique versions, but Word's compare feature, while functionally excellent, is awful to use- the sheer amount of clicks and mouse movements necessary make it a non-starter for anything more than a handful of documents at one time. At least half the time it doesn't remember the folder I last pulled from and I still have 400 some files to go through (those 400 being composed of groups of duplicates from 3 to 10ish files). Yes, if I only had a small number of files I'd have just used it, but I've also had a rather bad day, on top of a rather bad few months (I've had about 2-3 full, don't need to think about work at all days off in the last 80) and this thread now just feels like arguing. Which I don't want to be doing. 

I appreciate your initial help, I guess I'll muddle through and hope I can figure it out. 

Thank you.

----------


## macropod

I have already pointed you to a macro to simplify the comparison tool's use. If you're concerned to ensure the macro always looks in a particular folder, simply specify that folder via the two lines coded as:



```
Please Login or Register  to view this content.
```


For example, to ensure the dialogs open in a 'Poems' sub-folder of your 'Documents' folder:



```
Please Login or Register  to view this content.
```

----------

