Revision guide
How to Compare Two Versions of a Text
A good text comparison answers three questions: what stayed, what was removed, and what was added.
Prepare comparable versions
Place the earlier version on the left and the revised version on the right. Keep paragraph breaks when they carry meaning, and avoid cleaning only one side before comparing because that creates irrelevant differences.
Read changes in context
A deletion is not necessarily lost meaning; the same idea may have been replaced elsewhere. Review the highlighted sequence first, then use the word and character summary to understand the size of the revision.
- Added text shows material present only in the compared version.
- Removed text shows material present only in the original.
- Unchanged segments anchor the surrounding edits.
- Similarity summarizes overlap but does not judge quality.
Worked comparison
Small wording changes can alter precision even when the overall similarity remains high.
The team will review the report soon.
The support team will review the accessibility report on Friday.
Use the right follow-up check
After locating edits, compare word counts if a length limit matters, or compare vocabulary to see whether terminology changed. For legal, academic, or technical material, read every highlighted change in its full context.
Questions about this topic
Does similarity measure writing quality?
No. It measures overlap between the two supplied texts.
Can I compare documents from the internet?
No. TextoLab compares only the two texts you paste.
Does whitespace affect the comparison?
Some spacing is preserved because it may be meaningful; normalize both versions first if formatting noise is unwanted.