<s>
Document	B-Protocol
comparison	I-Protocol
,	O
also	O
known	O
as	O
redlining	O
or	O
blacklining	O
,	O
is	O
a	O
computer	O
process	O
by	O
which	O
changes	O
are	O
identified	O
between	O
two	O
versions	B-Architecture
of	O
the	O
same	O
document	O
for	O
the	O
purposes	O
of	O
document	O
editing	O
and	O
review	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Document	B-Protocol
comparison	I-Protocol
is	O
a	O
common	O
task	O
in	O
the	O
legal	O
and	O
financial	O
industries	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
software-based	O
document	B-Protocol
comparison	I-Protocol
process	O
compares	O
a	O
reference	O
document	O
to	O
a	O
target	O
document	O
,	O
and	O
produces	O
a	O
third	O
document	O
which	O
indicates	O
(	O
by	O
colored	O
highlighting	O
or	O
by	O
differing	O
font	O
characteristics	O
)	O
information	O
(	O
text	O
,	O
graphics	O
,	O
formulas	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
Common	O
documents	O
formats	O
for	O
comparison	O
include	O
word	B-General_Concept
processing	I-General_Concept
documents	O
(	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	B-Application
Word	I-Application
)	O
,	O
spreadsheets	B-Application
,	O
presentations	O
(	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
PowerPoint	B-Application
)	O
,	O
and	O
Portable	B-Application
Document	I-Application
Format	I-Application
(	O
PDF	B-Application
)	O
documents	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
broadest	O
definition	O
,	O
document	B-Protocol
comparison	I-Protocol
can	O
refer	O
to	O
any	O
act	O
of	O
marking	O
changes	O
made	O
between	O
two	O
versions	B-Architecture
of	O
the	O
same	O
document	O
and	O
presenting	O
those	O
changes	O
in	O
a	O
third	O
document	O
via	O
a	O
graphical	B-Application
user	I-Application
interface	I-Application
(	O
GUI	B-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
several	O
variants	O
in	O
the	O
types	O
of	O
changes	O
registered	O
through	O
the	O
process	O
of	O
document	B-Protocol
comparison	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
programs	O
limit	O
comparison	O
to	O
solely	O
text	O
and	O
table	O
content	O
in	O
word	B-General_Concept
processing	I-General_Concept
documents	O
,	O
while	O
others	O
register	O
changes	O
made	O
in	O
spreadsheets	B-Application
and	O
presentations	O
,	O
along	O
with	O
changes	O
made	O
in	O
versions	B-Architecture
of	O
PDF	B-Application
documents	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Certain	O
programs	O
also	O
exist	O
that	O
compare	O
changes	O
made	O
to	O
objects	O
like	O
JPEG	O
,	O
TIFF	O
,	O
BMP	B-Device
,	O
PNG	O
images	O
embedded	O
in	O
documents	O
,	O
and	O
plain	O
text	O
files	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Document	B-Protocol
comparison	I-Protocol
solutions	O
mark	O
changes	O
made	O
to	O
the	O
following	O
types	O
of	O
documents	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Word	B-General_Concept
processing	I-General_Concept
documents	O
Text	O
in	O
paragraphs	O
and	O
in	O
text	O
boxes	O
;	O
bullets	O
and	O
numbering	O
;	O
tables	O
of	O
content	O
;	O
applied	O
styles	O
;	O
design	O
and	O
layout	O
elements	O
;	O
tables	O
,	O
including	O
additions	O
and	O
deletions	O
of	O
rows	O
;	O
embedded	O
objects	O
;	O
inserted	O
images	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Spreadsheets	B-Application
Values	O
;	O
formulas	O
;	O
additions	O
and	O
deletions	O
to	O
rows	O
and	O
columns	O
,	O
applied	O
styles	O
;	O
design	O
and	O
layout	O
elements	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PDF	B-Application
Documents	I-Application
Text	O
,	O
table	O
,	O
image	O
and	O
other	O
changes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
common	O
for	O
document	B-Protocol
comparison	I-Protocol
software	O
vendors	O
to	O
present	O
forms	O
of	O
the	O
compared	O
document	O
in	O
separate	O
windows	O
in	O
a	O
GUI	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
the	O
list	O
of	O
changes	O
made	O
between	O
document	O
versions	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
Presentation	O
of	O
changes	O
made	O
between	O
document	O
versions	B-Architecture
are	O
also	O
traditionally	O
customizable	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
one	O
standard	O
display	O
of	O
showing	O
deletions	O
with	O
red	O
underlines	O
and	O
additions	O
with	O
blue	O
underlines	O
is	O
still	O
used	O
by	O
many	O
document	B-Protocol
comparison	I-Protocol
products	O
,	O
some	O
programs	O
allow	O
users	O
to	O
customize	O
the	O
presentation	O
of	O
changes	O
in	O
the	O
redline/comparison	O
document	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Prior	O
to	O
personal	O
computers	O
,	O
document	B-Protocol
comparison	I-Protocol
entailed	O
the	O
printing	O
of	O
two	O
versions	B-Architecture
of	O
a	O
single	O
document	O
and	O
reviewing	O
those	O
hard	O
copies	O
in	O
detail	O
for	O
changes	O
and	O
version	O
amendment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
the	O
advent	O
of	O
personal	O
computers	O
and	O
the	O
ubiquity	O
of	O
word	B-General_Concept
processing	I-General_Concept
software	O
,	O
the	O
need	O
arose	O
to	O
find	O
a	O
way	O
to	O
manage	O
changes	O
made	O
to	O
document	O
versions	B-Architecture
shared	O
via	O
disk	O
,	O
and	O
later	O
email	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Early	O
document	B-Protocol
comparison	I-Protocol
software	O
solutions	O
provided	O
robust	O
document	O
review	O
,	O
checking	O
all	O
the	O
text	O
in	O
two	O
documents	O
for	O
changes	O
,	O
and	O
then	O
presenting	O
those	O
changes	O
in	O
a	O
third	O
redline/comparison	O
version	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
documents	O
changed	O
and	O
evolved	O
,	O
so	O
did	O
document	B-Protocol
comparison	I-Protocol
solutions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Many	O
document	B-Protocol
comparison	I-Protocol
solutions	O
had	O
difficulty	O
comparing	O
tables	O
in	O
document	O
versions	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
later	O
software	O
(	O
especially	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Word	I-Application
)	O
enabled	O
multiple	O
types	O
of	O
information	O
to	O
be	O
presented	O
in	O
a	O
single	O
document	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Compound	O
documents	O
could	O
include	O
text	O
,	O
tables	O
,	O
and	O
various	O
styles	O
,	O
and	O
could	O
also	O
include	O
a	O
range	O
of	O
embedded	O
objects	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
Excel	B-Application
,	O
Visio	B-Application
,	O
ChemDraw	B-Application
,	O
and	O
SmartDraw	B-Application
objects	O
,	O
and	O
inserted	O
images	O
in	O
a	O
range	O
of	O
types	O
(	O
including	O
jpg	O
,	O
tiff	O
,	O
bmp	B-Device
,	O
and	O
gif	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
this	O
enhancement	O
greatly	O
increased	O
the	O
usefulness	O
of	O
documents	O
,	O
it	O
added	O
an	O
entirely	O
new	O
layer	O
of	O
risk	O
to	O
organizations	O
that	O
needed	O
to	O
fully	O
understand	O
changes	O
made	O
to	O
document	O
versions	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
majority	O
of	O
document	B-Protocol
comparison	I-Protocol
software	O
programs	O
have	O
not	O
yet	O
included	O
mechanisms	O
to	O
mitigate	O
the	O
risk	O
related	O
to	O
changes	O
inside	O
of	O
embedded	O
objects	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
software	O
program	O
that	O
can	O
compare	O
changes	O
made	O
in	O
embedded	O
objects	O
provides	O
pixel-to-pixel	O
comparison	O
of	O
images	O
and	O
cell-level	O
comparison	O
of	O
embedded	O
Excel	B-Application
spreadsheets	B-Application
and	O
other	O
changes	O
made	O
to	O
these	O
complex	O
,	O
compound	O
documents	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Document	B-Protocol
comparison	I-Protocol
provides	O
a	O
method	O
of	O
quality	O
assurance	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Additionally	O
,	O
document	B-Protocol
comparison	I-Protocol
provides	O
assurances	O
that	O
no	O
unwarranted	O
changes	O
were	O
made	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Professionals	O
in	O
the	O
banking	O
,	O
finance	O
and	O
accounting	O
industries	O
manage	O
large	O
amounts	O
of	O
data	O
in	O
spreadsheets	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
one	O
change	O
to	O
a	O
value	O
or	O
formula	O
could	O
affect	O
a	O
substantial	O
amount	O
of	O
data	O
,	O
these	O
professionals	O
find	O
document	B-Protocol
comparison	I-Protocol
(	O
such	O
as	O
comparison	O
of	O
two	O
versions	B-Architecture
of	O
a	O
MS	B-Application
Excel	I-Application
spreadsheet	B-Application
)	O
to	O
be	O
extremely	O
useful	O
in	O
assuring	O
accuracy	O
in	O
document	O
change	O
management	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Professionals	O
in	O
these	O
industries	O
regularly	O
work	O
with	O
multiple	O
versions	B-Architecture
of	O
single	O
documents	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Document	B-Protocol
comparison	I-Protocol
software	O
helps	O
these	O
professionals	O
ensure	O
that	O
all	O
changes	O
have	O
been	O
acceptably	O
integrated	O
into	O
latest	O
versions	B-Architecture
and	O
provides	O
them	O
with	O
a	O
speedy	O
understanding	O
of	O
changes	O
made	O
in	O
editing	O
and	O
versioning	O
of	O
the	O
documents	O
they	O
work	O
with	O
.	O
</s>
