In Document Locator, you can easily launch side-by-side file comparisons using third-party or ColumbiaSoft Professional Services differencing tools. This simplifies the process of determining the difference between two separate files, or historical changes in a file.

You can launch third-party differencing tools from within Document Locator to compare file differences. Simply place the differencing tool’s command line inside the document management system and launch the differencing application to compare files in Document Locator.

General steps

1. Navigate to Repository Configuration in Document Locator and launch Extension Manager
2. Highlight an existing extension
3. Enter the information for the differencing tool’s executable file path
4. Enter the command line parameters to specify the source and destination file to compare

MS Word comparison tools and sample configurations

WorkShare

WorkShare is an application that lets you compare the differences between Word documents.

• Path to executable: C:\Program Files\Workshare\DeltaView\DeltaVw.exe
• Parameters: /original=file://[File1] /modified=file://[File2]

Softinterface WordDocDiff and Diff Doc

Both these applications are fairly inexpensive compared to others that can compare MS Word documents.

• Path to executable: C:\Program Files\SoftInterface, Inc\DiffDoc\WDD.EXE
• Parameters: /M[File1] /S[File2]

Columbiasoft Professional Services solutions – Please contact [email protected] for additional details.

MS Excel comparison tools and sample configurations

Excel Diff

ExcelDiff is manufactured by ComponentSoftware and is used to compare differences between Excel files.

• Path to executable: C:\Program Files\ComponentSoftware\ExcelDiff\ExcelDiff.exe
• Parameters: [File1] [File2]

Columbiasoft Professional Services solutions – Please contact [email protected] for additional details.

Multiple file type comparison tools and sample configurations

Compare Suite

Compare Suite is manufactured by AKS-LABS and compares any to any file, including these popular office formats: MS Word, Excel, PDF, Web Pages.

• Path to executable: C:\Program Files\Compare Suite\comparesuite.exe (for report only: /r:C:\report.html)
• Parameters: [File1] [File2]
• Additional info: Command line interface details

Text comparison tools and sample configurations

CompareIT

CompareIT is an application that lets you compare the differences between text documents.

• Path to executable: C:\Program Files\compare it\wincmp.exe
• Parameters: [File1] [File2]

Windiff

Windif is a text-comparison tool that comes as part of the Microsoft Visual Studio installation.

• Path to executable: Depends on the version of MS Visual Studio.
• Parameters: [File1] [File2]