Using PowerPoint’s Compare Feature
When I was a kid, there were two things I loved about doctor’s visits. One- the endless supply of free lollipops. (Obviously.) And two- the Highlights magazines in the waiting room. Do you remember those? Sure they were old and most of the word searches and other puzzles had already been solved but they were still fun to look at.
As an adult, though, I try to reduce the amount of time I spend playing “spot the difference” with seemingly identical versions of presentations. Using PowerPoint’s Compare feature is one of the best ways to avoid wasting time on this very task.
What is the Compare Tool?
In case you’ve never noticed the Compare button hanging out in the Review tab, here’s a quick rundown. This handy PowerPoint tool allows you to merge two versions of the same presentation to review things such as slide changes and comments from others working on the same project.
It’s extremely helpful to use when you’re working on a presentation with others and you need to understand and track changes or notes that have been made.
How Does It Work?
When you’re in PowerPoint, you can click the Review tab near the top of the screen and then click Compare. This will open a window for you to browse for the file you want to compare.
Once the file is open, an area titled Revisions will populate.
In the Revisions area, you’ll see a summary of any slide changes, the change details, and comments entered by other presentation reviewers.
You can also click on the listed changes to see them on the actual PowerPoint slides.
What to do After Comparing
Once you’ve compared the changes, you have the option of accepting or rejecting them. Each slide that has been changed will be identified with an icon that looks like a piece of paper with a pencil. When you click this icon, you will see a checkbox.
If you would like to accept the changes, select the checkbox and your presentation will be updated automatically. If you would like to reject a change you simply leave this box unchecked.
Conclusion
And that’s all folks! The tedious and stressful task of searching for hidden changes and comparing various file versions is no match for PowerPoint’s Compare feature! If you found this helpful drop a comment or share this with a friend below.
