I just used the trial version of “DocumentCompare” yesterday and I’m buying it today. It has saved me a lot of work and grief. Four days ago an application I made to the U.S. government was returned to me stating that I had submitted an out-dated version of a form. After downloading the latest form and its 42 page instruction PDF I began copying my entries from the older version to the newer one. When I finished I found there was no difference in the two except for the issue date. I was worried I had missed something so. I started manually comparing the earlier and current 42 page instructions PDF. 45 minutes and one page later I realized I was being stupid. I knew there was software that could compare documents but I had never used any. I downloaded the trial version of DocumentCompare, “Saved” the two Adobe Reader files to TEXT, selected them in “DocumentCompare” and waited. Nothing seemed to happen. Then I noticed a few unimportant words and a sentence in colors at the bottom of the screen. “DocumentCompare” had searched the two 42 page documents faster than I could observe. I purchased “DocumentCompare” today and while I may never have to compare two documents again, “DocumentCompare” has paid for itself already.

The price seems a little steep at first, but it's worth it. It works well, and the interface is intuitive. It's great for comparing different versions of documents, and I expect it will prove equally useful for code.