Compare presentations

MarginDiff Presentations compares supported PPTX content and rendered slide images. See [File formats](/docs/file-formats) for input and conversion requirements. Personal application settings are stored in `%APPDATA%\PolywickStudio\DiffyPresents\DiffyPresentationX.ini`. Settings from `%APPDATA%\PolywickStudio\DiffyPresentationX.ini` move automatically when the new file does not already exist. ## Run a comparison The Revision List starts with **Accepted | No | Zone | Section**, followed by slide, object and change details. Check **Accepted** to use Modified content; leave it unchecked to retain Original content. Right-click the list for **Accept all** or **Reject all**. Use **File > Save > Merged Redline** to save a clean `.pptx` using these decisions. Accept all revisions for an object together. Slide-wide changes, speaker notes and changes involving layouts or themes require accepting all revisions on that slide. Inserted, removed or reordered slides require **Accept all** for the comparison. Unsupported combinations are reported without replacing the destination. Accept all saves the complete Modified presentation; Reject all saves the Original presentation. Source files cannot be overwritten. Decisions reset when you run a new comparison. When an accepted object links to a location within another embedded part, the saved link retains that location as well as the linked content. If an accepted object needs a missing embedded workbook, image, or other file, or that file has missing or invalid type information, the save is rejected and the existing destination is preserved. Repair or re-export the source presentation, then compare it again. This validation also applies to **Accept all** and **Reject all**: every file inside the presentation must have content-type information before Changes can be saved. The application opens with an empty workspace; no comparison tab is created until you open a comparison. 1. Select **File > New Diff** to open the comparison workspace. 2. Choose the earlier presentation in the **Original** field. 3. Choose the revised presentation in the **Modified** field. 4. Select **Start**, the default button on the right. 5. Use the slide navigator to select an aligned pair of slides. 6. Review the image and text panels, source slide numbers, status text and tooltips. In **New Diff**, select presentations with **F6** (Original) and **F7** (Modified). Choose a **Style** below the source fields, or use the adjacent icon to edit styles. **Override** reveals temporary comparison settings and expands the dialog to fit; unchecking it restores the compact layout and selected style settings. The bottom row places **Cancel** and **Clear** on the left, with **Switch (F4)** and **Start** on the right. Use Clear to empty the paths or Switch to reverse them. Inserting a slide does not automatically mark every later slide as moved. Slide matching uses available content and identifiers. Duplicate slides or regenerated identifiers can make matching less certain. ## Content changes The **MarginDiff** menu offers **First Revision (F5)**, **Previous Revision (F6)**, **Next Revision (F7)** and **Last Revision (F8)**. These move between slide pairs with supported content changes or rendered-image differences, skipping unchanged pairs and wrapping at either end. Unsupported MarginDiff commands are disabled. The presentation comparison application has no Edit or Insert menu. Use **File > Switch (Ctrl+I)** to reverse the comparison inputs. **File > Stop (Ctrl+Q)** cancels background reading and comparison at the next safe checkpoint. Slide rendering checks for Stop between rendering steps; an individual step may need to finish first. **File > Close Diff** (**Ctrl+F4** or **Ctrl+W**) is available with one or more open MDI comparisons. Use Save or Email to share a [revision report](#comparison-reports). Print opens the slide-page preview described below. Use **View > Status Bar** to show or hide the status bar. The menu item is checked while the status bar is visible. Presentations uses comparison mode by default; there are no Editor Mode or Diff Mode menu commands. Configure MDI tabs through **Tools > Admin Options** rather than the View menu. Adjust slide-review menus and appearance using [the shared customization controls](/docs/integrations/settings/#customize-comparison-applications). Supported content comparison includes text, effective formatting, shape position and size, object additions/removals, stacking order, table content, image bytes, speaker notes, and explicit hyperlink destinations or actions. Charts and SmartArt can be compared as whole objects rather than as a complete list of editable properties. Table and inherited-style coverage has limits. Check complex slides in PowerPoint when the exact meaning of a change matters. ## Content and visual differences are different checks **Content comparison**, also called semantic comparison, checks supported stored properties. **Pixel comparison** checks images produced by the renderer. They can disagree. Font substitution or rendering differences can change the preview without a supported content change. A changed hyperlink destination can matter even when the slide image looks the same. Review both kinds of result. MarginDiff's rendering is not a guarantee of exact PowerPoint appearance or complete feature coverage. Missing fonts can change the preview. Install the fonts used by the presentation and check complex artwork in PowerPoint; comparison diagnostics may report font substitution or unsupported preview content. ## Options Text, image, notes and table options affect their comparison summaries. Detailed content information and summary counts may differ because they cover different sets of properties. For file-loading and conversion problems, see [Troubleshooting](/docs/troubleshooting). ## Current limits - Very large slides or decks can exceed preview resource limits. Comparison stops with an error and keeps the previous comparison results. Try a smaller copy of the deck or reduce large image sizes before comparing again. - Object identity and unambiguous position matches help align content. Duplicate objects or regenerated identifiers can make matching ambiguous. - Charts, SmartArt, inherited styles and complex tables may need inspection in PowerPoint. A content summary is not a complete explanation of every property. - The Revision List provides selectable change details and before/after values. Text selection on the comparison canvas covers supported text boxes, not text embedded in images or charts. - Review hyperlinks, notes and complex layouts in PowerPoint when their exact behavior matters. Preview similarity does not prove equivalent behavior. ## Select text in the comparison The comparison canvas matches text boxes by their object identity, with an unambiguous position match as a fallback. It uses the same DiffCore2 engine as Documents for text inside each box, including word alignment and character-level changes. Deleted text appears in red with strikeout; added text appears in blue with underlining. Both versions stay in the same box when its position is unchanged. Drag across text to select it and press **Ctrl+C** to copy. Source previews remain available for checking the original layout and formatting. Text inside images and charts remains part of the visual comparison. Comparison text is for review and copying; it does not edit the source presentation. ## Formatting and position changes Use the **Revision List** to inspect formatting, table formatting, position, size, rotation and flip changes. Each entry includes the available Original and Modified values. Select a row to open its slide pair and highlight the object on the comparison canvas when available. When **Compare Formatting** is enabled, text whose font formatting changed is also marked in the redline using the **Mark > Slide Overlay > Change** color from Tools > Styles. The text appears once with its modified formatting, without insertion underlining or deletion strikeout. This marking is included in saved PPTX redlines. **Tools > Styles > Fonts > Show Diffs in Font Styles** is checked by default. Uncheck it to hide these marks in the displayed and saved redline while retaining the actual font formatting of the modified text. The choice is saved with the style set. Formatting details remain available in the Revision List. In **Tools > Styles > Difference**, choose **Character Level - Off** (the default) for whole-word revisions, **Character Level - On** for individual character edits, or **Character Level - On - ignore numbers** to keep digit sequences together. This setting applies to the displayed redline and saved PPTX, and is saved with the style set. The comparison dialog uses this setting unless its **Override** options are enabled; its character-level checkbox then chooses On or Off for that comparison. Use the **Difference** tab in **Tools > Styles** to show or hide inserted and deleted redline text. The **Insert ...** and **Delete ...** buttons jump to their Display sections, with Bold, Italic, Text decoration, Font Color, Prefix, and Suffix controls. Prefixes and suffixes surround each continuous revision once. Text formatting and affixes are saved with the style set and applied to the redline and saved PPTX; **Moves ...** opens the Mark settings for slide overlay colors. Text visibility also applies to saved PPTX redlines. ## Load and save style sets Slides uses the shared [Styles selector, Manage Styles, and Reset / Save / Tools / Close controls](/docs/integrations/settings/#sheets-and-slides-style-controls). Style sets are stored separately for each product. ## Revision List Each presentation comparison contains its own Revision List beside the slide views. The list stays inside that MDI window when it is resized, tiled or cascaded. Open **MarginDiff > Revision List** to review changes across the presentation. Press **Ctrl+Shift+D** to show and focus the list. The **Revision List Position** submenu places the panel above, below or beside the slide previews; drag its edge to resize it. The list covers changes across all compared slide pairs, with original and modified slide numbers, object identifiers, change types and available before/after values. Select a row to open its slide pair and highlight the object when it is available. Slides with only a rendered-image difference appear as Rendered appearance. ## Comparison reports For the open presentation comparison, **Save** opens **Save Diff** on the **Redline** tab. Select **Save** and choose a new `.pptx` filename. The PowerPoint review deck contains the comparison slides, including inserted and deleted text with revision colors, underline and strikethrough. Text remains editable where supported; graphics and complex grouped text use rendered comparison images. Animations and embedded objects are not retained. Redline Save cannot overwrite either input presentation. For a separate report, use the **Redline Report** tab: enter a filename or use **Browse**, choose HTML or PDF, and select whether to include the diff details table. Select **Export** to save. **Email** opens **Email Comparison**, where you choose HTML, PDF, or both attachments and their filename before selecting **Open Outlook**. The draft remains open for you to address, review and send in desktop Outlook on Windows. Cancel closes the dialog without exporting, printing, or opening Outlook. The report lists revision details rather than exporting a modified presentation. These file commands, including **Close Diff**, are available when at least one comparison window is open. ## Find and Go To Use **MarginDiff > Find (Ctrl+F)** to open the same compact dialog used by Documents. Find searches redline text across the comparison slides, including inserted and deleted text. Previous and Next wrap through matches. Expand the options for **Match case**, **Regular expression**, and **Highlight search string**. Matching text can be selected in the redline; text embedded in images is not searched. Use **MarginDiff > Goto (Ctrl+G)**, or the dialog's mode button, and enter a **Slide** number to jump to that comparison slide pair. These are comparison sequence numbers, which may differ from either source deck after inserted or deleted slides. The dialog stays open for continued navigation. In **Tools > Styles > Display**, the Insert and Delete **Background Color** pickers include **No Background**. Select that option to clear a background, or choose a color to enable it. There is no separate background checkbox. **Text decoration** offers None, Strikethrough, Double Strikethrough, Underline, Double Underline, and Underline and Strikethrough. Double-line decorations appear in the redline and are saved as native PPTX text formatting. The selection is saved with the style set. The **Fonts** tab follows the Documents layout, with checkboxes for **Font Name**, **Font Size**, **Font Style**, **Font Color**, **Alignments**, and **Line Spacing**. Each row has **Text** and **Background** color controls. **No Color** preserves the modified text color; **No Background** removes the highlight. Unchecking a row hides its marks in the preview and saved PPTX. When several enabled properties change on the same text, the first matching row supplies the colors. The Revision List retains the comparison details. **Difference > Font Styles ...** opens this tab. ## Speaker notes The bottom **Speaker Notes** pane follows the selected slide pair. Choose **Original**, **Modified**, or **Redline** to read the notes. Drag the divider above the pane to resize it. Notes use a continuous draft view without page layout and remain read-only; the redline uses the current insert/delete colors, text decorations, and character-level setting. Empty notes stay empty, including when one side of a slide pair is missing. Speaker-note changes appear in the **Revision List** with their original and modified text. Select a **Speaker notes** entry to navigate to its slide and open the **Redline** notes tab. Inserted and deleted notes are listed too. The pane compares note text; it does not reproduce notes-page artwork or original rich formatting. Notes shown here are not added to saved PPTX redlines. ## Page background In **Tools > Admin Options > Display**, **Page background color** sets the area around slides in the Original, Modified, and Redline panes. The default is #A5A5A5. Changes apply immediately after saving. **No Background** follows the application theme. This setting does not change the slide artwork or exported presentation. Resetting Admin Options sets the page background to **#A5A5A5**, enables **MDI Tabs**, and restores the logging folder to `%APPDATA%\PolywickStudio\DiffyPresentations\Logging`. ## Full screen Choose **View > Full Screen** or press **F11** to expand the presentation comparison. See [full-screen controls](/docs/integrations/settings#shared-configuration-files). ## Copy slides and edit in PowerPoint Right-click Original, Modified, or Redline and choose **Copy Slide to Clipboard** to copy the full slide image. In Redline, select text and choose **Copy Selected Text to Clipboard** to copy text with formatting. **Ctrl+C** copies selected redline text when there is a selection, or the slide image otherwise. Each pane also offers **Edit Original in PowerPoint**, **Edit Modified in PowerPoint**, or **Edit Redline in PowerPoint**. Original and Modified open their source presentations. Redline saves and opens a separate review presentation that remains available when you close the comparison. The saved-redline limitations still apply. Recompare the files to see edits made in PowerPoint; Microsoft PowerPoint desktop is required. ## Comparison packages and JSON In **File > Save > Redline**, choose **Comparison package (.dyp)** to save the Original and Modified files, redline, HTML report and JSON revision list together. Open the package from either file picker in **New Comparison** to compare its embedded sources using the selected comparison settings. The saved redline and reports retain the exported review; reopening recomputes the comparison and does not restore acceptance choices. The report can also have a [JSON companion](/docs/file-formats/#saved-workbook-and-presentation-comparisons). ## Print comparison slides **File > Print (Ctrl+P)** previews the actual redline slides, with one comparison slide per printed page. **Print only diff pages** starts checked and includes changed, added, and deleted slides. Slides with speaker-note changes are included too; the printed page shows the slide artwork, not the note text. Clear the checkbox to include unchanged slides. Use **Page setup**, zoom, and the page navigation buttons to review the layout. Slide artwork is fitted to the printable area without changing its proportions. Each page identifies the Original and Modified slide numbers. Choose **Print** to select a printer and optionally a page range. Range numbers refer to the full comparison's footer numbers, even when unchanged slides are omitted. MarginDiff sends the selected pages in one print job to Adobe PDF, Inkwell, or another printer; the printer handles its PDF destination. The slide content is rendered as an image with the current revision formatting.