Private beta access by request. Release details will appear here.
Development update
A more consistent comparison workflow
Recent work brings comparison setup, navigation, styles, and sharing closer together across MarginDiff Documents, Sheets, and Presentations. These are development updates, not an announcement of a public installer release. Application access is by request through Downloads.
Comparison setup. Choose Original and Modified files in New Diff, select a saved style, and use Override for session-specific options.
Review navigation. Sheets and Presentations provide a Revision List within each comparison window, Find for comparison text, and Go To controls for the aligned workbook or presentation.
Review copies. Save an XLSX or PPTX redline, or export an HTML or PDF comparison report. Print previews and Outlook report drafts keep review in your hands.
Presentation notes. Read Original, Modified, and Redline speaker notes alongside the selected slide; note revisions can be opened from the Revision List.
Styles and workspace. Save revision colors and supported text decorations, manage personal and company styles, and customize menus, toolbars, and shortcuts.
XLSX redlines store comparison text rather than live formulas and omit charts and macros. PPTX redlines retain editable text where supported, with rendered images for graphics and complex grouped text; animations, embedded objects, and review-pane notes are not included. Keep the source files for further editing.
A consolidated update on recent work across the products, website, and user guide. Product development notes below do not announce a new public installer release.
MarginDiff Documents: clearer review and output
Recent development work improves comparison setup, document review, and saving results. Public installers are not available; request private beta access.
Settings for one comparison. The New Diff Session panel lets you adjust character-level comparison, case, spaces, moves, comments, images, headers and footers, quotation marks, and OCR without changing your saved style.
Saved styles. Style persistence and the comparison controls have been improved, including reloading regenerated default styles.
Tables and images. Table matching is preserved during character-level comparison. Image differences can be shown in redlines, with fixes to image previews.
Comments. Comment metadata comparison and Word-compatible comment identifiers have been corrected.
Saving and printing. DOCX export uses the document conversion SDK or Word; PDF export uses Inkwell. Print and filename dialogs have been simplified, with fixes to pleading layout, difference summary counts, and PDF printer warnings.
PDF text recognition improvements
Work is underway to process PDFs without opening the app, and to manage several text-recognition tasks with progress updates and cancellation.
These features are experimental and are not included in the current desktop installer or ready for everyday use. Comparing PDFs still requires separately licensed text-recognition software.
A new blue and gold design, with a comparison example beside the headline, clearer feature sections, and layouts that adapt to smaller screens.
Repeated information has been consolidated, with links to comparison limits, system requirements, and purchase details.
The Tome User Guide ↗ merges the former knowledge base into 17 topic pages, with one workflow per subject, sidebar navigation and full-text search.
Overlapping pages and repeated sections have been consolidated. Unique product limits and dated development evidence are retained, and old knowledge-base links redirect to the relevant guide pages.
MarginDiff Documents pricing: US$99 one-time, with Paddle checkout.
Terms, privacy, and the 14-day money-back guarantee are linked on the site.
Excel workbook comparison
MarginDiff Sheets
These changes are in testing and are not in the latest installers.
Inserted rows and columns no longer turn unchanged cells into a list of moves.
What has improved
Side-by-side review. Matching rows and columns stay aligned, with filters for values, formulas, formatting, and layout.
Clearer changes. Inserted rows, columns, and sheets do not mark all later content as moved. Cell edits remain visible.
Values and formulas. Full saved values, formulas, and cached results are compared without recalculation.
Moved references. Formulas pointing to the same content after a row or column move are recognised, including across sheets.
Less noise. Equivalent formatting does not produce a change notice.
Example: a row is inserted in the referenced Data sheet
Original=Data!B2+B2
Modified=Data!B3+B2
The Data reference follows the inserted row; the current sheet’s B2 does not move. Different references or saved results are still flagged.
What we have tested
All 14 existing examples and 21 new workbook pairs passed. Broader testing is still needed.
Current spreadsheet limits
Renamed sheets, table formulas, whole-row or column references, external links, and multi-sheet formulas need more work. Repeated content can reduce matching accuracy.
Merged cells match by position. Conditional formatting, some number formats, charts, pivot tables, comments, and images have limited detail. Display is capped at 500,000 cells, including gaps.
XLSX opens without Excel; older XLS files require Excel for conversion.
PowerPoint presentation comparison
MarginDiff Presentations
These changes are in testing and are not in the latest installers.
Compare slide content and appearance together.
What has improved
Content and formatting. Detect text, position, size, tables, images, notes, and link changes.
Shapes and order. Detect added shapes and stacking changes; inserting a slide does not mark later slides as moved.
Formatting. Equivalent template and direct formatting match; changes to bold text remain visible.
Navigation. Matching slides align, with controls and clearer file-opening errors.
What we have tested
18 presentation pairs and 29 app checks passed. Coverage does not include every PowerPoint feature.
Current presentation limits
Repeated content and recreated shapes can reduce matching accuracy. Table row and column matching and links across reordered slides need more testing. Charts and SmartArt are compared as whole items.
Saving may not preserve every feature. Change descriptions, filters, performance, and installation need more testing.