I’m guessing it’s been about ten years since I first used a standalone document comparison product. Frustrated by the limited functionality integrated into the existing word processing applications I used, I went on the hunt for something that was more robust. Specifically, I wanted something that could handle more complex formatting (at the time that often just meant tables) and was capable of recognizing when text was simply moved within a document. Typical comparisons treated moved text as deleted and added completely anew elsewhere, skewing a translator’s analysis of just what was involved in translating revised text. The product I found was called DeltaView, the document-comparison software of choice for many law firms, it turned out. Now known as Workshare Compare, this software is a staple of my everyday work life. I routinely use it alongside my TM software and its analysis functionality to provide me with the word-by-word, segment-by-segment, paragraph-by-paragraph, on-the-spot view, literally speaking, of a new document’s similarity to a previously translated text. The version I’m using today, Workshare Compare 7, is currently offered at $145.00 for an annual license. Some of the features that are most attractive to me as a translator, besides Word-to-Word comparisons, include: the ability to compare Word documents and text-based PDFs; the ability to see what’s been changed in embedded images and Excel tables; and non-English language support. Workshare Compare 7 is also capable of comparing one original text to multiple modified versions of the original text. I think this is a boon for any language service provider (LSP) who’s been asked to quote the translation of, say, 5 different files that appear very similar to each other, but for which the LSP has no existing translation memory.