Compare Documents -- with Tables

[Outlaw, Cathy]

We have to create a "redline" that compares a new version of a document to a previous version of the document, for each draft revision.

The FrameMaker 9 Compare Documents utility works great for basic text. However, our documents are full of tables. Many, many very long tables.

With FM's Compare Documents utility, if a table structure changes (a row is added/deleted, a column is added/deleted, the anchor is moved, or any cell formatting is changed) then FM simply inserts both the old table and new table in the comparison document. The only conditional tracking it does is to put a change bar next to the old and new table anchors, and only the anchors take on the conditional color (i.e., red for deleted or blue for inserted).

In the comparison document, the two tables look like regular text - no conditions are applied. We have to MANUALLY color-code the insertions and deletions within all of the tables. This can take days, literally. There has GOT to be a better way!

So my request is: is there any way to automatically identify the changes within tables in FrameMaker, or with any application that would partner with FrameMaker? (Acrobat doesn't compare tables very well either, nor does Word.) I can't find enough information about FrameMaker 10 to know if they have addressed the Compare Documents feature with tables.

Any direction on this topic would be greatly appreciated!

Cathy Outlaw
Technical Communicator




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