Compare Two or More Word Documents and Highlight Differences using C#

CompareDOCX_CSharp.md

Learn how to compare two or more Word documents and highlight differences using C#: https://blog.conholdate.com/2021/10/01/compare-two-or-more-word-documents-using-csharp/

The following topics are discussed/covered here:

1. Compare Word Documents using C#
2. Compare Word Documents using Stream in C#
3. Get Text of the Changes using C#
4. Documents Properties Comparison using C#
5. Compare Password Protected Word Documents using C#
6. Compare Bookmarks in Word Documents using C#

CompareDOCX_CSharp_Compare.cs

// initialize comparer
Comparer comparer = new Comparer("C:\\Files\\source.docx");

// add target file to compare
comparer.Add("C:\\Files\\target.docx");

// compare and save differences
comparer.Compare("C:\\Files\\result.docx");

CompareDOCX_CSharp_CompareBookmarks.cs

// initialize comparer
Comparer comparer = new Comparer("C:\\Files\\source.docx");

// add target file to compare
comparer.Add("C:\\Files\\target.docx");

// define compare options
CompareOptions compareOptions = new CompareOptions();
compareOptions.CompareBookmarks = true; // compare bookmarks

// compare
comparer.Compare("C:\\Files\\result.docx", compareOptions);

CompareDOCX_CSharp_ComparePasswordProtected.cs

// define load options for source file
LoadOptions sourceLoadOptions = new LoadOptions() { Password = "1234" };

// initialize comparer
Comparer comparer = new Comparer("C:\\Files\\source.docx", sourceLoadOptions);

// add target file to compare
comparer.Add("C:\\Files\\target.docx", new LoadOptions() { Password = "5678" });

// compare
comparer.Compare("C:\\Files\\result.docx");

CompareDOCX_CSharp_CompareProperties.cs

// initialize comparer
Comparer comparer = new Comparer("C:\\Files\\source.docx");

// add target file to compare
comparer.Add("C:\\Files\\target.docx");

// define compare options
CompareOptions options = new CompareOptions();
options.CompareVariableProperty = true; // activate the comparison of variable properties
options.CompareDocumentProperty = true; // activate the comparison of built and custom properties

// compare
comparer.Compare("C:\\Files\\result.docx", options);

CompareDOCX_CSharp_CompareUsingStream.cs

// read source and target files
using (Stream sourceStream = File.OpenRead("C:\\Files\\source.docx"))
using (Stream targetStream = File.OpenRead("C:\\Files\\target.docx"))
{
    // initialize comparer
    using (Comparer comparer = new Comparer(sourceStream))
    {
        // add target filestream to compare
        comparer.Add(targetStream);

        // compare and save differences
        comparer.Compare(File.Create("C:\\Files\\result.docx"));
    }
}

CompareDOCX_CSharp_GetChanges.cs

// initialize comparer
Comparer comparer = new Comparer("C:\\Files\\source.docx");

// add target file to compare
comparer.Add("C:\\Files\\target.docx");

// compare
comparer.Compare();

// get changes
ChangeInfo[] changes = comparer.GetChanges();

Console.WriteLine("Count of changes: " + changes.Length);

// show changes
foreach (ChangeInfo change in changes)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Change Type: " + change.Type + ", Text: " + change.Text);
}