We find TextDiff very useful when we write code and also to see how text documents have changed over time. Unlike most other diff text products, our software can leave out unchanged lines and paragraphs making it very easy to see just the differences. It can compare any type of text document, via copy-n-paste to its two text windows. It also supports drag-n-drop of plain text, rich text and Microsoft Word documents. Note that it will only compare the plain text part of RTF and Word documents.

Until Friday 6th November 2020, we are offering Florencesoft TextDiff for $10 USD.

One of TextDiff's most powerful features is its ability to omit unchanged text in its difference report. This allows you to see all the differences very quickly, with the option of adding a few unchanged lines on either side for context.

To see a few lines of unchanged text around each difference, select Show only identical paragraphs near differences. The Options dialog allows the user to specify the amount of Context. The default is set at four.

To hide all unchanged text, except for text moved up or down in the document, select Don't show identical, unmoved paragraphs.

To hide all unchanged text, including even lines of text moved about in the document, select Don't show any identical paragraphs.

As an alternative to browsing to the location of two text files to be compared, you can simply drag-n-drop the files on to the main part of Florencesoft TextDiff's user interface. Their text will be automatically loaded. In addition, Microsoft Word (docx, doc) and Rich Text Format (rtf) documents are supported. Only the text part of Microsoft Word documents are compared.

After you have selected a pair of text files for comparison and pressed the Compare button or double-clicked an entry on the Compare Directories dialog, the differences will be displayed in either a pair of windows or a composite one.

A useful tip is that if you wish to increase the text size used to display the differences, press the Ctrl and + keys simultaneously.

To decrease the text size, press Ctrl and - simultaneously.

To return the text to its default size press Ctrl and 0 (numeric zero).

You can also right-click on the window and bring up a Print dialog.

Version 1.0.0.3 of Florencesoft TextDiff was released on 15th September 2020. The color of the text used to display the number of differences now matches that specified for unchanged text on the Colors dialog. Previously if the background color was changed to black, the number of differences was not visible.