A web-based tool that enables non-technical users to compare the textual content of two documents: one in PDF format and the other in DOCX format. The tool provides a simple, intuitive interface for uploading documents and displays differences in a clear, visually distinct format suitable for manual transcription.
- Simple Web Interface: Easy-to-use drag-and-drop file upload
- Multiple Format Support: Compare PDF and DOCX documents
- Visual Difference Display: Clear highlighting of added, deleted, and unchanged text
- Responsive Design: Works on desktop and mobile devices
- File Validation: Automatic validation of file types and sizes
- Error Handling: User-friendly error messages and feedback
- Python 3.7 or higher
- pip (Python package installer)
-
Clone or download this repository
git clone <repository-url> cd doc_comparator
-
Install Python dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt
-
Start the application
python app.py
-
Open your web browser and navigate to:
http://localhost:5001 -
Upload your documents:
- Click on the file input fields or drag and drop your files
- Select one PDF file and one DOCX file (or any combination)
- Maximum file size: 16MB per file
-
Compare documents:
- Click the "Compare Documents" button
- Wait for processing to complete
- Review the highlighted differences
-
Interpret the results:
- Green highlighting: Text that was added
- Red highlighting with strikethrough: Text that was deleted
- Normal text: Unchanged content
- PDF files:
.pdfextension - DOCX files:
.docxextension (Microsoft Word documents)
- Framework: Flask (Python web framework)
- PDF Processing: PyMuPDF for text extraction from PDF files
- DOCX Processing: python-docx for text extraction from Word documents
- Difference Analysis: Google's diff-match-patch library for robust text comparison
- HTML5: Semantic markup with accessibility features
- CSS3: Responsive design with modern styling
- JavaScript: Asynchronous file upload and dynamic UI updates
doc_comparator/
├── app.py # Main Flask application
├── requirements.txt # Python dependencies
├── README.md # This file
├── templates/
│ └── index.html # Main web interface
├── static/
│ ├── css/
│ │ └── style.css # Styling
│ └── js/
│ └── script.js # Frontend functionality
└── uploads/ # Temporary file storage (auto-created)
- File type validation (only PDF and DOCX allowed)
- File size limits (16MB maximum)
- Secure filename handling
- Automatic cleanup of uploaded files
- Input sanitization
-
"Module not found" errors
- Ensure all dependencies are installed:
pip install -r requirements.txt
- Ensure all dependencies are installed:
-
Port already in use
- The application runs on port 5001 by default
- If the port is busy, modify the port in
app.pyor stop other services using port 5001
-
File upload fails
- Check file size (must be under 16MB)
- Ensure file format is PDF or DOCX
- Try refreshing the page and uploading again
-
Text extraction issues
- Some PDF files may have text as images (scanned documents) - these won't work
- Ensure DOCX files are not corrupted
- Try with different document files to isolate the issue
The application works best with modern browsers:
- Chrome 60+
- Firefox 55+
- Safari 12+
- Edge 79+
This tool is particularly useful for:
- Script Updates: Actors comparing different versions of scripts
- Document Revisions: Reviewing changes between document versions
- Content Migration: Comparing content when moving between formats
- Quality Assurance: Verifying document conversions
- Legal Documents: Identifying changes in contracts or agreements
- Text-only comparison (images, formatting, and layout are ignored)
- Scanned PDFs (image-based) cannot be processed
- Very large documents may take longer to process
- Complex formatting in DOCX files is stripped during text extraction
To contribute to this project:
- Fork the repository
- Create a feature branch
- Make your changes
- Test thoroughly
- Submit a pull request
This project is open source. Please check the license file for details.