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Is there a good version control method for strongly formatted word docs? Ideally something that works with git and shows the diff in an easy-to-view format.

Most of the questions I've seen on this are from 2010 or before.

I'm aware of the following methods:

  • Pandocs with git.
    • This was the preferred method, but the diff doesn't always show when a strongly formatted portion of the document is modified.
  • TortoiseSVN
    • Shows the diff in word. Diff is more difficult to view than git (3 windows and a sidebar take a lot of space). Requires word to be opened. Larger learning curve than git.
  • MagnetSVN
    • I'm cheap.

Are there any other ways anyone is aware of to use as version control for MS Word?

Speerian
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  • Word documents are saved as binary files, so the diff isn't readable. I'm looking for something that will show the diff between two versions of a document. I'll edit my question to make this more clear. – Speerian Apr 28 '16 at 20:50
  • The only real solution (lol) would probably be SharePoint. – Daniel B Apr 28 '16 at 20:55
  • Looking for something local. Sharepoint seems to host the documents remotely, but thanks for the response! – Speerian Apr 28 '16 at 20:58
  • What do you want to achieve? Collaboration? Or the ability to roll back changes made by someone, but still only edited one person at a time? – Mark Henderson Apr 28 '16 at 23:48
  • @MarkHenderson I'd like to achieve an easy-to-view way of tracking changes. Word already has a feature to track changes to a document, but that becomes unreadable after a certain amount of edits. So a way of specifying that you want to see changes between two instances of the document (viewing the diff). Having the ability to roll back changes is also a factor. – Speerian Apr 29 '16 at 14:17
  • My suggestion is to use cloud file syncing system like Dropbox, Google Drive, or BOX. As long as the item is being synced, all of the ones mentioned keep a history of revisions/copies that you can then revert back in time. Unfortunately, these systems don't have a easy way to see the difference between versions (as far as I know), but you can use the old and new copies and compare them using word: Tools Menu > Track Changes > Compare Documents. – dandaman12 May 05 '16 at 21:37
  • Word already have its own version control [Does Word 2013 have version control?](https://superuser.com/q/656771/241386). It also supports [tracking changes](https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Track-changes-in-Word-197ba630-0f5f-4a8e-9a77-3712475e806a) – phuclv Jun 07 '17 at 03:23

1 Answers1

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Great question and one I have been looking for a solution to as well...

The best I have found thus far is to download Writage (which requires Pandoc - all free), an add-on for Microsoft Word, that converts Word Documents into markdown, then upload the markdown to your host (e.g. github, bitbucket).

Not ideal, but it works.

Ohh, and this is a bit of work (Word Diff), but ideally what things should look like I think.

Dave Mackey
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