Compare two PDF versions and review the changes

Compare two PDF versions in Acrobat Pro by assigning the earlier version to Old File and the revision to New File. Acrobat then opens a report of the differences it finds. Adobe describes the controls and report in its PDF comparison guide.

Compare the intended versions

Open both PDFs in Acrobat Pro and select All tools > Compare files. Check the files shown as old and new. Use Change File to replace a selection or the arrows between the thumbnails to swap their positions. If the filenames are ambiguous, confirm their order from your own version records before continuing.

Choose settings that fit the documents. For text that may flow onto different pages between versions, Adobe recommends Reports, Spreadsheets, Magazine Layouts. For a presentation, its Presentation Decks setting matches similar pages before comparing them. For scanned pages, drawings, or illustrations, choose Scanned Documents, drawings or illustrations. Settings also lets you limit the comparison to specified page ranges. Select Compare text only if graphic differences are outside the question you are trying to answer. Then select Compare.

Read the report with its filters in mind

Acrobat opens the results in a new document. Its first page summarizes the differences; Go to First Change starts a closer review. In the side-by-side view, the old file appears on the left and the new file on the right. Use Previous Change and Next Change to move through the reported differences.

A missing highlight needs care. Adobe says annotations, formatting, and background differences are turned off by default in the report’s Filter menu. If any of those could affect your decision, turn them on before concluding that nothing relevant changed. The Comments pane lists changes visible in the report, so its list is subject to what you have chosen to show. For a consequential passage, read the highlighted text in both versions to judge the change itself.

Adobe’s official instructions were reviewed on September 29, 2026. This guide was not tested in Acrobat; it cannot predict the differences a particular pair of PDFs will produce.