Capability overview
What does document and binary inspection do in Diff Anything?
Extract comparable text from PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, and RTF files, or inspect binary format, byte size, dimensions, colour profile, SHA-256 hash, and supported image previews.
Diff Anything chooses a comparison engine that understands the inputs. Code and text receive language-aware highlighting and moved-block detection, text adds an interactive three-way merge workspace, JSON and other structured formats compare semantic paths, folders can synchronize a reviewed plan with rollback and undo, PDFs connect rendered pages with extracted text, and images offer overlay, swipe, blink, heatmap, and changed-pixel views.
In the workflow
Review and resolve
Navigate stable differences, apply supported changes, resolve three-way conflicts, or approve a folder synchronization plan without losing source context.
Diff Anything keeps the source pair, selected mode, comparison rules, result, and review state together so the same decision can be revisited or automated.
Useful in practice
Where this capability earns its place.
Related manual
Compare folders, archives, and images
Review release trees, archives, documents, and visual assets with purpose-built navigation, safety checks, and rollback.
The guide covers prepare folder sources, compare large trees, synchronize with a plan and an undo path, inspect archives, compare documents, use visual image tools. It is the best next step when you want to move from the product overview into a repeatable setup.
Read the guideDirect answers
Questions about document and binary inspection.
What does document and binary inspection do in Diff Anything?
Extract comparable text from PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, and RTF files, or inspect binary format, byte size, dimensions, colour profile, SHA-256 hash, and supported image previews.
Do compared files leave the computer?
No. Comparison is local. The application has no account, cloud comparison service, analytics, or telemetry.
How does automatic mode choose a comparison?
Matching structured formats use their semantic engine, two folders use folder comparison, and other compatible inputs fall back to text. You can always choose a concrete mode.