how to Compare between current and last revision if page numbers do not match
@Kevin A Silveira for specs and contracts I do this a bit different than sheet compares.
Compare and Overlay is built for drawings, it flags any difference per sheet which is great for finding revision clouds and changed dimensions. For text docs it works best when the two files are supposed to be identical word for word, like if I have the spec I used for my estimate and they send that same spec back with the contract. I run a compare and if even a single word shifted it flags it, that tells me something changed and I need to actually read that section before I sign off, instead of assuming it is the same doc.
If the docs are not meant to be identical and you are trying to catch wording changes across a big spec or contract, I have had good luck feeding both versions into an AI tool and asking it to call out the differences in the language. Works a lot better than trying to eyeball a 200 page spec section by section.
If the page numbers don’t match between revisions, I wouldn’t rely on page number matching. In Bluebeam Revu, use Compare Documents with the appropriate page matching/mapping option so you can pair the corresponding sheets based on their content. For larger sets, I’d first make sure the current and previous revisions are correctly aligned before running the comparison. Saves a lot of false changes!
Thank you Raj for the quick response.
I would still like to know for large sized documents, how do you suggest to align the revisions - please elaborate. Thank you again for your assistance.
You’re most welcome! For large documents, I’d suggest not relying solely on page numbers. I usually align revisions based on sheet number, drawing title, and content rather than the physical page position. In Bluebeam, you can use Compare Documents and match the corresponding sheets even when pages have been added, removed, or reordered. For very large sets, checking the sheet numbers/titles first and then comparing the matching pages gives much more reliable results. If needed, I can also share a practical workflow for handling large revision sets where the page numbers don’t match.
Hi Raj,
Thank you once again for your assistance.
I need help with comparing large text documents, say for example Specifications or large contracts
Thank you Shaya for your feedback, maybe Bluebeam needs to do something more to make this tool flexible, especially for Documents. I agree for drawing sheets it does a great job. Thank you once again and have a great day.
Shaya,
I'm curious, are you using MAX for this or another platform?
Insert blank pages or the added pages to the smaller document. Then run an overlay of the two documents. If the plans don't line up perfectly after the overlay, toggle off one overlay layer, snap shot the entire page, and do the overlay with the snapshot (for each page). This second option is tedious but effective.
@forrest.simmons Using MAX, yeah. Not necessarily for the comparing part though, that piece could probably work in MAX too, but if it's just text docs I'll usually just upload both straight to Claude and have it compare them.
Hi Matthew,
Thank you for your inputs. I appreciate it. Normally in Contracts or Specs there are times when some additional text is incorporated somewhere in the documents. It's for those inputs I'm looking for help.
Warm Regards
Kevin
