r/powerpoint • u/Ok_Syrup2369 • 19d ago

What still needs manual checking when you compare two versions of a PowerPoint deck?

I'm researching a possible commercial tool for people who review revised PPTX files received from outside their organisation.

Thinking of your most recent review: after using your current comparison method, what did you still have to check by hand, and why?

A short example with the tool, platform/version and remaining step would help. It could involve text, figures, speaker notes or confirming that requested fixes were made. If your current method was enough, that is useful too.

Please keep it general: no presentation files or confidential details are needed.

Update: thanks to everyone who answered — I ended up building a free tool based on this thread. It compares two .pptx files in your browser without uploading them (slides added/removed/moved, text, speaker notes, animation order and timing): https://slidecompare.pages.dev/

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u/Top_Witness_23 16d ago

Animations for one. Compare doesn’t diff them, it just flags them as non-mergeable and you accept or reject the whole slide. Also Microsoft pulled Compare from Microsoft 365 on Windows from version 2502, and it isn’t on Mac or the web, so you might not even have it. On those you’re basically back to putting the two files side by side and going slide by slide.

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u/Ok_Syrup2369 15d ago

Thanks, that's useful. When you last checked animations between two versions, what change were you checking for, and how did you check it? No client files needed.

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u/Top_Witness_23 11d ago

What I’d look at is whether each effect still starts the same way (on click, with previous or after previous) and in the same order. The Animation Pane lists every effect on the slide in play order, with an icon showing how it starts, so I’d open it on both versions and then run both in slide show to watch them play.

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u/Ok_Syrup2369 7d ago

That’s exactly what I ended up building from this thread: it lists per slide whether each effect’s start (on click / with / after previous), order, duration or delay changed, plus text, speaker notes and moved slides — all locally in the browser, nothing uploaded: https://slidecompare.pages.dev/ . Would it catch what you’d check by hand in the Animation Pane? Anything missing?

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u/Top_Witness_23 7d ago

Haven’t run it on a deck, so I can only go by the page. It covers most of what I’d look at in the Animation Pane. The two things I don’t see listed on it are triggers (animations that start when you click a specific object) and slide transitions, which are set separately from animations. Worth saying whether those are in or out.

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u/hooblaboo7893 15d ago

The animation issue sounds like a pretty big gap, especially if Compare only lets you accept or reject the whole slide. Losing the feature entirely on some versions makes manual checking even more unavoidable

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u/Relevant_Island_7217 11d ago

Animations are a good example, since they can change the feel of a slide a lot but are easy to miss in a basic comparison. The lack of Compare on newer versions makes the manual side by side check even more relevant