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Compare Documents in Claude

Ask Claude to compare two versions of a document and get back a true redline from Version Story: every change marked up in a PDF or a Word file with tracked changes.

Overview

By default, Claude compares two documents by reading both and describing what it thinks changed. That is a summary, and it can leave changes out. With Version Story connected, Claude hands the two versions to Version Story's comparison engine and gives you back the redline itself: every insertion, deletion, and move, marked up in the document.

The comparison is produced by Version Story, not written by Claude, so the same two versions always give the same redline.

Before you start

You need a Version Story account and one of the two ways of connecting it to Claude:

You can install both. Claude treats them as one set of tools.

Compare two versions

  1. Start a new conversation in Claude.

  2. Attach the two versions of the document. In Cowork or Claude Code, you can instead point Claude at the files in a folder.

  3. Ask for the comparison, naming which version is the original:

    Compare these two versions with Version Story. The first file is the original.

Claude sends both versions to Version Story and returns two things: a link to an interactive redline you can open in your browser, and the redline file itself.

Choose the format of the redline

You get a PDF redline unless you ask for something else. Ask by name for the format you need:

  • Word with tracked changes: "Give me the redline as a Word document with tracked changes."
  • PDF of only the changed pages: "Give me a PDF with only the pages that changed."
  • Both: "Give me the Word redline and the PDF."

Compare several versions at once

One request can hold more than one comparison. Attach all of the versions and say how they relate:

Compare each of these three drafts against the original with Version Story.

Where your comparisons are saved

Every comparison you run from Claude is saved to a project in your Version Story account, next to the versions you uploaded. You can open it later at app.versionstory.com without going back to the conversation.

Have Claude use Version Story without being asked

In Claude, open Settings → General → Instructions for Claude and add this line:

When I ask you to compare or redline documents, use Version Story Compare.

After that, "compare these two drafts" is enough.

If the comparison does not run

If Claude reports that it cannot reach Version Story, the connector's network settings are usually incomplete. The connector installation guide covers the settings it needs, and Errors lists each message and its fix.