groupdocs-comparison-net 26.5.0

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GroupDocs.Comparison for Python via .NET is a document comparison API that detects text, style, and formatting differences between two or more documents and produces a single result file with the differences marked up. It supports DOCX, PDF, XLSX, PPTX, ODT, HTML, TXT, images, and more — with full control over sensitivity, change styling, summary pages, and accept/reject workflows.

Get Started

pip install groupdocs-comparison-net

from groupdocs.comparison import Comparer

with Comparer("source.docx") as comparer:
    comparer.add("target.docx")
    comparer.compare("result.docx")

How It Works

The package is a self-contained Python wheel (~140 MB) that includes everything needed to compare documents. No external software installation is required - just pip install and start comparing. The wheel works across Python 3.5 - 3.14 on Windows, Linux, and macOS (Intel + Apple Silicon).

Features

• Wide Format Support: DOCX, PDF, XLSX, PPTX, ODT, HTML, TXT, images, and many more.
• Granular Change Detection: Text, style, formatting, table, bookmark, and revision changes — each with coordinates.
• Accept / Reject Workflow: Iterate detected changes, mark each as accepted or rejected, and re-emit the resultant document.
• Multi-Source Comparison: Compare one source against multiple targets in a single pass.
• Password-Protected Documents: Open protected sources/targets and optionally re-protect the output.
• Tunable Comparison Options: Sensitivity, style customization, summary pages, header/footer toggles, calculate-coordinates mode, and more.
• No External Dependencies: No Microsoft Office or other software required.
• Cross-Platform: Windows x64/x86, Linux x64, macOS x64/ARM64.

Supported File Formats

For a complete list, see supported formats.

• Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio)
• PDF
• OpenDocument (ODT, ODS, ODP)
• Web (HTML, MHTML)
• Text/Markup (TXT, HTML)
• Images (PNG, JPG, BMP, TIFF)
• Email (EML, MSG)
• AutoCAD (DWG, DXF)

Examples

Compare Two Documents

from groupdocs.comparison import Comparer

with Comparer("source.docx") as comparer:
    comparer.add("target.docx")
    comparer.compare("result.docx")

Compare with Options

from groupdocs.comparison import Comparer
from groupdocs.comparison.options import CompareOptions

with Comparer("source.docx") as comparer:
    comparer.add("target.docx")
    options = CompareOptions()
    options.sensitivity_of_comparison = 75
    options.detect_style_changes = True
    options.generate_summary_page = True
    comparer.compare("result.docx", options)

Get Detected Changes

from groupdocs.comparison import Comparer

with Comparer("source.docx") as comparer:
    comparer.add("target.docx")
    comparer.compare()
    for change in comparer.get_changes():
        print(f"[{change.type}] {change.text}")

Accept / Reject Individual Changes

from groupdocs.comparison import Comparer
from groupdocs.comparison.options import ApplyChangeOptions
from groupdocs.comparison.result import ComparisonAction

with Comparer("source.docx") as comparer:
    comparer.add("target.docx")
    comparer.compare()
    changes = comparer.get_changes()
    # Reject the first change, accept the rest
    changes[0].comparison_action = ComparisonAction.REJECT
    apply_opts = ApplyChangeOptions()
    apply_opts.changes = changes
    comparer.apply_changes("result.docx", apply_opts)

Compare Multiple Targets

from groupdocs.comparison import Comparer

with Comparer("source.docx") as comparer:
    comparer.add("target1.docx")
    comparer.add("target2.docx")
    comparer.add("target3.docx")
    comparer.compare("result.docx")

Password-Protected Documents

from groupdocs.comparison import Comparer
from groupdocs.comparison.options import LoadOptions, SaveOptions

src_load = LoadOptions(); src_load.password = "1234"
tgt_load = LoadOptions(); tgt_load.password = "5678"
save_opts = SaveOptions(); save_opts.password = "out-secret"

with Comparer("protected_source.docx", load_options=src_load) as comparer:
    comparer.add("protected_target.docx", load_options=tgt_load)
    comparer.compare("result.docx", save_options=save_opts)

Compare from Stream / BytesIO

import io
from groupdocs.comparison import Comparer

with open("source.docx", "rb") as src, open("target.docx", "rb") as tgt:
    with Comparer(src) as comparer:
        comparer.add(tgt)
        comparer.compare("result.docx")

src_buf = io.BytesIO(source_bytes)
tgt_buf = io.BytesIO(target_bytes)
with Comparer(src_buf) as comparer:
    comparer.add(tgt_buf)
    comparer.compare("result.docx")

Get Document Info

from groupdocs.comparison import Comparer

with Comparer("document.docx") as comparer:
    info = comparer.source.get_document_info()
    print(f"Pages: {info.page_count}, Size: {info.size}")

Customise Change Styling

from groupdocs.comparison import Comparer, Color
from groupdocs.comparison.options import CompareOptions, StyleSettings

with Comparer("source.docx") as comparer:
    comparer.add("target.docx")
    options = CompareOptions()
    options.inserted_item_style = StyleSettings()
    options.inserted_item_style.font_color = Color.from_name("firebrick")
    options.deleted_item_style = StyleSettings()
    options.deleted_item_style.font_color = (200, 100, 50)   # RGB tuple
    options.changed_item_style = StyleSettings()
    options.changed_item_style.font_color = "#0000FF"        # hex string
    comparer.compare("result.docx", options)

StyleSettings colour properties accept a Color, an RGB/RGBA tuple, a packed-ARGB int, a '#RRGGBB'/'#AARRGGBB' hex string, or a named colour string ("red", "firebrick", ...).

Render Page Previews

from groupdocs.comparison import Comparer
from groupdocs.comparison.options import PreviewOptions, PreviewFormats

def create_page_stream(page_number):
    return open(f"page-{page_number}.png", "wb")

with Comparer("source.docx") as comparer:
    preview = PreviewOptions(create_page_stream)
    preview.preview_format = PreviewFormats.PNG
    preview.page_numbers = [1, 2, 3]
    comparer.source.generate_preview(preview)

Get Change Coordinates

from groupdocs.comparison import Comparer
from groupdocs.comparison.options import CompareOptions

with Comparer("source.docx") as comparer:
    comparer.add("target.docx")
    options = CompareOptions()
    options.calculate_coordinates = True
    comparer.compare("result.docx", options)
    for change in comparer.get_changes():
        b = change.box
        print(f"({b.x:.0f}, {b.y:.0f}) {b.width:.0f}x{b.height:.0f}: {change.text!r}")

Command Line

Installing the wheel also puts groupdocs-comparison on PATH.

# Compare two documents (output format is inferred from the extension)
groupdocs-comparison compare source.docx target.docx result.docx

# Tweak the comparison
groupdocs-comparison compare source.docx target.docx result.docx \
    --sensitivity 75 --detect-style-changes --generate-summary-page

# Password-protected sources / output
groupdocs-comparison compare src.docx tgt.docx out.docx --password "1234"
groupdocs-comparison compare src.docx tgt.docx out.docx --output-password "secret"

# Inspect a document
groupdocs-comparison info source.docx

# List every file type the engine recognises
groupdocs-comparison list-formats

# Apply a license up-front
groupdocs-comparison --license license.lic compare a.docx b.docx out.docx

# Equivalent module form
python -m groupdocs.comparison --version

Exit codes: 0 success, 2 user error (missing input), 1 runtime error.

The CLI covers single-pair comparison, document info, and the format catalogue. For workflows that need callbacks, in-memory streams, multi-target comparison in one Comparer, or accept/reject-individual-changes flows, drop into the Python API.

AI Agent & LLM Friendly

This package is designed for seamless integration with AI agents, LLMs, and automated code generation tools.

• AGENTS.md in the package — AI coding assistants (Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot) auto-discover the API surface, usage patterns, and troubleshooting tips from the installed package
• MCP server — connect your AI tool to GroupDocs documentation for on-demand API lookups:

  { "mcpServers": { "groupdocs-docs": { "url": "https://docs.groupdocs.com/mcp" } } }
  

• Machine-readable docs — full documentation available as plain text for RAG and LLM context:
  • Single file: https://docs.groupdocs.com/comparison/python-net/llms-full.txt
  • Per page: append .md to any docs URL

Evaluation Mode

The API works without a license in evaluation mode with the following limitations:

• An evaluation watermark is added to output documents.
• A page / document-count cap applies.

To remove these limitations, apply a license or request a temporary license:

from groupdocs.comparison import License
License().set_license("path/to/license.lic")

Or set the environment variable (auto-applied at import):

export GROUPDOCS_LIC_PATH="path/to/license.lic"

Troubleshooting

Issue	Platform	Fix
System.Drawing.Common is not supported	Linux/macOS	apt-get install libgdiplus (Linux) or brew install mono-libgdiplus (macOS)
Garbled text or missing fonts in PDF	Linux	apt-get install ttf-mscorefonts-installer fontconfig && fc-cache -f
The type initializer for 'Gdip' threw an exception (Intel macOS / Linux)	macOS x64 / Linux	brew install mono-libgdiplus (macOS) / apt install libgdiplus (Linux)
Gdip initializer failing on macOS Apple Silicon when comparing PDF or images	macOS arm64	Known upstream-side issue: comparison's PDF/image diff path uses System.Drawing.Common, which doesn't reliably load libgdiplus on mac-arm64 even when installed. DOCX/TXT/HTML/PPTX compares are unaffected. Workaround: target a non-rasterized output (DOCX/HTML), or run on macOS x64 / Linux / Windows. Engine-side fix pending.
DOTNET_SYSTEM_GLOBALIZATION_INVARIANT errors	Linux	Do NOT set this variable. ICU must be available.
DllNotFoundException: libSkiaSharp	macOS	A stale system copy can shadow the bundled lib. Rename it: sudo mv /usr/local/lib/libSkiaSharp.dylib /usr/local/lib/libSkiaSharp.dylib.bak

System Requirements

• Python 3.5 - 3.14
• Windows x64/x86, Linux x64, macOS x64/ARM64

More Resources

• Documentation
• Code Examples
• Free Support Forum
• Temporary License

Also available for other platforms: .NET | Java | Node.js

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Product Page | Docs | Demos | API Reference | Blog | Free Support | Temporary License