Create New Baseline

eXtyles creates a single baseline backup copy of your original document on activation. Sometimes it may be useful to have more than one baseline version of a document. For example, if a significant number of Cleanup changes are made prior to Auto-Redact, it may be useful to make a second baseline just prior to Auto-Redact. This second baseline will make it easier to view only those changes made by the Auto-Redact function without having to review those changes that resulted from the document Cleanup. By saving multiple baselines in this fashion, you can compare to either the original document or the document as it existed immediately prior to Auto-Redact.

Create New Baseline acts as follows:

1. It checks for the existence of documents called Document$base.docx and Document$original.docx.
2. If neither document exists, it will save the new baseline as Document$base.docx. If only Document$base.docx exists, it renames this document to be Document$original. docx and saves the new baseline as Document$base.docx.
3. If both Document$base.docx and Document$original.docx exist, it renames Document$base.docx to Document$base1.docx and then saves as new baseline as Document$base.docx. Subsequent saves will rename Document$base.docx as Document$base2.docx, and so on.

If you have two or more baseline versions saved, a dialog will open when you select the Compare to Baseline menu item. This dialog will list all baseline versions that you have saved with the  most recent one highlighted at the top of the list. You can select the most recent baseline or any other one to perform a comparison between your document in its current state and the selected baseline.

Compare to Baseline

To compare the current version of the document being processed by eXtyles with one of the baseline copies:

1. Select eXtyles > Compare to Baseline.

A dialog appears and lists all the baseline versions that have been saved. The date and time appears in parentheses next to each document, for example, Document$base.docx (2/15/12 1:43 PM). The most recent version is highlighted at the top of the list. You can select any of the baseline versions to perform the comparison with your current document.

2. Select the desired document and click Compare.

Word-Level Comparison versus Character-Level Comparison

In Word 2007 and later, if there are multiple baseline files available, you will have the option to show changes at the word level or the character level. If you choose the word level, a word in which there is a single-character change will appear to have been replaced completely (i.e., if the word “armour” is changed to “armor”, it will appear as if the entire word “armour” has been replaced with “armor” rather than just one letter); if you choose the character level, just the letter “u” will be tracked as a deletion rather than the entire word appearing to have been replaced.

If there is only one baseline file available when you select Compare to Baseline, eXtyles defaults to showing changes at the Word level.

There is no difference in the end result in the Word document! The two options affect only how Word displays changes in comparisons in the Compare to Baseline feature. Either option is a safe choice.