Compare two versions of text

Question

Sometimes I need to compare two versions of short text, and looking for the most efficient way to do it

I know I could save them to Word documents and compare them, that's the baseline, I'd like to find something easier / quicker
I know there are several online tools doing it for free, however my texts are often confidentials
I've access to Office tools and Notepad++
I've found a question here doing the same in Vim, however I'd like to avoid having another tool just for this purpose

Software recommendations are out of scope here at Super User. I am 90% that Notepad++ supports comparing the contents of two files. — Ramhound, Oct 25, 2019 at 14:05
@Ramhound Not plain Notepad++, only with compare plugin installed. If you want to avid third party programs there is still fc.exe on the command line which can compare files. If you decide to use a third party program I would recommend kdiff3 for Windows (open source). — Robert, Oct 25, 2019 at 14:37
Asking what's the most efficient or quicker way to do something is a matter of opinion and not a good fit for questions on SuperUser. — I say Reinstate Monica, Oct 25, 2019 at 18:51
@Ramhound I've a problem which is on topic here and want to solve it. Solution isn't necessarily software recommendation, feel free to improve the question to fit better — Máté Juhász, Oct 25, 2019 at 19:00
@TwistyImpersonator: I've a workaround, but I'm looking for a more efficient solution, I don't think that would be too subjective. I'm not native English, feel free to edit my question to make a better fit. — Máté Juhász, Oct 25, 2019 at 19:02

Haroldo Payares Salgado · Accepted Answer · 2019-10-25 14:37:02Z

Using Notepad++

Open Notepad++
Click on the ‘Plugins’ menu at the top of the screen
Click on ‘Plugin Manager’ then ‘Show Plugin Manager’
A list of available plugins will appear – if it does not you need to check your 5. Internet connection. If you are behind a proxy server you will need to enter the details in the ‘Settings’ section (button at the bottom left of window).
Scroll down until you see ‘Compare’
Place a tick next to the name then click on the ‘Install’ button. Once the plugin is installed you will be prompted to restart Notepad++
Click ‘Yes’ to finish the install.
Now that the plugin has been installed, open two files
Click on the ‘Plugins’ menu then ‘Compare’ and ‘Compare’ again The files will be displayed, side by side, with the differences highlighted

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