Comparison Views & Version Management

Compare versions or different assets Side by Side

Clicking on the comparison tool takes you automatically to the side-by-side comparison mode.

By default, the latest proof version gets displayed on the left and the previous version on the right. Users can change the arrangement or proof versions to compare depending on their preference. 

Users can also compare a proof against any other proof, inside the same project (even if the file formats are different). This is especially useful if users wish to compare against a master file, or a photographer wants to compare similar images.

While in the side by side version comparison mode, the notes & comments created on the different proof versions can be displayed, allowing the users to check that amendments got completed between the versions. The reviewer can also add notes and comments on the latest proof version while in comparison mode. 

While you are in the side-by-side comparison mode, reviewers can also use the other version comparison tools.

The other comparison tools are the Overlay Comparison, Ghosted Comparison, and the Pixel Comparison tool. 

Overlay Comparison

This powerful yet straightforward overlay comparison feature allows users to overlay two proofs by dragging the transparency slider.

As a user slides the bar, the transparency decreases until the version getting compared overlays the current proof getting viewed.

As the user slides the bar back, the transparency increases, visually showing the differences between the two proofs.

Ghosted Comparison

On "busy" proofs that contain much content, it can be challenging to see the differences between the proof revisions.   

Many people love the pixel comparison view, but others find it a bit too technical, which is why we developed the unique, Ghosted Comparison View. 

In the Ghosted comparison view, content that has not changed between versions gets "ghosted" into the background, and only content that has changed gets displayed in the foreground. 

This highly visual feature is handy for reviewers that need to check large volumes of content or have very "busy" pages such as catalogs or mailers. 

Pixel Comparison

Sometimes changes between proof versions might be very subtle. Perhaps a minor color correction or a slight shift of an image or picture box. 

The Pixel comparison tool will "blink" green the pixels that are new to that version, and red on areas where pixels got removed between the versions. Pixel comparison will detect if even a single pixel is different between the versions.

This feature makes it very easy to see changes between versions that are extremely hard to detect with the naked eye, such as minor color corrections or minor positional changes.

Master File Comparison

Frequently, a proof may need to get compared against a master file or a template, and often that master file or template may be in a different file format to the proof.

Aproove WM allows users to compare any proof or proof version against any media stored inside the project; this means comparisons can get made against a master or even another page. 

A use case for this scenario is when a master document is held on record, but regional versions of that template need get created, or perhaps a master document has been supplied that indicates where the products need to get placed on a page before the page gets created.

Users could then compare the first version that is created against the master template to ensure that the products were placed correctly in the first proof.

Aproove Work Management can even automate this process using naming conventions and sections. 

Version Management

When you upload a new proof version, Aproove WM will automatically lock the older proof and notify users about the latest version.

Any user who has not completed a task or made a decision when a new proof version is uploaded will automatically get those tasks canceled. New task notifications will get sent out about the latest version according to your workflow setup.

Users will never be able to markup or annotate an older proof version, but they can see the older proofs when they use the version management and comparison tools.

If a user bulk uploads new proofs, then they must match the name of the previous proof version, so the system knows it needs to create a version rather than create a new proof.

However, if you select a specific proof and upload a new revision, the name does not need to match as you are explicitly telling the system you wish to version that proof. (This process can also get automated by naming convention, hot folders and API automation).

Smart review versioning technology

A typical use case will be to submit a revision, which will automatically create a new version number for that proof before notifying the reviewers that they need to recheck the proof.

This is fine, but here are two examples of when this might not be useful:

• What if you submit a multi-page document? Every page in the multi-page document will get a new revision number, even if some of the pages have not changed between versions! 
  
  
• What if a reviewer uploads the old proof again by mistake or the person assigned to making the corrections never made the changes. The new proof will get the latest version number, and everyone will receive a notification to check a proof that does not need checking

Do you want your reviewers to waste time reviewing proofs that have not changed between versions?

Optionally, Aproove WM can carry out a "smart scan" to physically check if any differences get detected between the previous version and the current version.

Aproove Work Management will then only version proofs that have changed between versions. You could even end up in the scenario where one multi-page proof has different version numbers across the individual pages even though they are in the same document.

This means the reviewers will only need to check the pages that physically changed between versions and not re-read the entire document or waste time reading content that did not change between version stages.

The Result?

This fantastic feature is beneficial for three reasons:

1. The reviewers will only need to check the pages that are flagged with differences between revisions and not waste time checking things that never changed.
   
   
2. If any changes occur on pages that never got marked for revision, they will be highlighted with the "changed" flag allowing the reviewer to check for mistakes or unauthorized modifications. 
   
   
3. Reviewers can use the in-built filters to display proofs in "changed" status, which quickly identifies the pages (proofs) that need checking while hiding pages that did not change between versions.

The smart review feature is genuinely unique to Aproove Work Management and saves you a vast amount of time and money while ensuring full compliance.