Compare PDFs - no difference, though size/date and time are different

[bcdewul]

Have a few .pdf files
Annual reports, downloaded on different moments but same number of pages.

It looks as if they are identical: Beyond Compare does not show any differences, i.e. when I click on the '=' button
everythings looks the same, number of pages, start page, last page, etc.

However, Explorer shows a different size and date time.
The date time - okay, downloaded on a different moment.

The size however would imply there should be a difference, right?

It's no big deal, but nonetheless it puzzles me...

Any views/comments on this?

Thanks.

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[Aaron]

Hello,

What size does Beyond Compare show in the Size column?

Beyond Compare's default compare is timestamp and size, so if there is a difference in either it should show as a difference. However, if you've enabled a content scan such as Rules-based, this would Override the quick scan results with the text data comparison of your files. Or if you've disabled timestamp or size in the Session Settings, Comparison tab, then they wouldn't be used for the compare.

[bcdewul]

Sorry, but I am not entirely sure. Is this what you are looking fore?
Thanks

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[Aaron]

Hello,

Ah, in the Text Compare, we are performing a conversion of the PDF to plain .txt, then comparing the text data. There could be a picture difference, font difference, or other difference in the file itself, as the Text Compare can only compare the plain text information.

For a more complete scan, you can use the Folder Compare session, and perform a binary scan to see if two files are exactly equal copies of each other.

[bcdewul]

I don't know, sorry. CRC/SHA for the two files are different, in Explorer they show different sizes (small differences, but still).
But when opening/checking, they have the same number of pages, start and end, they are all the same, expanding it in BC, it is all the same.

BC : no differences
Opus : different sizes
MD5 : difference CRC/SHA nmbrs

Anyway, it is not worth spending so much time on, I was curious only.

Best regards

=

[Aaron]

Hello,

There is a difference in the PDF if the size is different, either in the metadata header, or possibly a picture or font information. The BC4's Text Compare would only save the text of the file. If you open the PDF in Adobe, then use the File menu -> Save As Text, this output is similar to what we are showing/comparing in the Text Compare.