Use the DWG Compare tools

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Next in the toolbar is another light bulb that is

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used for toggling the comparison display on or off.

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I'll click on it

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and the drawing. Although still in comparison mode returns to its normal state.

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Without the comparison graphics,

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I'll turn it back on now to continue.

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Next. There are two arrows pointing in either direction.

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These are the next and previous tools

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next is on the right. So I'll start by clicking it.

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It will zoom into the first difference cloud starting at the top left of the drawing,

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subsequent clicks of next will work their way

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generally to the right then down again,

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working left to right.

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These arrows are a convenient way to navigate through all of your differences.

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At any time

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you can zoom in or out. Of course,

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here, I'll zoom out some.

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Remember I said there were both obvious and subtle changes in these files.

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Here we find the subtle change.

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It appears that Esther and Dave switched offices

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without the drawing comparison tool, you may never have noticed this change

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while we're here. Let's go back to the settings menu.

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Remember too that I stepped over, draw order

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if red and green items are on top of each other.

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You can switch the order of which one is on top here.

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I'll click the swatch to make red float up to the top and green underneath.

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There's really not enough overlap to see a difference here.

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But the icon in settings will update which color is on top.

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Let's continue walking through our tour of differences.

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I'll click the next arrow again

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and we'll zoom into an office with red objects.

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This means that it is only in the version two file.

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As we can see, Elvis has been assigned to this office.

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This brings us to our next cool tool.

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Just to the right of the next arrow is the import objects, tool,

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import objects. Does just what it says.

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You can move things between the two files with it.

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I'll start by clicking on it.

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You'll be prompted to select objects

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using a crossing window.

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I'll select everything in red from this office and click enter

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and just like that

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Elvis is in the building

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since these entities are now in our drawing too.

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There are no longer differences there.

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So the cloud is removed and the objects turn gray.

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I'm going to zoom extents now to look at the last tool in the toolbar.

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The tool is called export snapshot and it creates a new drawing

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file that combines the compared drawing files into two overlapping blocks.

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The result maintains the visual appearance of the comparison.

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You'll be prompted for a save location.

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It will create a default file name for you

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in the format of first file versus second file.

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I'm already in the right folder and the name works for me. So I'll click save

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after you accept the location and file name,

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you'll get a background processing message.

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You'll have to click on the continue button to move on.

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Once the process is completed,

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you'll get a notification balloon in.

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It is a link to open the snapshot drawing.

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Let's click on open the drawing link.

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When you open a snapshot drawing,

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the D WG compares snapshot toolbar is displayed.

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This toolbar provides you with options for controlling the display settings

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and the previous and next zoom tools like we just used.

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Let's go back to our floor plan sample tab.

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Actually, there is one other tool in the toolbar.

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It's the close compare X button.

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I'll click on that to end the comparison.