Saturday, October 19, 2013

Highlighting the different between Latex Documents in Windows 7 using Latexdiff

Wondering is there a way how to make a diff for latex files or documents?
The answer is a definite Yes! You need latexdiff which comes with Miktex

Following is a step by step guide for installing it in Windows 7:
Prerequisite
You need to install:
  1. Miktex (http://miktex.org/2.9/setup)
  2. Perl (can use Strawberry Perl: http://strawberryperl.com/releases.html)

Step By Step Guide
Assume Miktex and Perl Interpreter are installed, and Miktex is installed in "C:\Program Files (x86)\MiKTeX 2.9\" (Other directory is fine, just adapt accordingly)

  1. Go to  "C:\Program Files (x86)\MiKTeX 2.9\scripts\latexdiff\"
  2. Create a a new folder "perl" in "C:\Program Files (x86)\MiKTeX 2.9\scripts\latexdiff\"
  3. Copy all files in "C:\Program Files (x86)\MiKTeX 2.9\scripts\latexdiff\" to new folder "C:\Program Files (x86)\MiKTeX 2.9\scripts\latexdiff\perl"
  4. Rename all files (without extension) in "C:\Program Files (x86)\MiKTeX 2.9\scripts\latexdiff\perl", with an extension .ple.g., latexdiff to latexdiff.pl
  5. Add "C:\Program Files (x86)\MiKTeX 2.9\scripts\latexdiff\perl" to the PATH environment (if you are not sure how to do so, see here)
  6. Open Command Prompt, and type in
    latexdiff.pl --flatten PreviousFile CurrentFile> diffe.g., latexdiff.pl --flatten "C:\old.tex" "C:\new.tex" > "C:\Diff.tex"

Sample
Below is  a sample for Diff.tex, where you can see what's old (cross out, red color) and new (underline, blue color) easily, pretty cool right :)







Google Chrome - Adobe Acrobat has Crashed

There is a pretty straightforward solution for it:

Go to Chrome plugins page by typing this in your browser: chrome://plugins/
Look for "Chrome PDF Viewer" and Enable it.