question Are you also having issues comparing content changes between Knowledge article versions? in ServiceNow AI Platform forum

Are you also having issues comparing content changes between Knowledge article versions?

Michael QCKM — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 16:09:24 GMT

Does anyone have any tips for comparing the differences between 2 versions of a Knowledge article?

Does anyone have advice for Approvers/Authors so we can approve edits more quickly?

I know about the "compare" function in the Article Versions related list [Compare two versions of an article | ServiceNow Docs]. This is nicer than nothing, but it seems to have limitations for Knowledge Base Authors;

It shows you what fields have changed = nice
It shows you in some ways where the HTML has changed in an HTML field = nice
BUT, I've had issues when trying to compare large articles, or articles with tables, etc.
- I've seen content with a table tag, and then a 26 billion character string after it...
- - Scrolling across the huge single line of code shows no highlighting to identify what's changed, AND I am unable to right-click and CTRL+C copy to copy the code into an actual Diff Engine like WinMerge.
  - - Am I doing it wrong?
There's no plain rendered-text comparison either, so I cannot just see what text has changed.

It is useful for Authors to be able to see what HTML has changed, and it is ALSO useful to just see what text has changed, or what formatting, punctuation, etc.

Does anyone have advice for Approvers/Authors so we can approve edits more quickly?

Knowledge is dynamic, and reviewing changes to approve needs to be easy and fast. So far, it's not.

Re: Are you also having issues comparing content changes between Knowledge article versions?

Michael QCKM — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 16:39:15 GMT

It would be a great addition if there was a "NEXT" button to press so instead of just highlighting (I'm still not through manually reviewing the million character line on my table yet), it should allow you to click to the next change, and the next, and the next instead of having to manually look.

Re: Are you also having issues comparing content changes between Knowledge article versions?

Vivi Brasil — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 04:18:13 GMT

Hello Michael, sorry, I know it is a old post, but I was looking for something similar... I did not find it in the Knowledge Article form yet (on platform), but the Compare in Agent Workspace seems to be most nearly from what my customer needs. If it could help someone who is also looking for it:

Re: Are you also having issues comparing content changes between Knowledge article versions?

Michael QCKM — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 16:51:46 GMT

Yes, since Agent Workspace was improved, we did notice that function is better there.

Of course, I will always push a vendor to be consistent in their UI though; Why 1 way in 1 page, and another way on another page? makes it tough to be a user of the system.

It would be NICE if in all areas where applicable, you could choose to compare the CODE, or compare the RENDERED version, as each have their merit.

...Someday perhaps...

Re: Are you also having issues comparing content changes between Knowledge article versions?

MichelSamia — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 08:34:11 GMT

Thank you @Michael QCKM and @Vivi Brasil for your ideas. I have the same issue. I even cannot do the visual diff on my PDI in the workspace. The button Compare is there, but it doesn't do anything. Is there a way how to request the feature so it works also in the traditional UI?

Also the links @Vivi Brasil provided are already dead. Do you have an up-to-date howto?