Most likely you are aware that it is possible to have version control on SharePoint libraries. Most likely you will also know how to get to the Version History option in the document libraries once it has been enabled: 
But when you look at the version history overview, wouldn’t it be really helpful if you could compare versions?
I rememebr that quite a while back when I was using an older version of SharePoint we used to have something to compare versions of documents.
Today I tried to look for this option and I couldn’t find it. So within the Version history I looked at the View option of a previous version
But this didn’t give me much useful information:
Then I clicked on the link of the 3.0 version of my document. This now gives me a download/open option for the document.
Then I opened the document and my version 3 of my document is now opened
And finally I’m getting the option that I’m looking for. Compare the document and I can even restore the document.
Being a techy I now also want to know what the document is that I’ve just opened. I had the feeling that version 3 of the document was downloaded but actually the version is just opened from the original location. I went to the Save as option in Word and I tried to navigate to the location of the document
This is now showing the location of the original file in an error message. I’m not worried that I can’t open the location, I’m only after trying to find out where my current document lives. So it looks like SharePoint keeps multiple copies of the same file within my document library.
Ok, back to my original subject of this post. I’m clicking on the compare option in Word and I’m getting a nice overview of the changes made to my document.
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Pieter Veenstra
Is your business still running on paper trails, sprawling Excel files, or ageing Access databases? There's a better way — and I can show you exactly what it looks like. I'm the Technical Director of Vantage 365, a Microsoft solutions consultancy working with clients across the UK, the Netherlands, and worldwide. For over 30 years I've been turning messy, manual business processes into clean, automated systems that save time, reduce errors, and give teams the visibility they need to make better decisions. SharePains is not just any blog run by a Microsoft MVP. Have you ever used Try-Catch in Power Automate? The original post about Try-Catch in Power Automate can still be found on this site, https://sharepains.com/2018/02/07/try-catch-finally-in-power-automate-flow/ Or have you ever used the Pieter’s method to avoid variables and speed up your flows? https://sharepains.com/2020/03/11/pieters-method-for-advanced-in-flows/ You can contact me using contact@sharepains.com
Pieter Veenstra
Is your business still running on paper trails, sprawling Excel files, or ageing Access databases? There's a better way — and I can show you exactly what it looks like. I'm the Technical Director of Vantage 365, a Microsoft solutions consultancy working with clients across the UK, the Netherlands, and worldwide. For over 30 years I've been turning messy, manual business processes into clean, automated systems that save time, reduce errors, and give teams the visibility they need to make better decisions. SharePains is not just any blog run by a Microsoft MVP. Have you ever used Try-Catch in Power Automate? The original post about Try-Catch in Power Automate can still be found on this site, https://sharepains.com/2018/02/07/try-catch-finally-in-power-automate-flow/ Or have you ever used the Pieter’s method to avoid variables and speed up your flows? https://sharepains.com/2020/03/11/pieters-method-for-advanced-in-flows/ You can contact me using contact@sharepains.com