Log comparison based information

The feature "Compare documents" in pdfToolbox comes with a resolution setting, among other parameters, to compare 2 PDFs.

This article explains how to log all comparison related information.

How to log information

For comparison related information to be logged, a 'Compare.log' file has to be present in the user preferences. Simply executing the compare functionality would log all comparison parameters in the log file.

What's inside 'Compare.log'

Compare.log is a tab-delimited file containing the following information (a sample is attached at the bottom of this article)

timestamp	doc1	page1	resolution1	rect1 [left,bottom,right,top]	doc2	page	resolution1	rect2 [left,bottom,right,top]	algorithm	anchor	anchorBox	threshold	areaThreshold	diff.min	diff.max	area
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Please note that the headers should be tab-separated.

Where to add Compare.log

The log file has to be stored in the User Preferences like shown below:

Server/CLI

For logging compare on CLI, place the 'Compare.log' here.

Desktop

For logging compare on Desktop, place the 'Compare.log' here.

Example

A simple compare command like below

pdfToolbox --compare <PDF file 1> <PDF file 2>
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will log the information to 'Compare.log', if 'Compare.log' is present under User Preferences, like shown here:

timestamp	doc1	page1	resolution1	rect1 [left,bottom,right,top]	doc2	page	resolution1	rect2 [left,bottom,right,top]	algorithm	anchor	anchorBox	threshold	areaThreshold	diff.min	diff.max	area			
20211102_134920	PDF file 1.pdf	0	72	[0,420,578,0]	PDF file 2.pdf	0	72	[0,420,578,0]	RGB	TopLeft	CropBox	0	0	0	0	1.96078	10.6706
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Sample

Simple download the attached 'Compare.log' and copy-paste it in your Preferences.

Compare.log