In Bluebeam Revu 2019 you are able to compare differences between two similar documents, such as an original document and its revision. Bluebeam Revu does this with two tools: Compare Documents and Overlay Pages. Compare Documents highlights changes with cloud markups, while Overlay Pages layers both documents on top of each other in different colors, allowing changes to appear in color while the rest of the document stays desaturated.

One issue you may run into when doing comparisons is that you may need to compare two documents of different sizes. This may occur if you receive a revised inset of a single room that you need to compare with the original site plan that the room was a part of. Thankfully, Bluebeam Revu has accounted for this issue and allows you to still use both Compare Documents and Overlay Pages by aligning points for comparison.

This article will show you the steps for using Align Points for Overlay Pages, with examples using the 64x Bluebeam Revu 2019 eXtreme edition.

Here, I have two PDFs of floor plans. On the right I have the original floor plan, and on the left I have a revision of one of the restrooms. These documents are different sizes – the revision is 8.5×11 in. and the original plan is 42×30 in.

To perform either Compare Documents or Overlay Pages, select the option from the Document dropdown menu. You can align points using either tool, but for this demonstration we will be looking at Overlay Pages.

In this Overlay, every area that shows up in black represents an unchanged portion, whereas the green and red areas show the changes that were made. When Aligning Points for comparison, you may not get as clear of an image as you would with two documents of the same size; however for the purpose of comparing differences between an original plan and its revision, this tool definitely does the trick. 

For further navigation of the overlaid image, you can open up the Layers tab and switch through the layers to see both the original document and the revision on their own.

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Lauren Hecker is a Bluebeam Certified Instructor and teaches Onsite Bluebeam Certified Courses, virtual Bluebeam Basics and Advanced courses, and custom onsite or virtual courses. To see her next open enrollment course, please visit our calendar. To schedule an onsite or custom course, please contact us!