Show HN: Compare Word documents in the browser (client-side only)
Mood
supportive
Sentiment
positive
Category
startup_launch
Key topics
Document Comparison
Client-Side Processing
Productivity Tools
Web Development
Javascript
The problem with existing tools: • Word's "Track Changes" only works if someone remembered to turn it on. • Online comparison tools often require uploading sensitive legal/financial docs to their servers. • Desktop software is often bloated, expensive, or platform-specific.
My solution: • 100% Client-Side: Your files never leave your device. No server uploads, no database storage. • Format Support: Works with Word (.docx), PDF, Excel, PPT, TXT, and CSV. • Smart Parsing: I wrote custom parsers to preserve table structures and layouts during comparison (so complex contracts don't turn into a mess). • Zero Install: Works on any device with a modern browser.
Technical stack: • Next.js & React for the frontend. • Web Workers for handling heavy parsing tasks (like PDF rendering) without freezing the UI. • Mammoth.js & PDF.js for document text extraction. • Pure client-side diffing algorithms optimized for performance.
I'd genuinely appreciate feedback on:
Parsing Accuracy: How well does it handle your complex Word tables? (I spent a lot of time on the rowspan/colspan logic!) UI/UX: Is the side-by-side comparison intuitive? Performance: How does it feel with larger documents? Happy to answer questions about the implementation or discuss the tradeoffs of building a serverless document tool!
Discussion Activity
No activity data yet
We're still syncing comments from Hacker News.
Generating AI Summary...
Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns
Discussion hasn't started yet.
Want the full context?
Jump to the original sources
Read the primary article or dive into the live Hacker News thread when you're ready.