Paratext allows us to be in permanent contact with the team and to follow their progress from a distance. By comparing stages of their project, we are able to see right away the work that the team has done on a text.

Understanding how progress history works is important for two reasons : First, it permits the team to restore previous versions in case of error. I witnessed a team that wrote introductions for many books, and, strangely enough, certain ones had “disappeared”. It isn't a problem if you understand “view project history”. In several minutes, the team was able to restore the version that had the introductions and the problem was resolved.

The second reason is because this function allows you to see whether the team has effectively entered the corrections that you proposed.

In this lesson we will learn how to see the project history and compare different versions or stages of the project.

Review: Mark a new point in the project history for PLKJV, say: End of the verification of Matthew:

• Activate the PLKJV project
• Click on Project, then Mark Point in Project History

Activate the PLKJV window and click on Project, then View Project History

Click on the point that you marked in the project earlier, “Beginning checking of Matthew, Day 1”

Notice what is displayed on the right.

• Perform a Send and Receive with members of the team
• Now click on Finished checking Matthew

You should see the following at right:

Paratext proposes to compare the version that you clicked on with the previous version, in this case, the previous point is: “Finished submitting comments…” If you click on the book title, it will open the compare window that allows you to see the changes that are made.

It is important to realize that clicking on the book name initializes the comparison between the point you have chosen and the previous point, but once the window is open, you can select any previous point to see all the changes made between two points in history.

Once the compare texts window is open, you can navigate back and forth to view any changes made in the text with the arrow keys at the top left.

The newer version should be on the right, and the older version on the left. Change the version that you are comparing with on the left so that you are looking at all the changes that were made between the beginning of the checking session and the end of the checking session:

Now you are looking at every change that was made during the checking session!

Now click on the symbol with the two arrows: ←→

Notice how this changes the direction of the comparison.

You may need to do this if you are trying to restore a previous version, which you can do by copying text from one of the windows and pasting it in a project window (not the compare window)

We have just learned how to compare two texts by way of View Project History. Next, we will learn how to access this by another way.

Go to Mat 2:1. Now click on Tools then  Compare Texts. You will see the current version in both panels.

Now, in the right panel, select an earlier version.

If there are changes between that version and the current one, you will see the difference.

For more information, consult the help topics Introduction to Project History and How do I review changes made to a text.

In the first week of every month, a Translation Consultant may receive daily work reports from translators, indicating what has been drafted, team-checked, tested/reviewed and/or Consultant-checked each day. This information constitutes the month's work and can also be viewed in Paratext using the 'Compare texts' function (comparing the 'current version' and the version of a month ago) and then entered into the TSC Excel spreadsheet, UBS Translation Management System or similar to report on progress.

After a Consultation, a Translation Consultant may want to review all the changes made during the Consultation in order to be able to write up his/her notes in a clear way, and/or to be able to make some generalisations on the basis of problems discovered with the text. Such generalisations are useful in recommending to the team general areas in which they need to improve.