The other day I wanted to compare two documents in Writer. I was sure we have this function, and since I'm a person who thinks he knows what's what and where to find things, and with a slightly excessive sense of self-confidence, I immediately decided to go ahead and reach for its location on the menus! Naturally, this is an action on files, so I opened the File menu looking for something like "Compare..." or "Compare documents...". Hmm, nothing like that. Perhaps in some sub-menu? Nope, no relevant submenu. Maybe "Versions..." has something to do with it? Nope, and it was a long shot anyway. Weird thing, Versions, I've never seen anybody using or mentioning that feature. I wonder how that interacts with Track Changes. But - I digress. Ok, so, not on the File menu. Maybe if I open a file, I could indicate I want to also open another file for a comparison? Or even, that I want to compare it to the currently-open document? Again, no such luck. At this point I decided to give up on the File menu. But where would I put a "Compare Documents" function? Not under Edit, that's for the current document only. Insert is not the right kind of action, Format, Style, Table, Form, all irrelevant. Ok, there's Tools! It must be in Tools, right? I mean, I doubt it's going to be under Window (compare documents in two open windows? Nah, I don't see that happening), and certainly not Help. And anything can fit in Tools if you really want it to, so that must be it. ... except it's not. There _is_ a mail merge function, and that's about an interaction between documents, supposedly (you merge pieces of mail); but no document comparison. WHERE IS IT??!?!?! --------------------------------------------- Now, I know what you're going to say: "You can always search for commands under Help > Search Commands..." - and that's true, you can find it by the command search. But that's a poor fallback. The placement should be much more intuitive, and hiding document comparison in a submenu of Edit is just not the way to go. I don't mind if we _also_ have it in there, but I say it should be more discoverable. If anything, Versions belong under Edit much more than "Compare Document..."
Some users search for Compare Document... under Edit > Track Changes if we move it to File. What bothers me more is the position at root level. An alternative could also be the Tools menu, which is overly crowded and too long right now.
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #1) > Some users search for Compare Document... under Edit > Track Changes if we > move it to File. Well, yes, but mostly because they're used to its current location. I suggest also considering the possibility of having in two place, although I realize that's... not a very elegant solution to the problem. > What bothers me more is the position at root level. An > alternative could also be the Tools menu, which is overly crowded and too > long right now. Not sure I got that. What is the "root level", and what position is bothering you? Sorry for making you spell this out, I'm thinking of multiple interpretations.
(In reply to Eyal Rozenberg from comment #2) > Not sure I got that. What is the "root level"... Directly under the top menu item. We sort commands by relevance and "hide" less frequently used under some category name like (View >) Track Changes > Compare Documents. The root level needs to be kept concise as many items take a lot of space - too much for small screens - and should be easy to skim through.