It’s closing in on midnight, and instead of watching that movie you planned, you’re toggling between three windows on your laptop.
Jittery after your third cup of coffee, you’re trying to reconcile the “final-final-v7-clean.docx” version of a 1,000-page contract a partner sent before dinner. The deadline to file is tomorrow. The redlines are chaotic, the PDF formatting is jumping all over the place, and the software keeps crashing. Hanging over it all is the dread that a single missed change will blow the deal.
That’s exactly the situation the fastest-growing document comparison tool Draftable was built to resolve. “Every lawyer has lived that pain,” said Caspar Roxburgh, product lead at Draftable. “Our goal was to make sure they never have to again.”
Unlike other legal tech that tries to do everything, Draftable focuses on one thing: making document comparison seamless. The software doesn’t need hours of training, and it doesn’t overwhelm you with features you don’t need. And with its newest upgrade, redlining directly in email, it has become even more useful.
“We’ve been demoing this new feature at conferences and firms are saying, ‘I want everyone in my firm to have this. This is something I need,’” Roxburgh said.
He noted these features also come at a more affordable price than any competing software. More than 900 law firms globally have already switched to Draftable, including leading firms like Allens, Brodies and Mills & Reeve. So read ahead for a quick primer.
Getting Started
The simple interface of Draftable is designed to mimic familiar software to clearly show lawyers what changed between two documents. Users upload two versions of a file and, with a single click, the software highlights the differences.
Draftable offers more than 25 ways to upload documents, letting lawyers work exactly how they like. You can drag and drop files, browse from your desktop, right-click or pull them straight from iManage, NetDocuments, SharePoint or other web-based software. There’s also quick access to recently compared files and even the option to paste text.
The software integrates with Word, Excel, Outlook and other everyday tools, “almost pedantic” in the number of paths it offers, Roxburgh said. But that’s the point.
“It’s part and parcel of trying to build something that time-poor lawyers need to just work, and everyone’s got their own way of doing things,” he said.
No Regrets Design
Once the software runs the comparison, lawyers can review the changes in several ways, depending on their preference. A drop down menu offers the choice to redline in Draftable directly, using track changes in Word, as a side by side comparison and in a departures table.
In the side by-side comparison, for instance, the original appears on the left, the modified on the right, and changes are highlighted in a customizable, color-coded display.
A sidebar on the right highlights each change, with the ability to tag or make a note.
Lawyers can scroll through a long agreement or jump directly to specific sections where edits appear. The report can be saved as a PDF for sharing, or exported into Word for further markup.
Once documents are uploaded, the software creates several comparison types simultaneously, so users can select their preferred view. The interface is deliberately simple, which is part of the design philosophy.
Roxburgh said users should never have regrets about having made the wrong decision in their workflow. “Products should be designed in a way where you don’t have to go backwards,” he said. “You maintain the flexibility to allow people to flow through the product to get the outcome they want.”
Once the changes are reviewed, it provides the option to save or send only what you need to your colleagues. For instance, users could select to export only the redline and departures table of the modified file as an email. The goal is to give lawyers immediate confidence in what has changed, without the distraction of irrelevant noise.
Redline in Email
The newest feature most firms are buzzing about—only released in May 2025—is Draftable’s ability to handle redlines directly in email.
Imagine a long email negotiation among a few lawyers. Someone says, “Yep, see my changes below.” But they haven’t visually indicated the changes. Instead of having to compare each email in a thread of dozens, Draftable’s integration with Outlook compares emails in the thread to highlight the differences.
Clicking the menu that says “Compare against an earlier email” automatically tries to select the right one. Or users can select a specific email or compare it against the first email they sent.
“This is hugely valuable because Outlook can’t do this on its own,” Roxburgh said. “We’re using Draftable’s algorithm with all that ability to detect moves and granularity.”
Then users can accept or reject changes directly in the email.
A Faster Departures Table
Another of Draftable’s standout features is how it handles departures tables. Instead of asking lawyers to comb through a full redline, the software pulls out the relevant changes and lays them out in a structured table format.
“Realistically, most people looking at what’s changed in an agreement aren’t reading the full agreement,” he said. “They’re reading a summary someone else has created.”
Traditionally, that summary takes hours. An associate has to review the redline, copy the relevant text into Word, paste it into a table, and add notes on what the change means and whether it goes back to the client. Draftable automates the entire process with a single command.
Lawyers can choose how much detail to include—every change, or just those marked as important—and the table can be shared as a Word or Excel document or dropped straight into the body of an email. That means a senior partner doesn’t have to wait for a manual summary before weighing in. They can see the substance of the edits instantly.
More to come in 2025—for half the money
Roxburgh said Draftable isn’t stopping there. In the next several months they plan performance upgrades that will speed comparisons and improve their already stellar PDF comparison tool.
A modernized user experience will include improved settings, new add-ins for Microsoft Office and capability in German and French. And perhaps most significantly for Mac users, Draftable is working on a web application that can be used on any operating system and browser.
That’s besides providing empathetic customer support with real humans at a transparent, fair price.
“We’re less than half the cost of our competitor and we actually offer more functionality, but it’s a deliberate choice,” Roxburgh said. “We’re doing something really boring—building good products, supporting it well and charging a fair price for it. It’s not rocket science, but lawyers love it.”
The post Redline Directly In Email? Yes, This Sleek Document Comparison Software Has Figured It Out appeared first on Above the Law.
It’s closing in on midnight, and instead of watching that movie you planned, you’re toggling between three windows on your laptop.
Jittery after your third cup of coffee, you’re trying to reconcile the “final-final-v7-clean.docx” version of a 1,000-page contract a partner sent before dinner. The deadline to file is tomorrow. The redlines are chaotic, the PDF formatting is jumping all over the place, and the software keeps crashing. Hanging over it all is the dread that a single missed change will blow the deal.
That’s exactly the situation the fastest-growing document comparison tool Draftable was built to resolve. “Every lawyer has lived that pain,” said Caspar Roxburgh, product lead at Draftable. “Our goal was to make sure they never have to again.”
Unlike other legal tech that tries to do everything, Draftable focuses on one thing: making document comparison seamless. The software doesn’t need hours of training, and it doesn’t overwhelm you with features you don’t need. And with its newest upgrade, redlining directly in email, it has become even more useful.
“We’ve been demoing this new feature at conferences and firms are saying, ‘I want everyone in my firm to have this. This is something I need,’” Roxburgh said.
He noted these features also come at a more affordable price than any competing software. More than 900 law firms globally have already switched to Draftable, including leading firms like Allens, Brodies and Mills & Reeve. So read ahead for a quick primer.
Getting Started
The simple interface of Draftable is designed to mimic familiar software to clearly show lawyers what changed between two documents. Users upload two versions of a file and, with a single click, the software highlights the differences.
Draftable offers more than 25 ways to upload documents, letting lawyers work exactly how they like. You can drag and drop files, browse from your desktop, right-click or pull them straight from iManage, NetDocuments, SharePoint or other web-based software. There’s also quick access to recently compared files and even the option to paste text.
The software integrates with Word, Excel, Outlook and other everyday tools, “almost pedantic” in the number of paths it offers, Roxburgh said. But that’s the point.
“It’s part and parcel of trying to build something that time-poor lawyers need to just work, and everyone’s got their own way of doing things,” he said.
No Regrets Design
Once the software runs the comparison, lawyers can review the changes in several ways, depending on their preference. A drop down menu offers the choice to redline in Draftable directly, using track changes in Word, as a side by side comparison and in a departures table.
In the side by-side comparison, for instance, the original appears on the left, the modified on the right, and changes are highlighted in a customizable, color-coded display.
A sidebar on the right highlights each change, with the ability to tag or make a note.
Lawyers can scroll through a long agreement or jump directly to specific sections where edits appear. The report can be saved as a PDF for sharing, or exported into Word for further markup.
Once documents are uploaded, the software creates several comparison types simultaneously, so users can select their preferred view. The interface is deliberately simple, which is part of the design philosophy.
Roxburgh said users should never have regrets about having made the wrong decision in their workflow. “Products should be designed in a way where you don’t have to go backwards,” he said. “You maintain the flexibility to allow people to flow through the product to get the outcome they want.”
Once the changes are reviewed, it provides the option to save or send only what you need to your colleagues. For instance, users could select to export only the redline and departures table of the modified file as an email. The goal is to give lawyers immediate confidence in what has changed, without the distraction of irrelevant noise.
Redline in Email
The newest feature most firms are buzzing about—only released in May 2025—is Draftable’s ability to handle redlines directly in email.
Imagine a long email negotiation among a few lawyers. Someone says, “Yep, see my changes below.” But they haven’t visually indicated the changes. Instead of having to compare each email in a thread of dozens, Draftable’s integration with Outlook compares emails in the thread to highlight the differences.
Clicking the menu that says “Compare against an earlier email” automatically tries to select the right one. Or users can select a specific email or compare it against the first email they sent.
“This is hugely valuable because Outlook can’t do this on its own,” Roxburgh said. “We’re using Draftable’s algorithm with all that ability to detect moves and granularity.”
Then users can accept or reject changes directly in the email.
A Faster Departures Table
Another of Draftable’s standout features is how it handles departures tables. Instead of asking lawyers to comb through a full redline, the software pulls out the relevant changes and lays them out in a structured table format.
“Realistically, most people looking at what’s changed in an agreement aren’t reading the full agreement,” he said. “They’re reading a summary someone else has created.”
Traditionally, that summary takes hours. An associate has to review the redline, copy the relevant text into Word, paste it into a table, and add notes on what the change means and whether it goes back to the client. Draftable automates the entire process with a single command.
Lawyers can choose how much detail to include—every change, or just those marked as important—and the table can be shared as a Word or Excel document or dropped straight into the body of an email. That means a senior partner doesn’t have to wait for a manual summary before weighing in. They can see the substance of the edits instantly.
More to come in 2025—for half the money
Roxburgh said Draftable isn’t stopping there. In the next several months they plan performance upgrades that will speed comparisons and improve their already stellar PDF comparison tool.
A modernized user experience will include improved settings, new add-ins for Microsoft Office and capability in German and French. And perhaps most significantly for Mac users, Draftable is working on a web application that can be used on any operating system and browser.
That’s besides providing empathetic customer support with real humans at a transparent, fair price.
“We’re less than half the cost of our competitor and we actually offer more functionality, but it’s a deliberate choice,” Roxburgh said. “We’re doing something really boring—building good products, supporting it well and charging a fair price for it. It’s not rocket science, but lawyers love it.”
The post Redline Directly In Email? Yes, This Sleek Document Comparison Software Has Figured It Out appeared first on Above the Law.
