AI-Ready Redline: Export changes for use with generative AI tools

Learn how to export a portable text representation of your document changes using the AI-Ready Redline output in Draftable Legal, designed for use with generative AI tools.

The AI-Ready Redline is an output type in Draftable Legal that exports a portable text representation of document changes, in a format designed for generative AI tools. It covers insertions, deletions and moves, along with the structured content those changes sit in, such as tables, footnotes, images, hyperlinks, tables of contents, content controls and comments.

Previously, sharing redline results with AI tools was difficult because those tools don’t accept redline document formats (PDF, DOCX) or redline formatting via copy/paste as usable input. AI-Ready Redline solves this by producing a clean, tool-agnostic text representation of all changes, complete with comparison metadata.

This enables legal teams to bring comparison context into any AI workflow — for example, asking an AI assistant to summarise key changes, identify risk areas, or draft review notes.

Important: The AI-Ready Redline is generated entirely on your local machine. No document data is sent to any external service during the export process. Draftable does not use or connect to any LLM — the AI-Ready Redline simply formats your comparison results into a text representation that is ready for use with AI tools of your choice.

Requirements

• Draftable Legal version: 26.03.100 or later
• Comparison type: Redline in Draftable only (not Tracked Changes in Word, Side-by-side, or other comparison types)
• Supported file types: Word and PDF only (not Excel or PowerPoint)

Redline profile settings do not affect AI-Ready Redline output.

Where to find AI-Ready Redline

AI-Ready Redline is available from two places in Draftable Legal:

The comparison viewer output panel

AI-Ready Redline is one of the outputs listed in the Comparison Results panel, which opens when you choose Open, Save, Save to DMS, Copy to Clipboard or Email in the comparison viewer ribbon. It sits alongside the other outputs, such as Redline, Tracked Changes, Changes Report and Departures Table, and is identified by a sparkles icon.

Tick the checkbox on the AI-Ready Redline row to include it in the export, then click the pencil icon on that row to name the file and set the Reported Changes option.

The expanded row includes a Reported Changes dropdown with the following options:

Setting	What appears in the output
All changes	The full document text with every detected change annotated using delete/insert syntax
Matching filters	The full document text is still present, but only changes matching the currently active viewer filters are annotated. Non-matching changes appear as plain, unmarked text.

The ribbon button you started from decides what happens to the output:

• Open opens it in your default text editor
• Save saves it as a .md (Markdown) file
• Save to DMS saves it to your connected DMS as a .md file
• Copy to Clipboard copies plain text to the clipboard
• Email attaches the .md file to a new email

Live Redline Preview

A Copy AI-Ready Redline button appears in the Live Redline Preview panel, allowing you to copy the output directly to your clipboard.

Not available from

AI-Ready Redline is not currently available from the following workflows:

• Draftable in Office add-in
• Draftable in Outlook / Draftable for Outlook add-ins
• 1-Click Compare workflows
• Windows Explorer context menu

How to use AI-Ready Redline

From the comparison viewer

1. Run a Redline comparison

   Run a Redline in Draftable comparison using Word or PDF documents.

2. Review and filter results

   Review the comparison results in the Draftable viewer. Optionally, apply filters to focus on specific change types.

3. Open an output action

   In the ribbon, click the action you want: Open, Save, Save to DMS, Copy to Clipboard or Email. The Comparison Results panel opens.

4. Select the AI-Ready Redline output

   Tick the checkbox on the AI-Ready Redline row (sparkles icon). You can tick other outputs at the same time if you want them as well.

5. Select your reported changes scope

   Click the pencil icon on the AI-Ready Redline row, then set Reported Changes:

   • All changes to include every detected change
   • Matching filters to include only changes matching your current viewer filters
6. Produce the output

   Click the button at the foot of the panel, for example Save, to produce the output.

7. Share with your AI tool

   Paste or share the output with your preferred AI tool.

From Live Redline Preview

1. Start a comparison

   Start a comparison in Live Redline Preview mode.

2. Copy the AI-Ready Redline

   Click Copy AI-Ready Redline in the preview panel.

3. Paste into your AI tool

   Paste the output into your preferred AI tool.

Understanding the output

The AI-Ready Redline output is a continuous text stream of the full document with changes marked inline using a simple delete/insert syntax. It is not JSON — it is readable text that any person or AI tool can understand.

Output syntax

Marker	Meaning	Example
{-...-}	Deleted text (was in the original, removed in the revision)	{-brown-}
{+...+}	Inserted text (new in the revision)	{+red+}
[<<moved-to<<]	Marks where text was moved from (original position)
[>>moved-from>>]	Marks where text was moved to (new position)
[image]	An image, with [image added], [image removed] and [image replaced] for image changes. Alt text follows a colon, as [image: alt text].
[link text](URL)	A hyperlink and the target it points at. (#name) is a target inside the document.
[^fn1] / [^en1]	A footnote or endnote reference. The note body follows the paragraph its reference sits in, as [^fn1]: body. Where the body reads [content not captured], the note text was not carried into the comparison, so the export has nothing to show for it. The note itself is still in your document.
[c1]	A comment anchor. The thread follows the paragraph the anchor sits in, as [c1] author (date): body, with replies indented by ↳.
[table] … [/table]	A table, one row per line as | cell | cell |. Structure changes appear as [row added], [cell removed], [column added] and so on.
[TOC] … [/TOC]	A table of contents.
[content-control NAME]	A content control, with its content following the marker.
[field NAME] value [/field]	A field and the value it displayed, for example [field PAGE] 4 [/field].
[bookmark: name]	A bookmark carried into a change. Unchanged bookmarks are not shown.
[... N characters unchanged ...]	Unchanged text that was condensed. This appears only in very large documents.
\	Escapes literal document text that would otherwise read as a marker, for example \{- or \[table].

The full marker legend is written into the header of every export produced from the comparison viewer, so the AI tool you paste it into can interpret the notation without any extra explanation from you. The Copy AI-Ready Redline button in Live Redline Preview produces a shorter output that marks insertions and deletions only, with no legend.

Header preamble

Every output starts with a metadata header that includes:

• Original and revised document names
• Reported changes setting (All changes or the active filter)
• Timestamp of when the redline was generated
• Syntax legend listing every marker the export can use
• Known limitations of the export
• Total change count, and a separate comment change count when comments changed

---
# AI-READY REDLINE
original_document: "Contract_v1.docx"
revised_document: "Contract_v2.docx"
reported_changes: "All changes"
generated_at: "2026-03-11T04:15:02Z"
syntax: |
  {-deleted text-}  {+inserted text+}
  ... one line per marker family ...
limitations: "Style-based tables of contents are not detected; formatting-only changes are not shown; a link whose text spans paragraphs is not bound to its target; headers and footers are not included."
---

comparison: "Contract_v1.docx → Contract_v2.docx"
total_changes: 47
comment_changes: 3
reported_changes: "All changes"

Example output

The quick {-brown-}{+red+} fox {-jumps-}{+leaps+} over the lazy dog.

This means:

• “brown” was deleted and replaced with “red”
• “jumps” was deleted and replaced with “leaps”

For moved text:

{- This sentence was moved.-} [<<moved-to<<]

...later in the document...

[>>moved-from>>] {+ This sentence was moved.+}

Getting the best results

Compare with clarity in mind

• Compare the nearest document versions — avoid skipping many intermediate drafts, as this produces a cleaner, more meaningful redline.
• If a document was heavily restyled, expect more formatting noise in the output.

Pick the right export scope

• Use All changes for a complete legal or risk review.
• Use Matching filters for targeted analysis — for example, focusing on one clause family or a specific change type.

For complex agreements, consider doing both: a broad all-changes pass for full coverage, and a focused filtered pass for specific areas of concern.

Prompting AI tools for best results

AI-Ready Redline works with any generative AI tool that accepts text input. Paste the output into the tool’s chat or input field and ask questions about the changes.

When prompting, ask the AI to:

• Cite clause anchors and section names so you can trace findings back to the document
• Explain reasoning from Before vs. After text so conclusions are grounded in the actual changes

Quick prompts

• “Summarise the key changes between these two documents.”
• “Identify any changes to liability, indemnity, or limitation of liability clauses.”
• “Are there any changes that shift risk from one party to the other?”
• “Draft review notes for my client summarising what changed and what to pay attention to.”
• “List all changes to defined terms and assess whether they are consistent throughout the document.”
• “Flag any changes that could affect the governing law or dispute resolution provisions.”

Example detailed prompt for thorough reviews

For a thorough review of a complex agreement, try a structured prompt like this:

Analyze this AI-Ready Redline and produce:
1) Top 10 substantive changes by legal impact,
2) Risk allocation changes (who gained/lost protection),
3) Commercial term changes (fees, valuation, payment timing),
4) A short executive summary.
Rules:
- Cite the clause anchor for every finding.
- Use Before/After text as primary evidence.
- Treat formatting-only changes as low priority.

Quality checklist before sharing AI output

Before relying on or sharing AI-generated analysis of your redline, verify:

• Did the AI cite clause anchors or section references?
• Did it separate substantive changes from formatting-only changes?
• Did it justify its conclusions from Before/After text?
• Has a human reviewer verified the high-impact items?

Compatible AI tools

AI-Ready Redline works with any AI tool that accepts text input, including:

• General-purpose: ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Claude, Google Gemini
• Legal-domain-specific: Harvey, Legora, CoCounsel

The output is tool-agnostic — no special configuration or integration is required.

Large documents

For very large documents (hundreds of pages), the AI-Ready Redline output can be substantial. Some AI tools may not accept the full text if pasted directly due to input size limits.

If an AI tool rejects the pasted text, save the AI-Ready Redline as a file (.md) and upload the file into the AI tool instead. Most AI tools support file uploads alongside chat input.

Privacy and security

The AI-Ready Redline is generated entirely on your local machine. No document data is sent to any external service during the export process. Draftable does not use, connect to, or process data through any LLM or AI service — the AI-Ready Redline is purely a local formatting operation that structures your comparison results into a text representation ready for use with AI tools.

When you paste or upload the AI-Ready Redline output into an AI tool, that content is governed by that tool’s own data handling and privacy policies. Check your organisation’s policies and the AI tool’s terms of service before sharing sensitive document content.

What is included

Structured content support extended in version 26.9.1

This describes an export produced from the comparison viewer. The Copy AI-Ready Redline button in Live Redline Preview produces a shorter output that marks insertions and deletions only.

Content	How it appears
Text	The full document text in reading order, with insertions and deletions marked inline.
Moves	Marked at both ends, so you can see where text came from and where it went. An edit made to the text as it moved is marked inside the moved span.
Tables	Kept as tables, one row per line, with the cells separated. Added and removed rows, columns, cells and whole tables are marked, and a cell that spans several columns says so.
Footnotes and endnotes	The reference is marked where it sits, and the note body follows the paragraph that carries the reference. A note whose body was not carried into the comparison, typically an unchanged note, is listed with [content not captured] in place of its text, so you can see the reference is there even though the wording is not reproduced.
Images	Marked where they sit, including images added, removed or replaced. Alt text is included where the document has it.
Hyperlinks	The link text is bound to the target it points at, so a change to the target is visible even when the text did not change. Links to a place inside the document are marked as such, and a reference whose target is missing from both versions is flagged as broken where Draftable can tell.
Tables of contents	Marked as a table of contents. An entry that changed only because its heading changed is annotated, so it is not read as a further edit.
Content controls	A control that was added or removed as a whole is named, with its content following. A control still showing its prompt text rather than authored content is marked as a placeholder. A control whose content was simply edited is not marked; its text appears inline like any other text.
Comments	Comment anchors are marked in the text, and the thread follows the paragraph, with author, date and replies. A comment that is entirely new or entirely deleted is marked as added or removed, while a comment that was partly rewritten shows the edits inside its text. Comments marked resolved say so. Comment changes are counted separately in the header.
Bookmarks	Shown when carried into a change. Unchanged bookmarks are not shown.
Fields	The field and the value it displayed, for example page numbers, dates and cross-references.

Known limitations

Area	Limitation
Formatting	Formatting-only changes are not shown.
Tables of contents	A table of contents built from styles rather than a field is not detected.
Hyperlinks	A link whose text runs across more than one paragraph is not bound to its target.
Headers and footers	Content in headers and footers is not included.
Page and section breaks	Page and section breaks are not represented.
Equations, charts and SmartArt	Equations, charts and SmartArt are not represented, and no placeholder is shown in their place.
Text boxes	Text in a text box is not marked as such.
Very large documents	Runs of unchanged text may be condensed so the output fits what AI tools accept. The header marks the export as condensed when this happens.
File types	Only available for Word and PDF comparisons. Not available for Excel or PowerPoint.
Comparison types	Only available for Redline in Draftable. Not available for Tracked Changes in Word, Side-by-side, or other comparison types.

Some of these limitations are also written into the header of every export produced from the comparison viewer, so the AI tool reading it knows what the redline does not cover.

Frequently asked questions

I don't see the AI-Ready Redline output

AI-Ready Redline is a row in the Comparison Results panel, not a button on the ribbon. Click Save (or another output action) in the viewer to open the panel, and look for the row with the sparkles icon. If it is not listed, check that you are on Draftable Legal version 26.03.100 or later, and that you have run a Redline in Draftable comparison (not Tracked Changes in Word, Side-by-side, or another comparison type). AI-Ready Redline is only available for Word and PDF comparisons.

The AI tool says my input is too large

For very large documents, the output text may exceed what some AI tools accept via paste. Save the AI-Ready Redline as a file (using the Save action) and upload the .md file into the AI tool instead.

Are tables included?

Yes. From version 26.9.1, tables are written as tables, one row per line with the cells separated, and rows, columns, cells and whole tables that were added or removed are marked. In earlier versions, table content was flattened to plain text.

Are image, comment and footnote changes included?

Yes, from version 26.9.1. Images are marked where they sit, including images added, removed or replaced, along with their alt text where the document has it. Comment anchors are marked in the text with the thread, author, date and replies following the paragraph. Footnote and endnote references are marked where they sit, with the note body following the paragraph that carries the reference.

Can I use AI-Ready Redline with Excel or PowerPoint comparisons?

No. AI-Ready Redline is available for Word and PDF comparisons only.

Does AI-Ready Redline respect my Draftable profile settings?

No. AI-Ready Redline output is not affected by profile settings.

Is any data sent externally when I export an AI-Ready Redline?

No. The export is generated entirely on your local machine. No document data leaves your machine during the export. However, when you paste or upload the output into an AI tool, that tool’s own data policies apply.

What is the difference between 'All changes' and 'Matching filters'?

“All changes” annotates every detected change in the output. “Matching filters” still includes the full document text, but only the changes matching your currently applied viewer filters are marked up with delete/insert syntax. Non-matching changes appear as plain, unmarked text.

Can I use AI-Ready Redline from the Outlook or Office add-in?

No. AI-Ready Redline is currently available from the Draftable Legal comparison viewer and Live Redline Preview only.