latex_updates — tracked changes for LaTeX manuscripts

What problem does this solve?

When resubmitting a journal article after referee comments, most journals ask you to provide a version with tracked changes so reviewers can immediately see what changed. Creating that document by hand is tedious and error-prone.

latex_updates automates the entire pipeline: it cleans your source files, runs latexdiff with journal-appropriate settings, injects consistent colour definitions, and compiles the PDF — all with one command. The result is a professional tracked-changes document where every addition is highlighted in blue and every deletion is shown in orange with a wavy strikethrough.

A one-line toggle in the output file lets you switch between the referee version (showing all deletions) and a clean resubmission copy (deletions hidden) without re-running anything.

Installation

After installation the latex_updates command is available anywhere in your terminal — no need to be in the script directory or activate an environment.

1 — Install the Python package

# Recommended: install directly from GitHub
$ pip install git+https://github.com/eartigau/latex-updates.git

# Alternative: clone and install locally
$ git clone https://github.com/eartigau/latex-updates.git
$ pip install ./latex-updates

2 — Install latexdiff

latexdiff is the underlying word-level diff engine. Install it once for your system:

# macOS
$ brew install latexdiff

# Debian / Ubuntu
$ sudo apt install latexdiff

# TeX Live (any platform)
$ tlmgr install latexdiff

3 — pdflatex (optional)

pdflatex is needed only for automatic PDF compilation. If it is absent, latex_updates still produces the .tex diff file and prints the command to compile it manually. pdflatex comes with any standard TeX distribution (TeX Live, MiKTeX, MacTeX).

If your manuscript uses A&A style (\documentclass{aa}), latex_updates will automatically search for aa.cls on your system and use it. If it is not found in your TeX path, install it with tlmgr install aa (TeX Live) or sudo apt install texlive-publishers (Debian/Ubuntu).

Quick start

The repository includes two demo manuscripts so you can try the tool immediately after cloning:

$ git clone https://github.com/eartigau/latex-updates.git
$ latex_updates latex-updates/demo/demo_old.tex \
               latex-updates/demo/demo_new.tex

latex_updates: generating diff between
  old: demo/demo_old.tex
  new: demo/demo_new.tex

  Cleaning demo_old.tex ...
  Cleaning demo_new.tex ...
  Running latexdiff...
  Inserting colour definitions and toggle...

  Diff source → demo/diff_demo_new.tex
  Compiling PDF (2 passes)...
  Diff PDF    → demo/diff_demo_new.pdf

Done.

Open demo/diff_demo_new.pdf to see the tracked-changes output.

Usage

latex_updates OLD.tex NEW.tex [options]

Argument / option	Description
`OLD.tex`	Previous version of the manuscript (submitted version)
`NEW.tex`	Revised version of the manuscript (post-referee version)
`-o FILE` / `--output FILE`	Custom output filename. Default: `diff_<NEW>.tex` in the same directory as the inputs.
`--no-compile`	Produce the `.tex` diff file only; skip pdflatex compilation.

Examples

# Typical use — produces diff_v2_paper.tex + diff_v2_paper.pdf
$ latex_updates v1_paper.tex v2_paper.tex

# Name the output for sending to a referee
$ latex_updates old.tex new.tex -o changes_for_referee.tex

# Generate the .tex only, compile later by hand
$ latex_updates old.tex new.tex --no-compile
$ pdflatex diff_new.tex

Show or hide deleted text

Every generated .tex file contains a toggle near the top. Edit one word and recompile — no other changes needed:

Show deleted text — default, for the referee response letter

\newif\ifshowdel
\showdeltrue   % deleted text appears in orange with wavy strikethrough

Hide deleted text — clean copy for the resubmission itself

\newif\ifshowdel
\showdelfalse  % deleted text is completely invisible

This means the same .tex file produces two different documents depending on that one flag — handy when you need both the annotated version for the referee and a clean version for the journal submission system.

Journal support

latex_updates reads the \documentclass line of your manuscript and automatically applies the right latexdiff options for that journal. No flags, no configuration files.

Journal	Detected class	What is handled automatically
Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A)	`\documentclass{aa}`	A&A's `\abstract` command takes five arguments (context · aims · methods · results · conclusions). Standard latexdiff would break on this; `latex_updates` treats it as a block-level command so deleted abstracts compile cleanly. `\subtitle` and section headings are excluded from word-level diffing.
AASTeX (ApJ, AJ, ApJL, PASP)	`\documentclass{aastex63}` etc.	Author-metadata commands (`\affiliation`, `\correspondingauthor`, `\email`, `\received`, …) are excluded from word-level diffing; they contain structured arguments that latexdiff cannot safely split.
Monthly Notices of the RAS (MNRAS)	`\documentclass{mnras}`	Uses a standard `abstract` environment — no special handling needed.
Any other class	—	Generic mode: standard latexdiff with math-mode protection.

Missing your journal? Open an issue — adding a profile is a few lines of Python.

How it works

Clean the old file

Strip {\bf …} and \textbf{…} markup that was manually added during earlier revision rounds to highlight changes.

Clean the new file

Remove leftover bare { } groups and normalise LaTeX spacing commands that confuse latexdiff's parser.

Run latexdiff

Word-level diff with math-mode protection and journal-specific options applied automatically.

Inject colour & toggle

Blue additions, orange wavy-strikethrough deletions, and a \showdel flag — inserted before \begin{document}.

Compile PDF

Two pdflatex passes resolve cross-references and generate the final PDF automatically.

Colour legend

The referee's comments were off-topic and revealed a stunning misunderstanding of the entire field remarkably insightful and reflect a rare depth of expertise. We have reluctantly enthusiastically addressed this collection of non-sequiturs each illuminating suggestion, and the manuscript is essentially unchanged profoundly transformed for the better as a result.

Blue = added text · Orange strikethrough = removed text

Demo manuscripts

The demo/ folder contains two versions of a short mock paper (On the Statistically Suspicious Helpfulness of Artificial Minds) written to exercise as many diff scenarios as possible in a compact document.

File	What it contains
`demo/demo_old.tex`	Original submission: 3 authors · title · abstract with inline math · 4 sections · numbered list (3 items) · table with 4 data rows · bibliography
`demo/demo_new.tex`	Revised version: 4th author added · title reworded · abstract numbers updated · 4th list item added · extra table row · new subsection · full new Discussion section · extended bibliography

Together the two files cover the most common revision scenarios: inline text edits, math value changes, structural additions (new author, list item, table row, whole section) — making them a practical smoke-test for any LaTeX diff workflow.

Four-panel comparison showing the original manuscript, revised manuscript, tracked-changes output with blue additions and orange wavy-strikethrough deletions, and the clean resubmission copy

View on GitHub →