Change history and highlighted changes
Distill automatically captures and saves every version of your monitored webpage when changes are detected. The change history feature allows you to review exactly what changed, when it changed, and compare different versions over time.
How to check the change history?
Access your monitor’s change history by clicking the “content preview” of any monitor in your watchlist.
Changes are color-coded for easy identification: added content is highlighted in green, while deleted content appears in red. By default, only added content is shown.
To view deleted content as well, you have two options:
- Temporary view: Check the “Deleted” option in the history view to see deletions without changing your default setting
- Change default display: Click the settings (cog) icon in the diff view and select the “deleted” option to make deleted content visible by default for this monitor
The “Snipped” option is particularly useful for full-page monitors or lengthy sections. When enabled, it condenses the view to show only the text surrounding actual changes, making it easier to focus on what matters.
View your changes in three different modes to suit your needs:
- Visual (default) - Changes appear exactly as they look on the actual webpage, preserving formatting and layout.
- Text - A clean, plain-text view of changes without webpage styling, ideal for focusing on content alone.
- Source - View changes in the HTML source code of the monitored element. This mode is helpful when troubleshooting selectors or creating more precise monitoring rules. Note that Distill tracks content changes, not source code changes—this view simply displays how the source code differs when content changes occur.
Your selected mode becomes the default view for that specific monitor, personalizing your workflow.
To view additional historical changes beyond the initial display, click “Show more”. The number of saved versions available depends on your subscription plan. Visit https://distill.io/pricing/ for details on change history limits for each plan.
How to Explore Diff of changes?
When dealing with multiple changes, the “Explore diff” option provides powerful comparison tools accessible directly from the change history. This feature offers several ways to analyze webpage modifications:
- Compare versions side-by-side or inline - The default side-by-side view displays the previous version on the left (with deletions in red) and the latest version on the right (with additions in green). The inline view combines both versions in a single pane, showing additions in green and deletions in red for a more compact comparison.
- Compare any two historical versions - Not limited to just the latest changes, you can select any two versions from the date dropdown to compare how your monitored page evolved over time.
- Navigate between changes - Use the “next” and “previous” buttons to jump quickly between individual modifications, especially useful when reviewing pages with numerous updates.
Important: Distill saves every detected change to your history automatically, regardless of any conditions you’ve set. However, alert notifications only trigger when both a change occurs and your defined conditions are met. This ensures you have a complete historical record while receiving alerts only for relevant changes.
For pages with extensive modifications, the AI change summary feature (available in the Enterprise plan) can automatically condense multiple changes into concise 2-3 line summaries, saving you time when reviewing complex updates.
FAQ
Why is my change history empty?
Your change history becomes available after your monitor completes its first check. If you see "Preview will be available soon after this task is run," try these solutions:
Run the monitor manually - Click the run button using the appropriate device (local device for browser extensions and desktop app, or cloud for web app). The preview will populate once the check completes.
Review the check log - Examine the log to identify why checks aren't running. An "NA" entry means no checks have occurred, while red entries indicate errors requiring troubleshooting.
Resolve access problems - If the monitored website blocks Distill's remote browsers, consider using proxy servers for cloud monitors or switching to local monitoring through the browser extension.
Here’s a short video guide on accessing and viewing the change history of the monitors in your watchlist.
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