Workiva Support Center

Use XBRL Blacklines to compare changes between two generations of XBRL documents.

Create an XBRL blackline

Compare one XBRL generation to another by creating an XBRL blackline. 

First, you need to have at least two successful XBRL generations for your document to create a blackline. The XBRL Generation History panel lists the XBRL generations that you can use in an XBRL blackline.

To create an XBRL blackline:

1

Open the XBRL Generation History panel on the right.

2

On the generation you want to compare, click the drop-down menu and select Create XBRL Blackline.

3

Name the blackline and add any remarks you want to include.

4

Click the other generation you'd like to compare against or upload a file you want to use for comparison, then select the options you want to include:

• Fact values to see the text or number a fact is applied to.
• Only show changes to see only those facts that had details changed. Otherwise, the blackline will list all facts for your document.

5

Click Create. The blackline will open in a new browser tab. 

After the blackline is generated, you can return to the blackline from the XBRL Blacklines tab from XBRL Generations.

Understand blackline changes

XBRL blacklines are color-coded, like tracked changes, to help you quickly identify what is added, removed, or updated.

The blacklines report gives you the following information:

• Concept shows the taxonomy ID of the concept.
• Date is the date associated with the tag.
• Dimensions show dimensions applied to the fact.
• Unit are units the fact uses.
• Decimals are the number of decimal places for the fact.
• Negative tells you if the fact value is negative.
• XBRL Value is in the report if the Fact Values option is selected when creating the blackline.
• Status tells you what the change is — Added, Removed, or Updated.

Note: Blackline changes do not include who made the changes.

This XBRL blackline example excludes fact values and only shows changes.

Locate changes from a blackline in the document

Easily locate added or updated facts from the blackline in your document.

1

Copy the Concept name (taxonomy ID) you want to find.

2

Go to your XBRL document and click the Locate tab on the right.

3

Paste the concept into the search field and press Enter.

4

Take a look at the Locating Concepts, Dates, and Units article for more information about locating XBRL in a document.