I would like to compare adjoining cells (B1 and C1, B2 and C2, etc.),
and change the color of the C cells which are not identical to their B
counterparts.

It would save me an enormous amount of work, but unfortunately I'm not
quite at the point where I can work this sort of thing out by myself.
Any help would be greatly appreciated indeed!

Here's the sort of thing I'm trying, in a Word-based macro:

Sub ColorDifferences()
   'compare adjoining cells (B1 and C1, B2 and C2, etc.),
   'and change the color of the C cells which are not
   'identical to their B counterparts

   Dim oTbl As Table
   Dim oRow As Row
   Dim numRow As Long

   If Not Selection.Information(wdWithInTable) Then
       MsgBox "Please put the cursor in a table first."
       Exit Sub
   End If

   Set oTbl = Selection.Tables(1)

   If Not oTbl.Uniform Then
       MsgBox "The macro can't deal with merged or split cells."
       Exit Sub
   End If

   For numRow = 1 To oTbl.Rows.Count
       Set oRow = oTbl.Rows(numRow)
       With oRow
           If Not .HeadingFormat Then
               If .Cells(2).Range.Text <> .Cells(3).Range.Text Then
                   .Cells(3).Shading.ForegroundPatternColor =
wdColorRed
               End If
           End If
       End With
   Next
End Sub