
Data files, executables, binary data, and images all have dedicated viewers as well, so you always have a clear view of the changes. pdf files can also be compared but not edited. Text files can be viewed and edited with syntax highlighting and comparison rules tweaked specifically for documents, source code, and HTML. Once you've found specific files you're interested in, Beyond Compare can intelligently pick the best way to compare and display them. FTP sites and zip files are integrated seamlessly, so you can update your website with the touch of a button. Or, thoroughly verify every file with byte-by-byte comparisons. You can compare entire drives and folders at high speed, checking just sizes and modified times. You can then merge the changes, synchronize your files, and generate reports for your records. By using simple, powerful commands you can focus on the differences you're interested in and ignore those you're not.

The files themselves will be black and treated as matching if you have "View > Ignore Unimportant Differences" active, otherwise they'll be red or gray and treated as mismatching.Beyond Compare allows you to quickly and easily compare your files and folders. That icon will be a black ≈ ("almost equal") symbol, two wavy lines, when a "Rules-based comparison" has detected only unimportant differences. If it is blank, only a quick test has been run if there is an icon, a contents test has also been run. You can see whether a "quick" or "contents" comparison has been run for any pair of files in a folder-compare window by looking at the middle column. It is quick because it does not open nor read the files so if quickness is what you desire in a comparison, it cannot be rules-based. By doing so, the folder comparison automatically scans all file contents, I don't have to open each one individually.Ī "quick test", by definition, is based solely on directory information like timestamp and size. Therefore, you must set the "Compare contents" checkbox under the "Requires opening files" section.


BC3 can't know if line endings are the only difference (for example) unless it scans the contents for line endings. To perform a comparison that ignores unimportant differences, it is necessary to compare the file contents. To perform a comparison that ignores unimportant differences, it is necessary to compare the file contents. 2 Answers Sorted by: 8 This answer describes the behavior of 3.3.4 (and 3.3.8) for Windows 32-bit, which seems to automatically report folder results as if I'd opened each file, as long as I have my session settings correct. This answer describes the behavior of 3.3.4 (and 3.3.8) for Windows 32-bit, which seems to automatically report folder results as if I'd opened each file, as long as I have my session settings correct.
