Contents |
Comparison Method
It is possible to choose which method to use to compare two folders.
The method to use is strictly related to user needs, comparing source code (files large only few kilobytes) should use a content comparison but to find which movies (files larger than a gigabytes) are not present on right side is faster compare by file size or file timestamp.
Every file is treated as binary and it is compared byte by byte, only 'Compare file content ignoring line ending differences' compares text.
The complete list of supported comparison methods
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
| Compare file sizes
Very quick |
Two file are identical if they have the same file size |
| Compare file timestamps
Very quick |
Two file are identical if they have the same timestamp.
It is used the Unix last modified date for comparison. If file A timestamp is less than file B it is marked as older and it will be shown with different color. It is possible to set a span in seconds to consider two files with same timestamp, see below |
| Compare file timestamps and sizes
Very quick |
Compare the files timestamp, only if it is different then compare the size. |
| Compare file content only
Slow on large files |
Compare files as binary, byte by byte |
| Compare file timestamp, size and content
Slow on large files |
Compare the file content, only if content is different compare the timestamp and only if timestamp differs compare size |
| Compare file content ignoring line ending differences
Slow on large files |
Compare file as plain text, read line by line and compare lines.
The line ending character is ignored so a DOS file (with lines separated by CR+LF) matches an Unix file (with lines separated by LF) if, ignoring the newlines, the content is identical |
Compare Finder Metadata
It is possible to compare OSX Finder Metadata.
When the metadata comparison mismatches, for example left file's label is red and right file's label is blue, the other comparison methods (size, timestamp, content) are not evaluated.
The complete list of supported metadata
| Metadata | Description |
|---|---|
| Label | Compare all labels assigned to a file |
| Tags
Available in OSX 10.9 or above |
Compare all tags assigned to a file |
Choose Files to View according to differences found
After the comparison complete you can choose which files to view
Definition: Orphan indicates a file present only on one side
The complete list of show options
| Choice | Description |
|---|---|
| Show All | No matters which comaprison result, show files |
| Only Mismatches | Show only files with some mismatch (size, timestamp or content) |
| Only Matches | Show only identical files |
| No Orphans | Show files present both on left and right side |
| Only Orphans | Show files present only on left or only on right |
Choose Folders to View
It is possible to hide empty and orphans folders.
Folders can be empty because they don't contains any file on disk or because all files/folders inside them are filtered.
Orphans folders are present only on one side (left or right)
Show Filtered Files
When a filter founds matches the elements are not visible but in case it's necessary to shown them you can click on the Filtered button
Some files are excluded by defaults, the complete list is shown below.
Default filters can be changed or totally deleted from Session Preferences window
| Description | File |
|---|---|
| Backup and system files | .DS_Store, *~ |
| Control Version System files | CVS, .svn, .git, .hg", .bzr |
Preferred Viewer/Editor
It is possible to open a file with an external application, the application can be choosen from the context menu.
When user double clicks a file, the default system application (if any) will be launched.
The default system application can be overridden (only inside VisualDiffer) specifying the predefined one on "Preferred Viewer/Editor"
The default system application is not changed.