One of the actions is to compare the file with other files you have, which gives you the ability to see whether the files are the same or similar, allowing you to merge the two easily. In one of the main window panels, you’ll be able to click on the application and see what actions you can do with it. You can do that easily by comparing the two files of your choice, and luckily, that becomes an easy task when you work with this main window. However, before you can start merging the files you have, you will want to make sure that the files are the same or largely the same. The main feature of WinMerge is to compare and merge files. It will enable you to merge and compare files, which can help you save space and organize your computer much better. Thousands of people worldwide use it, and it is a great application to own for productivity and improve the organization of your computer. It is one of the most widely used applications for merging files.
Those are facts that push you towards to trying it, and it’s not a bad idea to do so if you’re looking for a decent file and folder comparison program.WinMerge allows you to compare and merge files into one file, which will help you save space on your drive if you want to avoid having several files on your drive that are of the same type. It is lightweight, has a great interface that is easy to use, has most features that file and folder comparison tools have, and it’s free. All of them provide 3-way comparison, which gives them a big advantage against WinMerge.
There are many file comparing tools, like Beyond Compare (freeware for Windows and Linux), Meld (open-source application for Mac, Linux and Windows) and kdiff3 (open-source for Linux and Windows).
This makes it a bit limited when it comes to more professional use.
With WinMerge you can create patch files so that others will be able to apply them without having to go through the process of manually finding the differences between files themselves. Selecting to compare files inside those folders opens a new tab with the comparison results. The column next to their filenames has information about which folder they belong to (left or right), and if a file with the same name exists in both folders then it will either state that they are identical or they have differences. When comparing folders, a list of all the files inside them is displayed. Syntax highlight of various programming languages is available (ASP, C/C++, C#, FORTRAN, HTML, Java, PHP, Pascal, Perl, Python, Ruby etc.) as well as word-wrap and line numbering. You can compare more than one couple of files/folders at a time, thanks to the tab support. All of the features are available from the toolbar and menu bar. At the bottom there are two horizontal panes which display the differences one by one. On the left side there is an overview of the two files’ data called Location pane, which gives you a better view of where their differences appear. Then their data will appear in each of the windows, with their differences being highlighted throughout them. When you want to compare two files or folders, you pick one for showing on the left pane and one for the right pane.
Although it is not officially stated, it can run without problems under a Windows 7 OS as well. WinMerge supports the following operating systems: Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista and 2008. Just before the installation begins you are also asked if you want to enable context menu integration and add WinMerge folder to your system path.
Typical installation includes most components, compact includes only the core files needed for the application to run, full includes all the available components (filters, plugins and translations) whilst in custom you can choose yourself what to install. With WinMerge you can also create patch files for sharing with others, while its functionality can be enhanced with plugins.ĭuring installation you will be asked whether to make a typical, compact, full or custom installation.
You can see the changes between different files versions in a visual text format that is easy to understand, as well as compare folders using file sizes, dates, or regular expressions that allow including or excluding certain items. WinMerge helps you locate differences between files and folders and gives you the ability to merge them. " Compare and merge files or directories"