Folder Compare Overview

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A Folder Compare session compares two folder structures side-by-side, in a variation of the familiar Explorer style.  The comparison may be of folders on your hard drive or network, but either side also may be an FTP site, a zip archive, or a snapshot taken earlier.  All of these have a directory structure – folders and subfolders containing files – and Beyond Compare treats them equivalently.

Click to zoom

The Folder Compare view uses color to highlight the differences between the two sides.  Select View > Legend to display a guide to the various folder icon color combinations.  See Understanding the Display for details.

A typical Folder Compare strategy is to:

1.Define how to compare folder structures
2.Filter the view to show important differences
3.Reconcile the differences

You can click on a column header to sort by that column, or right-click the header to choose different columns to display.

See also

Folder Compare Commands

Folder Compare Settings

Folder View Options