To do this, we open up the same Select Files or Folders dialog box, and instead of choosing a specific file, we will choose two different folders. If there are changed files within that folder, then we can see those differences and compare them directly within WinMerge to then merge or sort out any changes that may be necessary. In this case, we will merge left, and the changes are then copied over to the right-hand file.Ĭomparing files is convenient, but oftentimes we need to know the difference in a folder structure as well. What if we wanted to merge changes from the left-hand file to the right-hand file? This is very simply done by right-clicking on the changes you want to merge and selecting the direction to merge them. Instead of shifting all of the following lines down and marking the rest of the file as changed, WinMerge is smart enough to detect the changed lines and show that only that section has changed. In our example below, there is a section missing from the right-hand config2.txt file. These are easy to see because of the minimap shown on the left-hand side. Once the files are loaded, you will see that there are yellow sections that highlight the differences between the files. Once your files are entered, select Compare. Although WinMerge recently introduced a 3-way file compare, we are only going to look at a two-way compare here. As you can see from the screenshot below, I am choosing a file to show on the left-hand side and a second file to compare the first two on the right-hand side. It is here that you can open up two files to compare the differences. Once you open up WinMerge, you will be presented with the ability to open two files or folders, a left and right side. Image comparisons by highlighting differences with blocks.Fast comparison using file sizes and dates.Regular expression-based file filters for folder comparisons.Handles a variety of file formats (Windows, Unix, and Mac).

Location pane showing map of files compared.

Visual differencing and merging of text files.

Over time WinMerge has added many features to make it easy to compare files and folders. It is here where WinMerge excels in understanding the differences and merging changes as appropriate. Especially true for IT professionals, as working with configuration files can lead to issues if making the wrong change.

There are many times that understanding the differences between a set of files or folders is critical to making sure that just the right operations are done. WinMerge is an exceptionally useful and open source differencing and merging tool for Windows.

Folder file comparison tool