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Files and Folders are compared by comparing all the files in the two directories based on their file sizes, contents, or timestamps. The Preview Pane shows the contents of the selected directories in the left and right panes. Different icons indicate the state of the contents in the * column. Files/Folders present in only one directory are indicated by  ,   icons. Files/Folders that are equal are indicated by  and files/folders that exist in both directories but are different are indicated by . The contents of the selected file are shown in the lower pane, also known as the Differences pane with the differences highlighted. This pane is further split into a split-pane where each file takes up half of the pane and shows connecting splines for identifying where the deletions, changes and additions occur. Comparisons show the character differences in a modified line with bolding and background color highlights indicate modified blocks. If they are not identical they are highlighted by default in pink (deleted), purple (changed) or green (added). These colors can be changed from the Options dialog.  You can also use this tool to synchronize the contents of the directories .

Toolbar Actions

This table lists the icons on the Preview Pane toolbar. 

Icon	Description
Image Modified	Saves and refreshes changes made to the contents of the compared directories in the tool or on your local system.
Image Modified	Filters the comparison result based on user-selection.
Image Modified	Displays the comparison result by content, size, and timestamp.
Image Modified	Saves changes made to the contents of the compared directories in the tool.
Image Modified	Allows synchronizing differences between the selected file or all files in both the directories.
Image Modified	Opens the Help topic associated with Directory Compare.
Image Modified	Filters the comparison result on a filter string. Asterisk (*) wildcard is supported.
Image Modified	Allows switching directories for compare.

Compare Folders/Files

You can compare files of the directories against the file size, content, or timestamp. You can use  or filter functionality to narrow down or widen your result. You can view the total differences found and assigned color code at the bottom-left of the Differences pane.

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You can also use these right-click options to synchronize files. 

Synchronize Individual Changes Between Files

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You can use these right-click actions in the Differences pane.

Right-Click Action	Description
Select Change	Select the line containing the difference.
(Image Modified)Remove	Delete the different content from the file.
(Image Modified)Insert	Add the missing content existing only in one file, to the corresponding file.
(Image Modified)Replace	Overwrite the contents of the corresponding file.

Differences Pane

On selecting a file, you can view the differences between the left and right files with different color codes in the Differences pane. The differences between both files are shown side-by-side. 

 
You can perform these actions in the Differences pane.

Action	Description
Image Modified	View the count of total differences.
Image Modified	Define how the difference engine should treat white spaces in the text. Do not ignore: Does not trim occurrence of whitespaces. Leading and trailing: Ignores the leading and trailing leading whitespaces.  All: Ignores all whitespaces.
Image Modified	Let’s specify how the difference engine calculates and highlights granularity differences. By word: Highlights the words in the line containing differences. By line: Highlights the lines containing differences.  Do not highlight: Does not highlight the differences.
Image Modified	Scroll both files in the Differences panes simultaneously. When disabled, you can scroll both files individually.
Image Modified	Configure the settings for the Differences pane by using these options. Show Whitespaces: Displays an arrow when it finds a Tab and displays a period when it finds a space character in the files. Show Line Numbers: Displays a line number for each line in the file. Show Indent Guides: Displays indent levels in the file. Use Soft Wraps: Wraps longer lines exceeding the Differences pane to the next line.
Image Modified & Image Modified	View the previous and next differences.

Find

For each pane, you can find specific text by using various toolbar options and keyboard shortcut keys. To invoke the Find toolbar, click anywhere in the pane and then press CTRL/Command+F.
 

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This table lists the keyboard shortcuts.