Diff Commander
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Two pane views
Diff Commander displays differences between folders in two panes (each for one folder). The pane consists of a set of columns. The general column displays the folder as a tree.
Other columns displays the following information: the file size attributes, date and time. The "Actions" column is located between these panes. An action and a direction of
synchronization are specified in each cell of this column. The synchronization is performed by clicking either Sync. Item (F7)
or Sync. Checked (F9)
- (1) - first (source) pane with source files and folders;
- (2) - the "Action" column; the column displaying the synchronization action (copy, move, delete) as well as direction.
- (3) - second (target) pane with target files and folders;
Profiles (comparison and synchronization rules)
Diff Commander uses a set of rules to determine whether the files are equal or it is necessary to include them in the results list as well as to determine the synchronization direction. You can customize these rules with help of a profile. Diff Commander allows you to create many profiles for each individual task. In each profile you can specify the options of comparison and synchronization.
Click on the images to see content of each property page in Profile and Session dialogues:
All profile options are listed below:
The general options:
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FTP support
With Diff Commander you don't need a separate FTP client to synchronize your data between servers and local PCs. Diff Commander can connect to standard FTP, FTP over SSL/TLS, and SFTP (Secured connection over SSH) servers. Update your website, make an backup or exchange of working materials with colleagues, all this you can do with Diff Commander.
Zip files
Diff Commander supports comparison and synchronization of a archive and a folder as well as two archives. It is able to compare the contents of archives located in the folders as well. Besides comparing archives Diff Commander synchronize them as if they were folders.
Diff Commander handles many other popular formats: 7z, XZ, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR and ZIP. With other formats, such as ARJ, RAR, CAB, CHM, OCX, DLL, ISO, VHD, NSIS Diff Commander work in read-only mode.
Snapshot storages
Diff Commander can save the current state of a directory in snapshot storage (a special file). The snapshot holds directory listing of selected folder (and all its subfolders). It includes short description about each file in selected folder (CRC32 checksum, date, time, size etc.), but not contains the file itself. It allows to reduce the size of the snapshot storage essentially and enables you to transfer the snapshot on devices which have the limited size or send it by e-mail (for example, the size of snapshot storage for the directory in 300Mb is ~500Kb only!).
After creating of the snapshot, you can compare it with other folder or zip-archive. Right after creations, Snapshot does not content real files. Therefore synchronization of files in a direction "snapshot->directory" while is impossible. But you can put files into snapshot during its comparison with other folder. It will allow you to have in snapshot real contents only those files which really differ.
Use scenarios of snapshots:
- You can use a snapshot for synchronization of your data between two computers which have no a direct connection with each other (for example, between office and home computers). Snapshot allows to store in itself contents only those files which really have differences;
- You can create a snapshot of an important folder and test it periodically for corruptions or "bit fades";
- You can send the snapshot by e-mail. It is usefully, when you work in a team of developers which are far off from each other;
The snapshot storage file have .dcss extension. For convenience of using of snapshot Diff Commander creates file association for this extension. You can double click on snapshot to run Diff Commander. It will allow you to load at once snapshot and to compare its contents to the folder on the basis of which has been made given snapshot (snapshot stores a way to the original directory).
Note: The synchronization of snapshots contents are available in the registered version only. The snapshot does not put subfolders in the unregistered version, only files from the root of selected directory will be processed.
Tree and list view
Diff Commander can display files and folder in two different view modes: "tree view" and "list view". Each of these view modes has its own advantages. The "tree view" mode allows you to see the hierarchy of folders; the "list view" mode is more convenient to display the folders structure with complex hierarchy of subfolders. You can switch between these two modes at any time. Click on the screenshot to see how it is work.
Files filtering
After comparing files and folders you can filter them by one of the following criteria:
- files with the "Left to Right" synchronization direction;
- unequal files ("Not equal only");
- files with the "Right to Left" synchronization direction;
- files from the left pane only ("Left pane only");
- files from the right pane only ("Right pane only");
- files from the both panes ("Both panes only");
Note: Files and folders which do not match these criteria, will not be shown in comparison panes and will not be synchronized.
Synchronize actions
When Diff Commander completes the comparison you can synchronize files in these folders. Diff Commander detects a synchronization direction for each file using sets of rules. If the synchronization action is wrong you can change it during the synchronization process. The following actions are available:
- Copy file to right pane;
- Move file to right pane;
- Copy file to left pane;
- Move file to left pane;
- Delete right file;
- Delete left file;
- Delete both files.
External tools
After comparison and direct before synchronization you may be need to compare the contents of files. Diff Commander allows you to specify special programs which will be automatically
launched to compare or edit files. You can specify a program that to be used for comparison of files depending on their types. Also you can edit content of files directly from Diff Commander using
external editors in the same way. On the main menu select Tools->Customize->Tools
to open the Settings dialog. See the screenshot below:
How to add an external comparing or editing tool:
- click the
"New" (Insert)
button and enter a mnemonic name for a new external tool; - select the full path to this external tool;
- specify additional arguments for this tool. Use the button to display a list of the argument you can include;
- specify the type of your external tool (
Comparer
orEditor
); - define the files types to be associated with this tool. You can use file mask(s) as file association.
A minimal set of external tools is configured in the Diff Commander installation package by default:
- Visual Comparer (if it is already installed on your computer, or if you downloaded Bundle Edition from our site);
- Notepad is a standard Windows text files editor;
- Paint is a standard Windows images editor;
- Image Viewer is a simple program which allows you to show two images side by side for visual comparison (this program is distributed with Diff Commander).
Quick Start
Profiles
Of course, Diff Commander very flexible in use and you can configure it as you wish. Diff Commander uses a set of rules (named as Profile) to determine whether the files are equal or it is necessary to include them in the results list as well as to determine the synchronization direction. You can customize all these rules in Profile combobox that can be seen at image below. Diff Commander allows you to create a set of such profiles. In each profile you can specify the options of comparison and synchronization.
Sessions
Each Profile can be selected as active profile and applied only to both currently selected items in path selector comboboxes. It means that you can compare and synchronize at once only two folders or two other items. For comparing of many number of couples of items it is necessary to use Sessions.
List of session settings is same as profile settings, but have the list of pairs of comparing pathes also.
Diff Commander 2.70 (build 0601)
New:- update to 7Zip engine (version 2301);
- some issues in draw engine of tree control;
Diff Commander 2.70 (build 0505)
New:- donate link in to menu toolbar added;
- some issues in installer;
Diff Commander 2.70 (build 0504)
New:- Now Diff Commander is FREE!!!
- added search tool bar for find the files and folders by name in view panes;
- time of loading for app at start up is decreased;
- other improvements and bugs fixing;
Diff Commander 2.60 (build 0500)
Fixes:- improvements and bugs fixing;
Diff Commander 2.60 (build 0410)
Fixes:- incorrect mouse wheel processing for some specific mouse devices;
Diff Commander 2.60 (build 0406)
New:- support of SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) - FTP access to remote files over SSH. It is experemental without proxy support and keys authentication (only "login/password" authentication possible at the moment);
- "keep alive connection" option for FTP/FTPS and SFTP;
- FTP-log window added;
- support of archive files in 7z format (.7z) and archives with XZ, BZIP2, GZIP and TAR extensions in read/write mode;
- support of password protected archive files;
- support of many other compound formats in read only mode (ARJ, RAR, CAB, CHM, OCX, DLL, ISO, VHD, NSIS);
- creating of snap shots files now possible by active profile settings;
- the size of new generated snap shots files is reduced;
- bugs with access by FTP over SSL/TLS;
- errors with UNIX-time/FILE-time conversions on FTP;
- wrong view of attributes for FTP files;
- program termination after entering of wrong ftp port number;
- incorrect processing of special type of archives (.xz for example);
Diff Commander 2.40 (build 0281)
New:- completely redesigned profile manager;
- new session and session manager. The session - is a logical element, which consists of a profile and comparison pairs (folders, archives so on). You can add multiple comparison pairs per session. Moreover, you can initiate a process of comparison for several sessions at once. The batch mode now is obsolete and removed;
- total speed of scanning is increased;
- speed of comparison of big zip-archives is increased.
- reset of current column selection after check/uncheck of item;
- app crash if you try initiate "cancel" in batch or session mode during comparing;
- app crashing at choice attempt ftp connections from ftp context menu;
- files without the extension from/to FTP sites aren't copied;
- "Yes to all" and "No to all" confirmations for "Delete both" request not work properly;
- GDI resource leaks in a very complex directory structure, as result - app crash;
- problem with unicode file names in snapshots and zip archives;
- incorrect work with some types of zip-archves;
- reseting of all profiles and sessions after reinstalling.
Diff Commander 2.30 (build 0242)
New:- now Diff Commander compatible with Windows 7.
- new created folders is not visible in snapshots and zip archive after synchronization;
- forcible canceling of the scanning sometime raise a application exception;
- incorrect binary comparison and crc calculation of files that are bigger than 512MB or about it; files always shows them as "differing" but does not copy these files;
- illegal displaying of unicode/language specific characters in message boxes;
- application crashed, when you try copy/move some file to/from local network path;
- when content comparison is on, crc checksum code will be lock the file. Therefore some synchronize operations with this file will be failed;
- "Tools" menu after installation is empty;
- some information popups and context menus have invalid position on multimonitor systems;
Diff Commander 2.20 (build 0230)
Fixes:- new created folders is not visible in snapshots and zip archive after synchronization;
- forcible canceling of the scanning sometime raise a application exception;
- incorrect binary comparison and crc calculation of files that are bigger than 512MB or about it;
- files always shows them as "differing" but does not copy these files;
- illegal displaying of unicode/language specific characters in message boxes;
- application crashed, when you try copy/move some file to/from local network path;
- external tools not created after installation;
- app cannot copy local file to Ftp server if destination folder not exist;
Diff Commander 2.0 (build 0216)
New:- compatibility with Windows Vista;
- full screen mode on multimonitor systems;
- time zones not present in ftp dialog settings (Windows Vista);
- app not use Windows themes on Windows Vista;
Diff Commander 2.0 (build 0209)
New:- FTP support;
- new synchronize modes:
- "Mirror Left to Right";
- "Mirror Right to Left";
- "Update Left";
- "Update Right";
- "Settings" dialog box added (font, colors and columns settings);
- progress status bar for synchronize process;
- canceling of long time operations;
- Profile dialog box improved;
- switch item action cyclically by "Ctrl+<Mouse Wheel>";
- empty folders processing (copy or delete, opional, see sync.mode settings);
- slow operations with zip archives;
- a number of minor bugs;
Diff Commander 1.10 (build 0075)
New:- The shapshot storage - current state of a folder in a special file. Now Diff Commander can create the folder snapshot, compare and synchronize it with other folder;
- the "swap pathes" command on "Comparison" toolbar;
- "copy left path to right" command on "Comparison" toolbar;
- "skip hidden folders" option in "Profile";
- a number of minor bugs;
Diff Commander 1.0 (build 0062)
New:- batch comparison;
- support synchronization of two zip arhives;
- support synchronization of a zip-arhive and a folder;
- keeping crc32 checksum for files in ADS (Advanced Data Stream) to speed up the binary content comparison next time (NTFS only);
- Full Screen mode has been added (see menu View->Full Screen);
- a number of notification messages transformed to the popup tool tips;
- Keyboard Map dialog. Now you can view all keyboard shortcuts in Diff Commander (see menu Help->Keyboard Map);
- "Ctrl+D" is a shortcut to open the recent list;
- unclosed file handle in the crc32 checksum function;
- a number of minor bugs;
- autosave of columns order;
- autosave of show/hide columns state;
- the extension column being hidden, the file extension is shown in the file name column;