Michel Pollet
Software since... wow.

Folder Compare 2.04

Software
Folder Compare
Ericsson Melody Maker

ClanLord Tune Helper

GLterm

Friend's Cabal Essentials
Alessandro Levi Montalcini
USB Overdrive
Icon Archiver
DragAnyWindow


Marc Moini
Startup Doubler
Smart Scroll


Florent Pillet
PowerGlot


My Deceased Oldies
Vamp
Zilot
LinuxDisks
DieBlo
Black Beauty
MyTerm

Please, do not ask me where you can find my oldies, I no longer provide them.

© Michel Pollet, 1994-2000

Download Folder Compare

Only USD 15!
Register Online using Kagi
Secure Server

About Folder Compare
What's new in 2.04

About Folder Compare

Folder Compare allows you to, guess what, compare folders. The unique feature of Folder Compare is that it provides you with the means to Choose what you want to do with the differences. I personally do not trust automatic synchronization software much, because there is always a chance that:

  • There are files that I do not want to copy.
    There can be many files in a folder that mean nothing. Like, if you are a developer, trying to copy the .xSYM files is slightly overkill; you can rebuild them by recompiling. If updating a System Folder, you probably do not want to copy your Web Browser cache. Nor all the system preference files, in fact.
  • There are files which in fact, I'd like to Restore!
    It happens sometimes. I make a change I shouldn't have. In that case, I do not need to fish into a big folder to fetch the original; Folder Compare will show it to me in a second.
  • They do not understand when I just Moved an item.
    Most utilities won't understand it. They will think that I removed it and created another with the same name elsewhere. Folder Compare detects that.

In all those cases, I always have cold sweat when trusting a fully automatic utility. The utility might be perfectly safe by itself, but I am never sure if I made the right move.


How To

Simple: drop two folders on the obvious places. Alternatively, once you have done a comparison, the folders you dropped are saved and appear in the quick-access popup menus to the right of the drop places.
Note: The aliases to the folders you use are stored in Folder Compare preference file, that lives in the Preference folder by default. It can happily be moved into the application folder if needs be, if you have several system folders!

Once you have clicked the "Compare" button, the four lists will get populated.

You have access to a few of the Finder functions on the selection you make in the lists. You can find those in Folder Compare "File" menu.

  • Open
    Open the selected items with the finder.
  • Print
    Print the selected items, as with the finder.
  • Move to Trash
    Move the selection items to the Trash.
  • Get Info
    Displays the Finder's Get Info windows for the selection.
  • Reveal in Finder
    Open the selection parent folder(s) in the finder.

Note: Those commands apply to BOTH Source and Compare items when your selection is in the "Different" list. So "Reveal" will open two folders, and "Move to Trash" will actually remove both items as well!

Here what you will find in the four lists accessible with the Tabs, and the available commands on the selection you make in them.

Unique in source

Items which are present in the Source folder, but not in the Compare folder.

Available command:

  • Install From Source
    Will copy the Source item(s) to its relative position in the Compare folder.

Unique in compare

Items which are present in the Compare folder, but not in the Source folder.

Available command:

  • Restore From Compare
    Will copy the Compare item(s) to its relative position in the Source folder.

Different

Items which are in both folders, but are different.

The differences can be:

  • Newer
    The item in the Source folder has a modification date which is more recent than its counterpart in the Compare folder.
  • Older
    The item in the Source folder is older than its counterpart in the Compare folder.
  • Smaller
    The item in the Source folder is smaller than its counterpart in the Compare folder.
  • Bigger
    The item in the Source folder is bigger than its counterpart in the Compare folder.
  • Different Type
    The items in Source and Compare folder have mismatched Finder types.
  • Different Creator
    The items in Source and Compare folders have mismatched Finder creators.

New: If items have different version information, they are displayed in the list as, for example, "Newer, 9.04b1 vs a 9.0"

Note: The differences have priority. The first found in that list will be displayed by Folder Compare. So, a "Newer" file might be "Smaller" too, but a "Smaller" file is neither "Newer" nor "Older".

Available commands:

  • Install From Source
    Will copy the Source items(s) and replace their counterparts in the Compare folder.
  • Restore From Compare
    Will copy the Compare items(s) and replace their counterparts in the Source folder.

Important Note: The items that are "replaced" are in fact moved to the Trash! So if you make a mistake, you STILL CAN correct it. Isn't paranoia a nice habit to have ? :-)

Moved

Items which are in both folders, but in different relative locations.

Available commands:

  • Move In Source
    Will move the Source item(s) from their actual positions into the same relative position as the items in the Compare folder.
  • Move In Compare
    Will move the Compare item(s) from their actual positions into the same relative position as the items in the Source folder.

Note: No copy takes place, the folder/files are just moved inside their own folders to the different position.

Important: Once you have moved items, you should click the "Compare" button again, to check to see if there were any differences in those items.

Release Notes:

2.04

  • Corrected a problem introduced in 2.03.
  • Changed the limit in the "Recent Folders" popup to 20 entries instead of 10.
  • Added Contextual Menus in the lists (Control-click on the selected items).

2.03

  • Folder Compare wouldn't move files to the trash under certain conditions; it is now behaving properly. Thanks to a registered user, Erik, for pointing this out.

2.02

  • Fixed a couple display glitches.
  • Made the display of large lists of differences faster.
  • Added version information in Different List.
    Version of both components is displayed as "Newer, 9.04 vs a 9.0" for example.

2.01

  • Fixed a problem that prevented Folder Compare to start properly under certain conditions.

2.0

  • Complete rewrite of the original Folder Compare, using the latest technologies:
    • Drag & Drop
    • Icon Services
    • Thread Manager
    • AppleScript
    • Carbon