How To Know When Folders Or Files Are Different

After using a Mac for a few decades I’ve developed a few tricks to help manage and organize files.

For example, I use Labels in the Finder to color code certain files. Those color tags are also good to let you know when a file has been overwritten by another file. It’s a cute trick but there are easier ways to find out differences between files which may seem the same.

How Different Are Those Files And Folders?

File management can become painful when files get out of sync, or something screws up your file and folder organizational process. Things happen.

Checking a folder full of files and comparing it with another folder full of what may or may not be the same files can be a tedious, error prone process.

Been there. Done that. Mac app to the rescue.

VisualDiffer is a unique app that does just that. It compares files in one folder with files in another. If they’re the same or different, you’re notified by color.

It’s not just a color alert. The files that are different are color coded so you know which ones are which.

Not only does VisualDiffer highlight which files in a folder are different from other files, you get options to match specific criteria when comparing files.

VisualDiffer displays the differences within a file, too.

Files within a folder can be excluded from comparison by using the drop down filters, so it won’t bother comparing files such as Apple’s .DS_Store files or files with specific extensions.

The comparison uses your Mac’s built-in Unix diff command. Your filters can be saved as a session and used again on a different set of folders and files.

The whole idea behind VisualDiffer is to make it easy to find duplicates so you don’t delete the wrong files. It’s fast, easy, inexpensive, and with powerful filtering features. Alas, for now, VisualDiffer is a Mac App Store app only, and there’s no trial download.

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