WinDiff
WinDiff is a small Microsoft utility that graphically compares two text files or two folders and highlights the differences between them.
Operating system: Windows
Publisher: Microsoft
Release: WinDiff 5.1
Antivirus check: VirusTotal report
You may need to compare two files at some point if you work with documents or source code. Fortunately, there are many apps that make this process simple, and WinDiff is a little program with an easy-to-use interface that enables users to compare two different files or directories. It was written by Microsoft and shipped with the Windows Support Tools, the Windows NT Resource Kit and some versions of Visual Studio. The application performs a reasonably good job of displaying the content as text and highlighting the differences between the two. WinDiff also includes a few more helpful features, such as marking files and rescanning a selected file.
It just takes a few seconds to compare two files or folders: the user picks the two files, or enters the two folder paths, and the application does the rest. You can also mark files by pattern and rescan a certain file after it has been changed. The directory comparison dialog has no browse button, so the full paths must be typed in the Dir1 and Dir2 boxes; a check box includes subfolders in the comparison. This package also contains WinDiff UI, a small third-party front end with browse buttons for picking files and folders.
The layout is very plain and looks dated, since the tool has not been updated for many years. The display shows either an outline with the comparison status of a list of files or an expanded line-by-line view of a selected file, with colors marking the lines that exist only in the left or only in the right file. To sum up, WinDiff is a useful and lightweight tool for quick comparisons, although modern file comparison programs offer merging and more convenient navigation.
WinDiff can also be started from the command line, and it is handy for checking whether two copies of a file are identical.
WinDiff quickly shows which lines differ between two files or which files differ between two folders, using color-coded output.
Features:
- Line-by-line, color-coded comparison of two text files
- Comparison of two folders, optionally including subfolders
- Outline and expanded views with Previous Change and Next Change
- Options to ignore blanks and to filter identical, left-only, right-only or different files
- Saving the file list and copying files between the compared folders
PROS
Easy to use with simple interface.
Can include subfolders in folder comparisons.
CONS
Outdated user interface design.
Folder paths must be typed in by hand.
