Differences viewer for folders

Project tool window | context menu of a folder | Compare Directory with
Project tool window | context menu of two selected folders | Compare Directories
Project tool window | context menu of a folder | Sync with Deployed to
Remote Host tool window | context menu of a folder | Sync with local
Tools | Deployment | Sync with local
Database tool window | context menu of two selected items | Compare

This window is displayed every time you explore differences between:

• Two local directories (local history for folders, recent changes, or version control).
• A remote folder and its local version.

In this dialog box, explore the detected differences and synchronize the compared items.

In this section:

• Toolbar
• List of items
• Differences pane
• Diff viewer
• Context menu

Toolbar

Item	Tooltip and shortcut	Description	Available for
	F7 Shift+F7	Use these buttons to jump to the next/previous difference. When the last/first difference is hit, IntelliJ IDEA suggests to press F7/Shift+F7 once more and compare other files.	Version control
	Jump to Source F4	Click this button to open file in the editor's active tab. The caret will be placed in the same position as in the Differences Viewer.	All
	Show diff in external tool	Click this button to invoke an external differences viewer, specified in the External Diff Tools page. This button only appears on the toolbar, when the check box Use external diff tool is selected in the External Diff Tools page.	All
	Help F1	Click this button to show reference page.	All
	Refresh F5	Click this button to refresh the contents of the differences viewer.	All
	Show new files on left side	Press this toggle button to have IntelliJ IDEA show the items, that are present in the first of the compared directories or database objects and are missing in the second one.	All
	Show difference	Press this toggle button to have IntelliJ IDEA show items that are present in both folders or database objects but differ in contents, or timestamp, or size.	All
	Show equals	Press this toggle button to have IntelliJ IDEA show the items that are present in both directories or objects and have the same contents, or timestamp, or size, depending on the parameter for comparison specified in the Compare by drop-down list.	All
	Show new files on right side	Press this toggle button to have IntelliJ IDEA show the items, that are present in the second of the compared directories or database objects and are missing in the first one.	All
Compare by		In this drop-down list, select the parameter to be used for comparison. The available options are: Contents Size Time stamp	Local folders Local-remote folders
	Synchronize Selected Enter	Click this button to have IntelliJ IDEA apply the specified action to the selected pair of items. Actions to be performed are shown in the * field.	All
	Synchronize All Ctrl+Enter	Click this button to have IntelliJ IDEA apply the specified action to all the pairs of items in the list. Actions to be performed are shown in the * field.	All
	Hide excluded files	Click this button to suppress showing files excluded from synchronization.	Local-remote folders
Filter		Type the filtering string (for example, file or table name). Use * wildcard to replace any number of arbitrary characters. Note that filter applies on pressing Enter.	All
Path		These fields show the paths to the folders being compared. To change a directory, click the Browse button and specify another directory in the dialog that opens.	Local folders Local-remote folders
		These read-only fields show the names of the data sources or tables being compared.	Data sources

List of items

The list shows the items from the compared objects that meet the comparison criterion specified in the Compare by drop-down list and the filtering criteria specified through the toolbar buttons.

Item	Description	Available for
Name	These read-only fields show the names of  files, data source tables, or table fields   under the object specified in the  Path or   fields.	All
Size	These read-only fields show the sizes of files under the folders being compared.	Local folders Local-remote folders
Date	These read-only fields show the timestamps of files under the folders being compared.	Local folders Local-remote folders
*	The icon in this field indicates the action that will be applied to the pair of items in the current line upon clicking the Synchronize Selected  or Synchronize All   toolbar button. To change the currently selected action, click the icon. Icon Action Copy the item in the left side to the right side, possibly overwriting the contents of the corresponding target item, if it already exists. Copy the item in the right side to the left side, possibly overwriting the contents of the corresponding target item, if it already exists. The items are treated identical with regard to the selected criterion of comparison. No action will be performed by default. The items differ with regard to the selected criterion of comparison. No action will be performed by default. Explore the differences in the Differences Pane and change the intended action by clicking the icon. The item is present only in one of the folders and will be removed.	All

Differences pane

The differences pane is displayed only for files, data source tables, or table fields   with the same names, which exist on both sides. For the files and DB objects that exist on one side only, the contents of the selected file/DB object is displayed.

If the files have read-only status, they are not editable in the differences pane.

Diff viewer

Item	Tooltip and Shortcut	Description
	Previous Difference / Next Difference Shift+F7 F7	Use these buttons to jump to the next/previous difference. When the last/first difference is hit, IntelliJ IDEA suggests to click the arrow buttons F7/Shift+F7 once more and compare other files, depending on the Go to the next file after reaching last change option in the Differences Viewer settings. This behavior is supported only when the Differences Viewer is invoked from the Version Control tool window.
	Compare Previous/Next File Alt+LeftAlt+Right	Click these buttons to compare the local copy of the previous/next file with its update from the server.
	Go To Changed File Ctrl+N	Click this button to display the path to the compared file.
	Jump to Source F4	Click this button to open the selected file in the active pane in the editor. The caret will be placed in the same position as in the Differences Viewer.
Viewer type		Use this drop-down list to choose the desired viewer type. The side-by-side viewer has two panels; the unified viewer has one panel only. Both types of viewers enable you to Edit, for example, type text. Note that one can change text only in the right-hand part of the default viewer, or, in case of the unified viewer, in the lower ("after") line. Perform the Apply/Append/Revert actions.
Whitespace		Use this drop-down list to define how the differences viewer should treat white spaces in the text. Do not ignore: white spaces are important, and all differences are highlighted. This option is selected by default. Trim whitespaces: ("\t", " ") , if they appear in the end and in the beginning of a line. If two lines differ in trailing whitespaces only, these lines are considered equal. If two lines are different, such trailing whitespaces are not highlighted in the By word mode. Ignore whitespaces: white spaces are not important, regardless of their location in the source code. Ignore whitespaces and empty lines: the following entities are ignored: all whitespaces (as in the 'Ignore whitespaces' option) all added or removed lines consisting of whitespaces only all changes consisting of splitting or joining lines without changes to non-whitespace parts. For example, changing a b c to a \n b c is not highlighted in this mode.
Highlighting mode		Select the way differences granularity is highlighted. The available options are: Highlight words: the modified words are highlighted Highlight lines: the modified lines are highlighted Highlight split changes: if this option is selected, big changes are split into smaller 'atomic' changes. For example, A \n B vs. A X \n B X will be treated as two changes instead of one. Do not highlight: if this option is selected, the differences are not highlighted at all. This option is intended for significantly modified files, where highlighting only introduces additional difficulties.
	Collapse unchanged fragments	Click this button to collapse all unchanged fragments in both files. The amount of non-collapsible unchanged lines is configurable in the Diff & Merge settings page.
	Synchronize scrolling	Click this button to simultaneously scroll both differences panes; if this button is released, each of the panes can be scrolled independently.
	Editor settings	Click this button to reveal the drop-down list of available check commands. Select or clear these check commands to show or hide line numbers, indentation guides, white spaces, and soft wraps. Note that same commands are duplicated in the context menu of the differences viewer gutter. Right-click the gutter to show the menu of check commands.
	Include into commit Alt+I	This checkbox only appears if you invoke the Differences Viewer from the Commit Changes dialog with multiple changed files (all of which are deselected), and you explore the differences between them and hit the last difference in a file. Select this checkbox if you want to include the file you've reviewed into the commit.
	Move to Another Changelist F6	This button only appears if you invoke the Differences Viewer from the Commit Changes dialog with multiple changed files (all of which are deselected), and you explore the differences between them and hit the last difference in a file. Click this icon to move the file you've reviewed to another changelist.
	Show diff in external tool	Click this button to invoke an external differences viewer, specified in the External Diff Tools settings page. This button only appears on the toolbar when the Use external diff tool option is enabled in the External Diff Tools settings page.
	Help F1	Click this button to show the corresponding help page.
	Ctrl+Tab	Use this keyboard shortcut to switch between the panes of the Differences viewer. The active pane has the cursor.
		Use these chevron buttons to apply differences between panes (in case of the side-by-side viewer) or between lines (in case of the unified viewer). The chevron buttons can change their behavior: Click to apply changes. This behavior is the default one. Press Ctrl to change to or and append changes.

Context menu

This menu appears on right-clicking an entry in the list of items. The commands listed below define actions to be taken for the selected entry and set the action icons in the * column.

Item	Icon	Description
Set Copy to Right/Left		This command sets the specified icons in the * column to copy a file missing from one of the directories. If a file exists on one side, it will be copied; if it doesn't exist, then the file on the other side will not be deleted.
Set Delete		This command sets the specified icons in the * column to delete file.
Set Do Nothing		Choose this command to remove an action icon.
Set Default		Choose this command to set the default action for the entry.
Warn When Delete		Select this option to display a warning when trying to delete a file that is located only in one of the two directories during their merge.

File comparison statuses and intended operations are shown in the column marked with an asterisk (*). To assign or change an operation, use the context menu associated with the corresponding cell. Alternatively, click the cell or press Space one or more times.

Applying operations:

• (Enter) applies the operations to selected files.
• (Ctrl+Enter) applies the operations to all the files.

Icon	Description
	The file exists only in the left-hand folder. The intended operation is to copy the file to the right-hand folder. If a file exists in both folders and you apply this operation, the file in the right-hand folder is overwritten.
	For the selected comparison criterion, the files are not identical. No operation is assumed. Study the file differences in the lower part of the view. You can choose to overwrite one of the files by assigning and applying the corresponding operation. You can as well modify the file contents. This may be done by typing or by using the following buttons and context menu commands: or or Replace. Replace the fragment with the one from the other pane. or or Insert. Insert the fragment into the other pane. Remove. Remove the corresponding fragment. To undo the changes, use Ctrl+Z.
	For the selected comparison criterion, the files are identical. No operation is assumed.
	The file exists only in the right-hand folder. The intended operation is to copy the file to the left-hand folder. If a file exists in both folders and you apply this operation, the file in the left-hand folder is overwritten.
	Delete the file. The operation is not available for files that exist in both folders.