Beyond Compare is intended to compare the files you keep in specific folders, networked drives or even in the Cloud. Thus, it comes in extremely handy when you are backing up, synchronizing or merging data on various locations. The tool supports various comparison modes. Thus, you can only check file names, sizes and modified times. Moreover, it allows performing a thorough byte-to-byte comparison.
The program´s interface is very similar to that of a dual-panel file explorer, which means that it lets you open a different location on each panel to visually compare their contents, as differences are automatically highlighted. As said, it supports local and networked folders. Besides, it also allows browsing FTP sites and exploring the contents of archived files. Luckily, you can apply filters to focus exactly on specific file types. It is also good that the tool can help you preview the contents of some files and, when the built-in viewer does not support the extension, you can always configure an external viewer as well. I loved the possibility of spotting the differences in the contents of two text files. When recurrent backup tasks are involved, it is of great help that you can schedule them using the program´s scripting language.
All in all, Beyond Compare has the main advantage of letting you decide what to synchronize or not, so it reduces the chances that important data be overwritten. It has an extensive list of options that you can use, but these make the tool somewhat difficult to understand at first. The product also has a Pro version with some extra features, of which three-way merging seems to be the most advantageous as it lets you combine the changes made in two different versions of a file.
v4.1.9.21719 [Sep 24, 2015]
Overhauled Home view
The new Home View adds session search and web resources. The layout is easier to manage with on-screen controls.
Three-way merging now extends to folders. Compare independent changes against a common ancestor to quickly merge your changes with someone else's. It makes merging your customizations into a new release a snap.
It is now easier to define unimportant text in your Text Compares. Define unimportant terms directly from the Session Settings dialog, rather than having to edit your file formats.
In addition to FTP, you can access WebDAV resources, subversion repositories, Dropbox's cloud storage, and Amazon S3 cloud storage directly from within Beyond Compare. Organize your remote service profiles with friendly names and folder hierarchies.
Picture Compare has a new look, with automatic zoom, pixel-level details, and simplified controls. Tolerance comparison mode uses grayscale to reveal the image along with the differences.
The reorganized Options dialog includes a search feature for finding specific settings quickly. Commands for all comparison types can be customized without first having to open a view.
Other significant features
• Data Compare is now called Table Compare.
• Hex Compare wraps lines to fit the window, and adds in-line editing.
• New View Patch command shows diff/patch files as a text comparison.
• Added new text comparison algorithm choice based on Bram Cohen's Patience Diff.
• HTML folder comparison reports can now embed links to file comparisons.
• Improved appearance on high DPI (retina) displays.
• Version Compare now compares the fixed PE header in addition to the version resource.
• Zipx archives can be compared, complete with PPMd, LZMA, WavPack, and WinZip's JPEG compression.
• Added support for portable media devices (aka "MTP") including Android 4.0+ phones and cameras.
Share images, video and music between your Android and Windows devices
