1

As a quick hack, I sometimes need to compare two documents. I'd like a differ for Windows that will let me:

  1. Copy/paste the two docs each in its tab
  2. Rename the tabs so I know which is which without having to prepend the origin of the file in the actual data
  3. Show me the differences

WinMerge doesn't seem to be able to rename the "Untitled left/right" tabs: enter image description here o

Do you know of a free/affordable Windows application that can do this?

Thank you.

3
  • 1
    it would show you the names if, instead of creating 2 new empty (thus untitled) documents and copy/paste into them, you'd opened the original documents you wanted to compare... same for other programs. They can't guess where you copy infos from ^^ Dec 28, 2012 at 14:04
  • You can probably also, as a workaround, create a new shortcut for winmerge with additionnal parameters, that would open a winmerge with 2 documents opened, one named 'firefox.htm', the other 'chrome.htm', on startup. Then ctrl-a ctrl-v to replace the previous content of each with the newly copied content. Dec 28, 2012 at 14:06
  • Thanks for the tip. I'll see if I can find a differ that accepts renaming tabs even if the windows contain new, unsaved docs. Dec 29, 2012 at 17:35

2 Answers 2

0

If it has to be documents, you can use Notepad++ with "Compare"plugin

  • Install Notepad++
  • Install plugin "Compare" from plugin manager in plugins menu
  • Although Tabs cannot be renamed, full path of the current active tab is shown in the title bar
0

I have always recommended BeyondCompare to my coworkers:

http://www.scootersoftware.com/

It allows copy/paste between the two documents. I don't think you can edit tab names, but it shows the full path to the file in the headers so you can tell which is which, and it has an excellent diff interface (including intra-line diffs with highlighting).

It also has different rule sets for various file types (HTML, XML, CSV, text, etc...) so the diff logic is smart (e.g. it can ignore things like whitespace and comments, if you want to).

It's one of the few software utilities I think is well worth the $$ they are asking.

0

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .