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You can use the File menu to define selection, naming, and printing options.
| Menu Command | Description |
| Compare Files | Displays the File Open dialog box, in which you can enter the names of two files to compare. |
| Compare Directories | Displays the Select Directories dialog box, in which you can enter the names of two directories to compare. |
| Abort | Terminates a file-scanning operation. This menu selection is unavailable until a scanning operation is initiated. |
| Save File List | Displays the Save File List dialog box, in which you can specify the output file where the comparison results are to be written. |
| Copy Files | Displays the Copy Files dialog box, in which you can specify files to be copied from one directory to another. |
| Prints the comparison results. | |
| Exit | Terminates WinDiff. |
You can use the Edit menu to designate the text editor you want to use and to specify which files to display for editing.
| Menu Command | Description |
| Edit Left File | Displays the contents of the first (left) file using the default Notepad editor. |
| Edit Right File | Displays the contents of the second (right) file using the default Notepad editor. |
| Edit Composite File | Displays both files using the default Notepad editor. |
| Set Editor | Displays a WinDiff dialog box, in which you can specify the editor to be used for the preceding operations. By default, Notepad is used. |
You can use the View menu to compare both the content and graphical representation of two files.
| Menu Command | Description |
| Outline | Displays only the list of filenames (equivalent to the Outline button). |
| Expand | Displays comparison of the contents of selected files (equivalent to the Expand button). |
| Picture | Displays a graphical representation of the contents of the two files. |
| Previous Change | Goes directly to previous area of the file that was changed (if any). |
| Next Change | Goes directly to next area of the file that was changed (if any). |
| Rescan Selected File | Recompares the selected file. This allows you to try again if WinDiff is unable to read a file for some reason. |
You can use the Expand menu to display changed lines in the selected file. You can also turn off the display of line numbers.
| Menu Command | Description |
| Left File Only | Expands only the first (left) file, with changed lines colored appropriately. |
| Right File Only | Expands only the second (right) file, with changed lines colored appropriately. |
| Both Files | Expands both files, with changed lines colored appropriately. |
| Left Line Numbers | Displays line numbers for the first (left) file. |
| Right Line Numbers | Displays line numbers for the second (right) file. |
| No Line Numbers | Turns off the line number display. |
You can use the Options menu to specify file comparison criteria.
| Menu Command | Description |
| Ignore Blanks | Ignores blank spaces in the expanded view, so that lines differing only in the amount of white space are shown as identical. |
| Mono Colours | Displays differences in black and white only. |
| Show Identical Files | In outline view, displays files that are identical. |
| Show Left-Only Files | In outline view, displays files that appear only in the first (left) path. |
| Show Right-Only Files | In outline view, displays files that appear only in the second (right) path. |
| Show Different Files | In outline view, displays files that are in both paths, but are different. |
You can use the Mark menu to mark comparison results.
| Menu Command | Description |
| Mark File | Marks selected comparison results. |
| Mark Pattern | Displays the Mark Files dialog box, in which you can specify the file marking pattern. |
| Hide Marked Files | Hides all marked files. |
| Toggle Marked State | Reverses the marked status of marked and unmarked files. |
You can use the Help menu to display information about WinDiff.
| Menu Command | Description |
| Contents | Displays the contents of the WinDiff help file. |
| About | Displays copyright and version information about WinDiff. |