Araxis Merge is the two- and three-way visual file comparison/merging and folder synchronization application. Use it to compare, understand and combine different versions of source code, Web pages and other text files, or even text copied and pasted from another application (e.g., Pages or Microsoft Word). Merge integrates with Time Machine, so you can compare older versions of files.

Broad appeal, many uses

For legal and publishing professionals:
instantly identify every change between different contract or manuscript drafts. Directly open and compare the text from Microsoft Office (Word and Excel), OpenDocument, PDF and RTF files. Copy text from other applications (such as Microsoft Word) and paste it directly into a text comparison.

For code reviewers and auditors:
identify in context every change made between two or three source code hierarchies. Create a standalone HTML or XML report of your findings. Add bookmarks and comments to a file or folder comparison, then save it as a single-file archive for emailing to other team members for review.

For software engineers and web developers:
compare, understand and combine different source file versions. Work quickly and accurately, whether you are comparing individual files or reconciling entire branches of source code. Use three-way comparison to integrate changes made by you, and those made by a colleague, with a common ancestor version. Synchronize a website with its staging area via FTP using the supplied FTP plugin

For release and quality control managers:
compare different source code branches to give total confidence that you know and understand every change made to every file for a specific release. Compare product releases to be certain that only the expected files have been modified. Create an HTML or XML report of changes for audit purposes.

Other users:
Whether you are working with multiple revisions of text files or need to keep multiple folder hierarchies in sync (for example, between a desktop and laptop machine), Merge could help save time and reduce errors by helping you to work quickly and accurately.

Text comparison and merging

• Merge enables you to compare and work with different revisions of text files, such as program source code, XML and HTML files. Merge can extract and compare the text from Microsoft Office, OpenDocument, PDF and RTF files. XML files can be shown with special formatting, helping you to see changes more clearly. It supports files with ASCII, MBCS and Unicode character encodings.
• Merge shows detailed highlights of changes within lines. It can be configured to ignore differences in whitespace and line endings, as well as changes in lines matching specified regular expressions. The latter is useful for ignoring unimportant changes such as timestamps or expanded version control keywords.
• A colour-coded side-by-side comparison makes it easy to pinpoint at a glance similarities and differences between files. Linking lines are drawn between the documents showing clearly how they are related.
• Point-and-click merging helps you choose the parts of each file that you would like to add to a final merged version by simply clicking buttons. The in-place editor with unlimited undo enables complete control over the merged file as you create it. The text comparison display dynamically updates as the merge progresses.

Compare text from common office file formats
Extract and compare the text content from Microsoft Office, OpenDocument, PDF and RTF files. Copy text from other applications and paste directly into a text comparison. (Note that office document layout and formatting is not shown in text comparisons.)

Image and binary file comparison
Merge doesn’t just compare text files. Use image comparison to compare many different types of image file and instantly see which pixels have been modified. Binary comparison enables you to identify differences in data files at a byte level.

Three-way comparison and automatic merging

• Merge Professional adds advanced three-way visual file comparison and merging to the Standard Edition’s two-way visual file comparison and merging. This is particularly useful when more than one person is working on the same set of files.
• Automatic Merging enables swift reconciliation of even the largest files. Three-way file comparisons can be launched directly from a three-way folder comparison, allowing efficient integration of entire branches of source code.

Folder hierarchy comparison and synchronization

• Merge supports folder hierarchy comparison and synchronization, enabling you to compare and merge entire directory trees. This is ideal for detecting changes in different versions of source code or web pages. You can even use the efficient byte-by-byte comparison option to verify the contents of recordable CDs or USB thumbsticks.
• With support for a variety of archive formats (.zip, .tar, etc.), Merge enables you to compare archives as if they were folders†. Compare the contents of an archive to a folder to verify its contents, or to see which files have changed since the archive was created.
• The Professional Edition of Merge supports three-way folder comparison (with automatic merging capability), enabling two revisions of a folder hierarchy to be merged with their common ancestor or some other folder hierarchy. This can be especially useful when used in conjunction with a source code control or software configuration management system.

What's New:

Version 2023.5849:

Enhancements:

• In the central pane of file comparisons, inserted blocks now use the foreground and background colours for inserted text rather than potentially blended colours as before; likewise, removed blocks always use the removed text colours. This change improves clarity and reduces visual clutter. #6616
• A optional confirmation dialog can now be shown before files are deleted from a folder comparison. #6671
• The keyboard shortcut for the folder comparison Delete Selected command has been changed from Delete to Cmd+⌫. This change makes it less easy to invoke the command accidentally; it also better aligns Merge with macOS Finder. #6671
• File and folder path entry fields without focus now elide a portion of long paths. #4818
• File and folder path entry fields now dim (to indicate that they cannot be edited) when they display a title rather than a filename. #6619
• Folder comparison columns can now be sized to their content by double-clicking a column divider in the header of the results list. #3857
• Text comparison merging buttons are no longer shown for merging into a read-only file. #6675
• SVG files now open as text, rather than as images that cannot be rendered by macOS. #6663
• Instructions for integrating Merge with Android Studio and various JetBrains IDEs have been added. The existing instructions for integrating with JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA and PhpStorm have also been updated. #6617#6620#6654
• The Command-Line Reference has been completely reworked. #6658#6656
• When invoked with the -h option, the command-line compare utility now opens the Command-Line Reference in a web browser. #6670
   New -readonlyN and -readonly options have been added to command-line compare utility to force some or all panes in a comparison to be read-only. #6652#6655
• The toolbar icons in the documentation have been updated. #6662
• Various dialogs have been updated to use base localization; this simplifies localization going forward. Minor differences in the layout of these windows are expected, but otherwise there should be no user-visible effect. #6606#6609#6610#6611#6612#6613#6614#6615
• The subset of the OpenJDK Java Runtime Environment bundled with Merge has been upgraded to the Adoptium Eclipse Temurin OpenJDK Temurin-17.0.5+8. #6627
• The Merge major version number has been updated to 2023 to reflect the year of release. Copyright notices have been updated accordingly. #6660

Defects fixed:

• Comparison history lists now always open with the top row visible. #6642
• In the central pane of file comparisons, inserted and removed blocks of text (and their line numbers) now use the appropriate font styles. #6496
• An AppleScript error no longer occurs when a double quotation mark occurs within a single-quoted title argument to the command-line compare utility. #6672
• The read-only indicator for a comparison panel is now shown when that panel has been set as read-only via the AppleScript API. #6673
• The Standard Edition of Merge now correctly displays only two comparison panes when launched from the command-line with more than two folders specified. #6444
  It is no longer possible to reorder columns in preference tables. #6589
• The decimal point character (.) is now used as the separator character for numeric comparison input fields in the preferences, regardless of locale. #6548

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