How to compare only the files in one folder?

[david74]

I have a large folder on machine A. I have a small folder on machine B. All the files in the smaller folder exist in the larger folder (they are a subset of the larger folder).

If I just do a directory comparison, all the files in the large folder are listed, causing the comparison to fail and to take a long time doing so (my eyes get tired looking at all those irrelevant files, too).

I want ExamDiff to compare only the files in the small folder with the files of the same names in the large folder. I want it to ignore all the other files in the large folder, and only tell me which files in the small folder are newer, older, or identical.

I can't figure out how to do this. Any ideas, community?

Note: if you think I've misunderstood something or that the answer is obvious, you may not have read the question carefully. It's a complicated question, but the answer should be useful to many users, not just to me.

Thanks in advance!

David Spector
Springtime Software

[psguru]

There's no comparison filter to just compare files that only exist in one of the two directories. However, you can set up a view filter to hide files that are not needed. For example, if you want to see only files that exist in the second folder, uncheck Deleted items under Options | Display | View Filter and then enable the view filter.

As far as performance is concerned, comparing files that exist only in one of the directories is very quick, as it does not require to perform any kind of actual comparison.

[david74]

psguru, I beg to differ (or examdiffer).

Comparing one small folder with one very large folder, where the smaller is a subset of the larger, takes a very long time. Maybe it's because of some option I've set. I don't understand all of them.

C'mon. There must be a way to do what I want. I don't want to have to restructure my folders on one of my computers (the one with the large folders) to accomodate ExamDiff.

Please?

[psguru]

Think about this: in order for EDP to determine that a file exists only in one of the folders, it has to "compare". That is all comparison EDP does when a file exists only in one of the two folders. So even if there was an option to filter out files that only exist in one folder, the time to compare would not change.

As far as your options are concerned, can you export them to a file (via the Options dialog) and post it here?

[david74]

Well, that brings up another problem. I can't really use the Options dialog box. It more than fills the screen, so I can't see the OK button to click it. In some subdialogs, I can't see many of the options, either.

I've tried to use the Windows 'move' feature, but Windows 'helpfully' knows better than I do and refuses to leave window positioning such that the title bar is hidden.

I've tried changing my screen resolution. It gets worse with lower resolutions, and I usually use the highest resolution. If it helps, some lists (like the plug-ins list) have no space between lines (the text is too big).

I'm sure this is my fault, since I use larger text so my old eyes can see it, but I have no idea what I changed to make this happen.

So saving the options to a file is extremely difficult.

David

[psguru]

Here are a few things you can try:

1. Increase the resolution of your display, and also increase text size, in the Windows Control Panel. A minimum resolution of 1024x768 is required to display the entire Options dialog, but if this makes text too small to see, you could try increasing text size (DPI) as well.

2. If that doesn't work, try moving the Options dialog using the standard Windows hotkey Alt+M, Space (press Alt+M, then press Space). You should then be able to use the arrow keys to move the dialog.

3. If you're still unable to reach the Import/Export buttons from there, you can use the hotkeys Alt+X for Export and Alt+M for Import.

I hope that this helps.

psguru