Comparing Files' Contents

To view what exactly has changed in a particular file, use the Compare File Contents command:

By this command, the program compares the contents of the selected file in the current point (on which cell the menu was opened), with the file in the point displayed on the menu. If you use the default comparison tool included in ZSync, the comparison result should look as follows:

The different portions of files are marked with color: red - contained in the first file, blue - in the second file. Thus, if you compare the newer version with the old: what was added will be marked with a warmer red color, and what was deleted will be marked with the cooler blue color. If you opened the menu in a wrong cell and see that the colors are messed up - press F6, and the program will swap the colors.

To jump to the previous/next difference, use the toolbar buttons or the combinations of ALT+Up Arrow, ALT+Down Arrow on your keyboard.

If you are used to working with a different file comparison program, configure it as described in the "Program Settings" chapter.

ZSync user David Tong offered the following suggestions for external comparators:

I find that the default file comparator in ZSync is too thorough
when comparing Word files. These files contain lots of non-textual
data and the slightest change in the text seems to cause lots of
changes in the non-textual content. So when you compare two files
it's hard to see the wood for the trees.

Luckily ZSync lets you use a third party comparator as an
alternative to the built-in version (via Commands/Program
Properties).

I found that CSDiff works very nicely with ZSync. Used to compare
two txt files, it shows textual changes very clearly on a line-by-
line basis. Even better, with Word 2000 files and assuming you have
Word installed, it calls up Word in 'Document Compare' mode and with
the two documents already set up. Added or removed text shows up
clearly as underlined in red or struck out in red, respectively.
The link for CSDiff is
http://www.componentsoftware.com/Products/CSDiff/index.htm
and the program is license-free for personal use.

For comparing jpg files, I use Microsoft Photo Editor (included with
Office 2000). (The path to it is something like:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\PhotoEd\PHOTOED.EXE).
With this plugged into ZSync and when
you select the files to be compared, they both open automatically in
PhotoEditor. You can then select Window/Tile Images to compare both
pictures side-by-side.