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Add most of the folder mode documentation
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‎help/C/folder-mode.page‎

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<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/"
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type="topic"
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id="folder-mode">
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<info>
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<title type="sort">1</title>
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<link type="guide" xref="index#folder-mode"/>
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</info>
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<title>Getting started comparing folders</title>
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<p>
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<app>Meld</app> lets you compare two or three folders side-by-side. You can
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start a new folder comparison by selecting the
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<guiseq><gui style="menu">File</gui><gui style="menuitem">New...</gui></guiseq>
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menu item, and clicking on the <gui style="tab">Directory Comparison</gui>
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tab.
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</p>
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<p>
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Your selected folders will be shown as side-by-side trees, with
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differences between files in each folder highlighted. You can copy
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or delete files from either folder, or compare individual text files
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in more detail.
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</p>
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<section>
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<title><app>Meld</app>'s folder comparisons</title>
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<p>
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The main parts of a folder comparison are the trees showing the folders
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you're comparing. You can easily <link xref="#folder-navigation">move
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around</link> these comparisons to find changes that you're interested
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in. When you select a file or folder, more detailed information is
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given in the status bar at the bottom of the window. Pressing
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<key>Enter</key> on a selected file, or double-clicking any file in the
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tree will open a side-by-side <link xref="file-mode">file
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comparison</link> of the files in a new tab, but this will only work
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properly if they're text files!
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</p>
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<p>
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There are bars on the left and right-hand sides of the window that show
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you a simple coloured summary of the comparison results. Each file or
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folder in the comparison corresponds to a small section of these bars,
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though <app>Meld</app> doesn't show <em>Same</em> files so that it's
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easier to see any actually important differences. You can click anywhere
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on this bar to jump straight to that place in the comparison.
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</p>
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</section>
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<section id="folder-navigation">
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<title>Navigating folder comparisons</title>
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<p>
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You can move between changed files (that is, any files/folders that
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are <em>not</em> classified as being identical) with the
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<guiseq><gui style="menu">Changes</gui><gui style="menuitem">Previous change</gui></guiseq>
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and
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<guiseq><gui style="menu">Changes</gui><gui style="menuitem">Next change</gui></guiseq>
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menu items, or using the corresponding buttons on the toolbar.
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</p>
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<p>
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You can use the <key>Left</key> and <key>Right</key> arrow keys to move
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between the folders you're comparing. This is useful so that you can
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select an individual file for copying or deletion.
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</p>
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</section>
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<section>
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<title>States in folder comparisons</title>
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<p>
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Each file or folder in a tree has its own <em>state</em>, telling you
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how it differed from its corresponding files/folders. The possible
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states are:
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</p>
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<comment>
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<cite date="2012-06-03" href="mailto:kai.willadsen@gmail.com">Kai</cite>
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<p>
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The following table would be much more effective if we could style
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entries in the Appearance column to show what they would actually
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look like.
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</p>
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<p>
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Ideally we would pull these colours and other details from the
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theme/gtkrc, but even an illustration of the default would help a lot.
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</p>
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</comment>
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<table frame="top bottom">
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<title>Folder comparison states</title>
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<thead>
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<tr>
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<td><p>State</p></td>
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<td><p>Appearance</p></td>
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<td><p>Meaning</p></td>
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</tr>
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</thead>
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<tbody>
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<tr>
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<td><p>Same</p></td>
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<td>
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<p>
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Normal font
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<!-- <file>file.txt</file>-->
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</p>
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</td>
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<td>
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<p>
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The file/folder is the same across all compared folders.
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</p>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td><p>Same when filtered</p></td>
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<td>
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<p>
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Italics
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<!-- <file style="font-style: italic">file.txt</file>-->
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</p>
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</td>
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<td>
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<p>
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These files are different across folders, but once
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<link xref="text-filters">text filters</link> are applied, these
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files become identical.
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</p>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td><p>Modified</p></td>
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<td>
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<p>
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Green and bold
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<!-- <file style="color: #008800; font-weight: bold">file.txt</file>-->
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</p>
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</td>
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<td>
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<p>
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</p>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td><p>New</p></td>
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<td>
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<p>
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Red and bold
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<!-- <file style="color: #880000; font-weight: bold">file.txt</file>-->
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</p>
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</td>
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<td>
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<p>
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</p>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td><p>Missing</p></td>
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<td>
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<p>
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Greyed out text with a line through the middle
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<!-- <file style="color: #888888; text-decoration: line-through;">file.txt</file>-->
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</p>
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</td>
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<td>
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<p>
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</p>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td><p>Error</p></td>
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<td>
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<p>
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Bright red with a yellow background and bold
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<!-- <file style="color: #ff0000; background-color: yellow; font-weight: bold">file.txt</file>-->
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</p>
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</td>
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<td>
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<p>
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When comparing this file, an error occurred. The most common
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error causes are file permissions (i.e., <app>Meld</app> was not
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allowed to open the file) and filename encoding errors.
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</p>
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</td>
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</tr>
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</tbody>
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</table>
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<comment>
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<cite date="2012-06-04" href="mailto:kai.willadsen@gmail.com">Kai</cite>
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<p>
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The emblem attached is entirely theme-dependant...
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</p>
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</comment>
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<p>
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You can filter out files based on these states, for example, to show only
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files that have are <em>Modified</em>. You can read more about this in
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<link xref="file-filters#file-state-filter"/>.
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</p>
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<p>
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Finally, the most recently modified file/folder has an emblem
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attached to it.
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</p>
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</section>
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</page>

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