Using Beyond Compare

Beyond Compare handles a wide variety of comparison tasks.  It has specialized viewers for different kinds of files and different approaches to reconciling differences.

Each comparison task is called a Session.  Sessions can be individualized, named and reused.  Many of Beyond Compare's settings are managed and stored by session rather than as program-wide options, to give you greater flexibility.  You can save different Folder Compare sessions with quite different settings, to accommodate differing tasks.

A Child Session is a file comparison session that originated from a folder comparison session.

Sessions can be opened in separate windows, or as multiple tabs on a single window.  We refer to open sessions as Views.  You can have multiple windows open, each with multiple tabs.  You can drag a tab from one window to another, or right-click a tab and select Tear Off from the context menu to move that tab onto its own window.  (See Tabbed Interface Options.)

You can save currently open sessions as a Workspace, and load them again later with the same configuration of windows and tabs.  (See Managing Workspaces.)

The session settings that control how comparisons are performed are called Rules.  Rules help you concentrate on important differences.  Beyond Compare also maintains a list of file formats to specify how various types of files are to be handled.  You can modify the built-in file formats or create your own.

This part of the documentation provides a reference guide to the various types of sessions and program concepts mentioned above.