Diff and Merge
The Diff and Merge Menu lists commands to manage file, XML Schema, directory, Microsoft Word document, database data, and database schema comparisons. Depending on the active comparison window, commands to set the comparison mode, navigate compared documents in the comparison windows and merge differences in them, as well as commands to synchronize directories, generate merge scripts, or to map, expand and collapse database items are also available in this menu.
Please note that the content of the Diff and Merge menu changes dynamically, depending on the type of comparison.
Diff and Merge general settings
This subsection describes general commands available in the Diff and Merge menu. To find out more about commands specific to comparison types, see Directory Comparison Commands and Database Comparison Commands.
Compare as
The Textual Comparison Only 
command changes the comparison mode of a file or directory comparison to textual comparison. Note that this command is not available if the Quick Comparison mode is active. To change to the Text Comparison mode in that case, you have to deactivate the Quick Comparison mode first.
The Compare as XML 
command changes the comparison mode of a file or directory comparison to XML comparison. Note that this command is not available if the Quick Comparison mode is active. To change to the XML Comparison mode in that case, you have to deactivate the Quick Comparison mode first.
The Compare as Binary 
command changes the comparison mode of a file or directory comparison to binary comparison. Note that this command is not available if the Quick Comparison mode is active. To change to the Binary Comparison mode in that case, you have to deactivate the Quick Comparison mode first.
The Compare According to File Extension Settings 
command changes the comparison mode of a file or directory comparison dynamically according to the settings on the File types tab of the DiffDog Options dialog box. Note that this command is not available if the Quick Comparison mode is active. To change to the File Extension mode in that case, you have to deactivate the Quick Comparison mode first.
Start comparison
The Start Comparison 
( F5 ) command starts comparison for the active comparison window.
Next/last
The Next Difference 
( Alt+Down ) command selects the next difference as the current difference.
The Previous Difference 
( Alt+Up ) command selects the previous difference as the current difference.
The Last Difference 
( Alt+End ) command selects the last difference as the current difference.
The First Difference 
( Alt+Home ) command selects the first difference as the current difference.
The Next Conflict 
command jumps to the next conflict. This command is applicable for three-way comparisons, see Three-Way Comparisons.
The Previous Conflict 
command jumps to the previous conflict. This command is applicable for three-way comparisons, see Three-Way Comparisons.
Current difference
The Display Current Difference 
( Ctrl+Enter ) command scrolls through the document to display the current difference.
The Make Current Difference 
( Alt+Enter ) command makes the selected difference the current difference, and sets it as the difference from which to navigate.
Copy
The Copy from Left to Right 
( Alt+Right ) command copies text of the selected difference from the document in the left pane to the document in the right pane.
The Copy from Right to Left 
( Alt+Left ) command copies text of the selected difference from the document in the right pane to the document in the left pane.
The Copy from Left to Middle 
command is applicable when two versions of the same file are compared against a base version from which both files originate, see Three-Way Comparisons. It merges the current difference from the left pane into the middle pane, where "middle" is the base version.
The Copy from Middle to Left 
command is applicable when two versions of the same file are compared against a base version from which both files originate, see Three-Way Comparisons. It merges the current difference from the middle pane into the left pane.
The Copy from Middle to Right 
command is applicable when two versions of the same file are compared against a base version from which both files originate, see Three-Way Comparisons. It merges the current difference from the middle pane into the right pane, where "middle" is the base version.
The Copy from Right to Middle 
command is applicable when two versions of the same file are compared against a base version from which both files originate, see Three-Way Comparisons. It merges the current difference from the right pane into the middle pane, where "middle" is the base version.
Other options
When the Show Options Before Comparison 
command is toggled on for a Comparison Window, the Comparison Options dialog box is displayed each time a comparison is made in that window. Note that the Comparison Options dialog box is not displayed before comparisons made dynamically by DiffDog while you edit a document.
When toggled on, the Autostart Comparison 
command automatically starts a comparison when both files or both directories are selected and opened in the comparison window. If this option is toggled off, then a comparison (file or directory) must be explicitly started (see the Start Comparison command above).
The Compare while Editing 
command is a toggle to compare or not compare documents in File Comparison windows while editing. If toggled on, differences are highlighted as you edit. If toggled off, highlighting of differences is turned off in both documents as soon as you start typing in either document; to highlight differences after editing, you must run a comparison (see the Start Comparison command above).
The Support Recently Compared Pairs 
command is a toggle that switches on and off the option of suggesting recently compared files or directories each time a file or directory is selected in one pane.