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Diff Anything manual

Set up local comparisons, review folders and spreadsheets, resolve merge conflicts, and use Diff Anything with Git and CI.

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6 guides

Specialist modes14 min read

Compare folders, spreadsheets, documents, and images

Review cross-format spreadsheet values, release trees, documents, and visual assets with purpose-built navigation, safety checks, and rollback.

  • Prepare folder sources
  • Compare large trees
  • Synchronize with a plan and an undo path
  • Compare spreadsheets and documents
  • Use visual image tools
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Specialist modes12 min read

Compare ZIP, 7z, RAR, TAR, and compressed archives

Understand content-based archive comparison, encrypted and multipart inputs, supported codecs, streaming behavior, extraction, and safety boundaries in Diff Anything.

  • Compare contents instead of packaging noise
  • Know the supported containers
  • Detect renamed containers and compression codecs
  • Use separate passwords without persisting them
  • Stream large archives and extraction
  • Understand the safety ceilings and exclusions
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Automation13 min read

Use Diff Anything from the CLI, Git, and CI

Run repeatable comparisons, read highlighted terminal output, interpret exit codes, integrate with Git, and publish machine-readable CI results.

  • Find the installed executable
  • Enter explicit CLI mode
  • Interpret exit codes
  • Choose output for the consumer
  • Configure Git difftool
  • Use Diff Anything for git diff
  • Run batch manifests
  • Debug automation failures
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Repeatable review12 min read

Profiles, rules, review state, and reports

Turn a useful one-off comparison into a repeatable review with explicit ignore rules, notes, and, with Pro, saved profiles and exported reports.

  • Save a profile
  • Use ignore rules carefully
  • Review semantic differences
  • Apply supported changes
  • Export a report
  • Use live watch deliberately
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Troubleshooting12 min read

Privacy, safety, and troubleshooting

Understand the local comparison boundary, recover from input and copy problems, and prepare useful diagnostics without exposing sensitive sources.

  • What stays local
  • Handle sensitive values
  • Resolve parser and mode errors
  • Recover folder synchronization
  • Explain unexpected results
  • Reset only what is necessary
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Free & Pro: what’s included

Available on the Mac App Store and Microsoft Store. Free desktop use lets you try every comparison engine for files up to 5 MiB per side and 10 new comparison sessions per local day; collection previews show the first 100 items and PDF previews show the first 3 pages. The free CLI supports text and JSON. A one-time Pro purchase removes the preview and session limits and unlocks larger sources within technical limits, saved profiles and history, report export, three-way merge, folder synchronization, batch manifests, trusted preprocessors, and every CLI mode.