Editor's words Araxis Merge

This review is based on Araxis Merge 2007, the visual file comparison tool.
As stated by the publisher, Araxis Merge is the visual file comparison (diff), merging and folder synchronization application from Araxis. Use it to compare and merge source code, web pages and other text files with native application performance. Compare images and binary files. Synchronize folders. Perform code reviews and audits. Work with source hierarchies containing thousands of files.

If you are a developer, probably at least a couple of times you used a comparing tool. I used many of these tools in my daily work, but Araxis is by far the better. Don't get me wrong now, Merge is was not designed only for software developers, it can be successfully used:

Who should use this software

• by legal professionals to instantly identify every change by copying text from different contract drafts being edited in another application (such as Microsoft Word) and pasting it directly into a file comparison window
• for release and quality control managers: compare different source code branches to give total confidence that you know and understand every change made to every file for a specific release. Compare product releases to be certain that only the expected files have been modified. Create an html or xml report of changes for audit purposes
• for code reviewers and auditors: identify in context every change made between two or three source code hierarchies. Create a standalone html or xml report of your findings. Add bookmarks and comments to a file or folder comparison, then save it as a single-file archive for emailing to other team members for review
• for any other job that involves comparisons of text or binary files

Features summary:

• file comparison and merging instant overview
• two way comparison and merging
• three way comparison and merging
• binary file comparison
• image file comparison
• point and click merging
• linking lines
• side by side or horizontally split display
• synchronization links
• many other useful features ...

Impressions:
As I said before this is not my first contact with Araxis Merge, and if I want to be highly productive this tool does the job. Folder comparison is one of the strongest points, merging and editing files on the fly is just incredible.
If spaces or tabs doesn't matter for you they can easily be removed from the program options. And it gets better, you can use complex regular expressions to disable unwanted text like: blank lines, C++ comments, CVS comments and any other pattern you might come up with.

For couple of years I have used the 6.5 version and the only weak point I could find was the FTP support, but this is not a problem anymore with 2007 versions.

Support and documentation:
The program comes with a comprehensive documentation which is more than enough to start working and quickly become dependent of its power. If you cannot figure a thing about using the software, support is provided and you are always welcome to ask a question on the site, but I think this will not happen too often.

Final words:
Araxis Merge is an amazing tool, it came to the rescue many times for me and I couldn't imagine to perform file comparison without it. The 30 days trial period is more than enough to reveal the true power diff and merge this tool provide and I think you should really give it a try.