TextDiff v4.6

webfork on 12 Dec 2021
  • 987KB (uncompressed)
  • Released on 27 Nov 2013
  • Suggested by TPFC Fan

TextDiff is a text and folder comparison tool that supports customizable color highlighting of differences, two-way merging, and in-place text editing. Supports both drag-and-drop and command-line launched comparisons, as well as search-and-replace tools and a file export of differences.

Category:
Runs on:Win95 / Win98 / WinME / WinNT / Win2K / WinXP / Vista / Win7 / Win8 / Win10
Writes settings to: Application folder
Stealth: ? Yes
Unicode support: Yes
License: Freeware/Open Source
How to extract:
  1. Download the ZIP package and extract to a folder of your choice
  2. The files you need are located in the TextDiff subfolder
  3. Launch TextDiff.exe

11 comments on TextDiff  The Portable Freeware Collection Latest Entries Feed

Pendrive 2023-06-06 10:04

The required winhlp32.exe to read the TextDiff.hlp file is available in three different versions (Win XP, 7 and 10) from https://archive.org/details/microsoft_help_viewer_hlp.

v4.6

__philippe 2017-10-09 21:25

@Provy

TextDiff.hlp is a windows 3.x Help file. Under Win XP, Explorer will open it just fine.

Under Win7, however, Explorer will barf about an unsupported old file format,
but does suggest to download some sort of conversion utility.

Alternatively, TextDiff.hlp file contents could be converted (under winXP) to a PDF document.
PM me with your email if you want it.

v4.6

Provy 2017-10-09 20:01

I cannot open the .hlp file. Any suggestions?

v4.6

NickR 2011-09-05 18:21

CAUTION: Writes corrupt files on my XP sp3 setup.

File compare works (Superbly - my favourite by far)

But if I write file1 or file2 after executing the actual'Compare'
or some other edit changes. My file is written truncated and
in Unicode BigEndian UTF-8, which spoils my day somewhat.

I checked carefully and re-downloaded etc for a few days now.
May not effect everyone. Hope this helps someone avoid a problem.

V4.5

Jake 2011-05-31 22:16

And yeah, not to forget TextDiff also have a separate folder comparison side as well.

V4.5

Jake 2011-05-31 22:14

Used ExamDiff and TextDiff as well, so I'm able to make comparisons.

Cons:
-TextDiff is more than 8k, ExamDiff sports only 6k

Pros:
- ExamDiff is extremely (!) slow when you have to comparise files around 4-5 Mb, not even to mention larger files. TextDiff comparise them almost immadietly. Excellent!
- When ExamDiff take ~50k from RAM for a smaller file pair, TextDiff take less than 20k for the same files. When ED need ~180k, TD need a little more than 70k.
- ExamDiff save settings to the registry. TextDiff make a single .ini file in it's own folder.

I think it's obvious which one is the superior over the other.

V4.5

Magnus Reuter 2011-03-04 12:58

This app is a lifesaver !!!

V4.5

ralph 2011-02-27 18:56

Great program
Way more than just 'Text Comparison' category
Files and folder Comparison and more
eg note the bars on right of screenshot
Thanks Angus

V4.5

Gord Hines 2009-08-16 05:12

I'm a genealogist. I began a new day's work. Somehow, inadvertently and unknowingly, my software program had retrieved what turned out to be a 2-week old backup copy of my genealogy database. I had entered data [no media or images, luckily] for 35 new and modified persons. Plus, I had added and then deleted 3 persons that I'd placed in the wrong family. Deleting in many genealogy software programs is a tricky and potentially error-prone procedure fraught with unintended and often hidden side-effects... so I was ever-so-careful. As I was about to copy over the previous day's backup copy, Windows XP informed me that the newer file was 100MB smaller!!! than the older file (11.2MB). Fortunately, I caught the difference and stopped. Although still unaware of the true cause of my error, I realized I needed some way to compare the two files to see what inadvertent deletion had occurred... I pondered the problem and various solution options for about 4 days until today! I serendipitously tumbled across TextDiff today while looking into an old email archiving problem. TextDiff was immediately obvious as the solution to my genealogy dilemma. All genealogy programs can export their databases in a text format called GEDCOM (.GED). I simply exported, as GED text files, the custom databases from the smaller (newer) file and also from the larger (older) file.... I used TextDiff and readily determined the exact set of data mismatches between the two files... In particular, I saw the true nature of my error (i.e adding new data to a much older [and smaller sized] backup file -- in fact, I had deleted the 3 persons correctly)... I was able to easily identify the 35 individuals I'd added to or modified in the older file. Now, I have before me the task of re-entering the data for those 35 persons in the custom database... made somewhat easier by being able to copy/paste from TextDiff into my genealogy program. It is still a lot of work... but nothing like trying to reproduce a day's effort of web-based genealogy research (that often wanders randomly and capriciously with new discoveries) and the transferring of those web-research results on-the-fly into one's genealogy program [i.e. with no paper copy].

Without TextDiff, almost any other solution would have involved far, far more work.... and greater risks of creating more errors in the database.

Thank you Angus Johnson for creating TextDiff -- and for making it freeware!! // Gord Hines

r 2009-07-20 21:07

Would be great if it created .diff files as well!

Older comments are hidden - Click to display all comments ▾

Post your comment