WinMerge's Folder Compare feature lets you scan and compare entire directory trees at once — perfect for finding differences between two project versions, backup folders, or deployment packages.
Opening a Folder Comparison
- Open WinMerge and go to File → Open
- In the Open dialog, click the folder icon to browse to your first folder
- Do the same for the second folder path
- Click OK
WinMerge will scan both folders and show a list of all files with their comparison status.
Reading Folder Compare Results
- Identical — file exists in both folders with no differences
- Different — file exists in both but content differs
- Left Only — file only exists in the left folder
- Right Only — file only exists in the right folder
Using File Filters
To exclude certain files (like build artifacts or node_modules), go to Tools → Filters and create a filter using regular expressions. For example, to exclude all .log files:
💡 Tip: Enable Include Subfolders in the Open dialog to recursively scan the entire directory tree, not just the top level.
Syncing Folders
Right-click any file in the results and choose Copy to Right or Copy to Left to sync individual files. To sync all different files at once, select all (Ctrl+A) and use the bulk copy option from the right-click menu.