Here are some of the significant new features in Beyond Compare 3. Items flagged with
Pro are available in the Professional edition of BC3.
Expanded Session concept
- Any comparison can be saved as a session, not just folder comparisons
- Plug-ins are now built-in session types
- Saved sessions can be organized in folders
- Auto-saved sessions
Fully unicode enabled
- Unicode filenames now supported as well as unicode file content
Interface Improvements
- Tabbed interface for session views
- Handy "home" view for launching and managing sessions
- Layout of open sessions can be saved, restored
- Built-in "Check for updates"
Folder compare features
- Folder icons colors now match your preferences
- Multiple operations can be queued
- File actions now respect filters by default
- Dedicated folder sync session
- Touch and Attrib commands can now recurse through subfolders
- Attrib supports Unix attributes
- New Ignored command flags mismatched file as OK
- New Move to Folder command
- Flatten folders lets you compare differing folder structures
- Pro Alignment overrides
Text comparison features
- Full in-pane editor with dynamic re-comparisons
- Syntax highlighting
- Adaptive gutter buttons for copying sections
- Unlimited undo after save
- Grammar-based comparison rules
- Independent file formats for each side of the comparison
- New Ignored command flags mismatched sections as OK
- Multiple bookmarks
- Hex display option for line details
- Pro 3-way text merge
- Pro Replacements
Improved FTP support
- FTP profiles, selectable per session
- Multiple simultaneous connections
- Pro Built-in support for secure FTP protocols (SFTP and FTP over SSL)
The Standard Edition of Beyond Compare is a powerful, full-featured comparison tool. The Pro Edition includes all the Standard features and adds these:
Compares independent changes against a common ancestor to create new merged content.
- Source control integration
BC3 pro adds commands for checking files in or out of SCC-compliant version control systems.
Rather than relying on third-party solutions, BC3 Pro has integrated support for secure FTP protocols (SFTP and FTP over SSL).
In a Text Compare session, BC3 Pro lets you flag certain text replacements as unimportant differences. For example, ignore all instances where apple was replaced by orange.
- Folder Compare alignment overrides
In BC3 Pro you can override how files are aligned in a Folder Compare session. For example, you could compare your .gif files on one side with .png files of the same name on the other side.
In trial mode you can use both Standard and Pro features. Upon registering, the license key unlocks the appropriate features permanently.
Hardware Requirements
Intel Pentium processor; 200 MHz or faster recommended
32 MB RAM; additional memory recommended for large comparisons
15 MB of available hard drive space
OS Requirements
Supported Windows Platforms
(All service packs supported unless otherwise noted)
- Windows 95 OSR 2 and HTML Help
- Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows ME
- Windows NT 4.0 SP4 or later
- Windows 2000
- Windows XP
- Windows XP x64
- Windows Server 2003
- Windows Server 2003 x64
- Windows Vista
- Windows Vista x64
Internet Explorer 4 or later required
Supported Linux Distros
Supported Linux distributions (32-bit)
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 WS Update 4
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
- Fedora Core 4 - 7
- Novell Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop 10
Partially supported Linux distributions
(UI elements or fonts may not scale well) Ubuntu 6.06, 7.10
Unsupported
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3
- Any 64-bit Linux kernel