Compare archives and files inside

Compare Suite supports file archive formats seamlessly. Pass a .zip or .rar archive to Compare Suite and you will work with it as if it was a simple folder. This is a great time saver when you need to compare the current version of the file with the version from a backup archive.

A few words about popular archive types

Two the most popular file formats for archives are:

  • .zip (most likely you used WinZip program; now .zip format is natively supported by Windows) and
  • .rar (that provides even better compression and is supported by WinRar application).

Archives are great as they allow us to reduce the size of the files, and that is important when you need to send some documents by email or store them as a backup copy.

After mentioning all these benefits we should also discuss possible problems that we have with archives. An archive is a simple file (a big one):

  • Some archives are searchable and you can open a file from it without unpacking, another needs to be unpacked before you can do anything (including comparing files) with them.

Use Compare Suite to compare zip archives

Why does one need to compare files from archives?

Imagine that something went wrong with your current project. Fortunately you kept a backup copy of your project in an archive (by the way, we have BackupChanges software for you for this purpose). You can restore files from an archive, compare the old and current file and see what’s went wrong or simply return back to the old working version.

But let’s see what steps you need to do to get an old version from the backup:

  1. You need to unpack an archive (it’s a time consuming operation for larger archives)
  2. You need to find an old file
  3. Only then you can pass a file from an archive and a current file to the compare program to see what was updated

How does Compare Suite help?

Compare Suite allows to eliminate step 1. You don’t need to wait until all files will be unpacked. You can open an archive directly and select file that you want to take for comparison.

  • Compare Suite deals with two archives as with two folders.

It is that simple. Give it a try and you will like it.

Once you have two files in Compare Suite you can do what you normally do in Compare Suite. You can apply or ignore changes, create a report or analyze both files by keywords.

Compare Suite will contrast rar archives

Users about the comparison of archives

 

Here are some testimonials of our users that mention archive comparison as an important function of Compare Suite:

The application is comprehensive and easy to use. It can handle multiple file formats including MS Office, binary, zip files, RTF, CSV, HTML, XML and Open office. Read more…

Anthony Frend, Scientific Support Analyst, HLS, Huntingdon, UK

 

 I like the command line support which allows me to automate tasks. Another essential feature for me is Unicode Support and the capability to deal with ZIP archives. Read more…

Chris Ling, Localization Support Services, Germany.

 

Have you tried Compare Suite for the comparison of archives? We are interested in hearing your story! Please share below in the comments.


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Compare Suite Video Introduction
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Where Compare Suite is used:

Compare Suite Features:

Compare FileCompare documents to find differences regardless of the format: MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, PDF.

Compare FoldersCompare two local or remote folders to find and synchronize any changes made.

Compare by KeywordsUse the keywords comparison to analyze non-related documents created from different formats.

Compare ArchiveArchive comparison: compare Rar and Zip archive files without unpacking / unzipping.

COmpare Web-PageCompare web pages as code with HTML tags or as text as seen in a web browser.

Compare ImagesCompare two images of various formats to find all possible differences, even slight ones.

Compare MultimediaMultimedia comparison. Compare information from multimedia and graphic formats.

Ignore WordsIgnore words. Compare Suite can ignore certain keywords or strings during comparison.

Integrate with DMSDMS Integration. Easily integrate Compare Suite into 3rd party document management systems.

Highlight SyntaxSyntax highlighting for .pas, .asm., cpp, PHP, XML, bat, css, dpk, xsl files supported.

Compare FTPCompare files located on FTP as easily as on hard drives or local area networks.

Compare Command LineUse command line to automate comparisons and integrate it with 3rd party tools.

Compare UnicodeUNICODE is fully supported: open and compare documents in any language or encoding.


Review compared documents:

Compare ReportCreate a fully customizable comparison report on two files or folders.

Compare CommentsWrite your own comments on changes you or your colleagues make, improving collaboration.

Audit DocumentUse document audit to accept or decline changes made in plain text files.

What is Compare Suite?

  • It is a file compare tool
  • In office Compare Suite helps to compare word files, Excel spreadsheets, web-pages
  • Software developers and web-masters use Compare Suite to do version compare, approve changes in documents or compare certain file types like XML, PHP, C-Sharp
  • Office managers use Compare Suite to diff PDF files, compare invoice files
  • Compare Suite also make it much easier synchronization of directories