Map a list of folders on left to a single folder on right?

[mwoffenden]

I have several folders that need to be compared. Unfortunately the top-down structure is not the same on the left and right sides.

So I need to be able to create a session that basically involves a "list" of folders on the left side that maps to a single folder on the right.

Can this be done?

[Aaron]

Hello,

Not directly, no. We only support a single base folder on the Left or Right side. However, if you can assign the topmost needed parent base folder on the 'Many' side, you can then set File Name Filters to only show the folders you need. They won't align because folder structure is important for 3 out of the 4 view modes, but you could remove the folder structure using Ignore Folder Structure in the View menu. This then dumps all of the files in any folder into a single big list and aligns by name.

However, this mode assumes that no duplicate names exist in any of the subfolders, as we need to align by name first before any comparison is run. If there are duplicates, we may or may not pick the correct file to pair with the other side, and they need to be manually reviewed.

[mwoffenden]

Not directly, no. We only support a single base folder on the Left or Right side.

I was afraid of that. I guess I want to be able to have a "list" of folders on the left (in this case) that are essentially "merged", i.e. matching folders would be virtually merged.

Any hope of seeing such a "virtual merge" feature in the future?

[Aaron]

Hello,

We wouldn't be able to implement it in the short term. Offering a method to perform a Many-To-One folder compare is on our Customer Wishlist, and I added your scenario notes to it earlier.

Depending on the number of folders for the Many side, you could have a new tab per folder, then load one-to-one multiple times each in its own tab.

[mwoffenden]

Depending on the number of folders for the Many side, you could have a new tab per folder, then load one-to-one multiple times each in its own tab.

Looking forward to seeing something like this. Right now I'm creating a separate session (about 20) for each set of folders on the Many side. It's not ideal, however it does saves me a lot of time, since I need to perform these compares every couple of weeks.

[Aaron]

It may also help to:
- Place all of those saved sessions into a Folder on the Home screen. You can then right click the folder and load them all at once.
- Load all 20 in new tabs/windows, then use the Session menu -> Save Workspace. This saves the currently loaded window/tab layout, and you can then reload it later using Load Workspace.

[mwoffenden]

Great! I've already created a folder for the sessions and saved them all there. I'll try the other techniques too.