How to make "Expand all" in Folder View default?

[pxstein]

Whenever I start a Folder compare the folders appear in "Show all" mode collapsed. I always have to click "expand all" icon in toolbar.

How can I automatically expand them by default (at startup)?

Peter

[Lutz]

For all new Folder Compare sessions you can enable this behaviour on the Home tab:

Saved sessions/Edit session defaults/Folder Compare/Handling-tab/Folder handling-group/Expand subfolders when loading session-checkbox

From an existing session you also can enable this by selecting "Also update session defaults" at the bottom of Session settings/Handling-tab.

Greetings Lutz

[pxstein]

Ok, thank you.
I checked additionally "Only expand subfolders with differences".
So when I compare on the left side the folder D:\work\data\
then still the sub-base-folders

D:\work\data\log2007\
D:\work\data\log2008\
D:\work\data\log2009\
D:\work\data\log2010\

are shown although they did not contain any differences.
How can I hide these 4 sub-base-folders as well when no differences are shown?

Peter

[Chris]

Select "View > Only Compare Files" from the menu and select "View > Show Differences".

[heironimus]

For all new Folder Compare sessions you can enable this behaviour on the Home tab:

Saved sessions/Edit session defaults/Folder Compare/Handling-tab/Folder handling-group/Expand subfolders when loading session-checkbox

From an existing session you also can enable this by selecting "Also update session defaults" at the bottom of Session settings/Handling-tab.

Greetings Lutz

This is a little old and confusing. As of 8/23/2016 on the Mac, here is how you do it:

• Click the Home tab/button on the top left
• Click the triangle next to "New" in the sessions list to expand the tree
• Click "Folder Compare" under "New"
• Click the "Handling" tab at the top center of the screen
• Under "Folder Handling:" choose "Expand subfolders when loading sessions"

[Aaron]

True, although this forum post is for BC3 back in 2011, when these steps were accurate.

BC3 is not available for Mac, but BC4 is our most recent version, PC/Linux/OSX supported, and the instructions are updated as you've described.

[Johnny Cakes]

Granted this thread is pretty old, but I have the same issue.
The solution above says "For all new Folder Compare sessions you can enable this behavior on the Home tab:"

How can I get this behavior on the dozens of sessions I already have?

[Chris]

Beyond Compare doesn't provide a way to apply a setting to multiple saved sessions in the user interface. Saved sessions can only be edited individually.

A workaround is to open Beyond Compare's settings files in a text editor, then use search and replace to change multiple sessions.

Sessions are stored in the file C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Scooter Software\Beyond Compare 4\BCSessions.xml.

To turn on Expand subfolders when loading session for multiple sessions:
Make a backup copy of the file.
Open the file in a text editor.

Use search and replace to add:

<Rules>
<ExpandAllOnLoad Value="True"/>
</Rules>

to each session.

Existing session:

<TDirCompareSession Value="Compare Session 1">
<LastModified Value="2022-08-15 15:40:31"/>
<Specs>
<Left Value="C:\folder1"/>
<Right Value="C:\folder2"/>
</Specs>
</TDirCompareSession>

Session with expand subfolders when loading:

<TDirCompareSession Value="Compare Session 1">
<LastModified Value="2022-08-15 15:40:31"/>
<Rules>
<ExpandAllOnLoad Value="True"/>
</Rules>
<Specs>
<Left Value="C:\folder1"/>
<Right Value="C:\folder2"/>
</Specs>
</TDirCompareSession>

Editing multiple saved sessions from the user interface is on the feature request list for a future version.