# Setting preferences for comparing files

When you select to compare or synchronize two or more resources in the Workbench, one or more comparison editors usually open. To customize how these editors behave:

1. Open the General > Compare/Patch preference page.
2. Set your preferences and click OK.

You can configure the following options on the General tab.

Option | Description | Default
--- | --- | ---
Open structure compare automatically | Makes an additional information area visible which shows differences in the underlying structure of the resources being compared. This information may not be available for all comparisons. | On
Show structure compare in Outline view when possible | If this option is on, structure compare will be displayed in the Outline view whenever it is possible. | Off
Show additional compare information in the status line | Causes the status line to display additional context information about the comparison. | Off
Ignore white space | Causes the comparison to ignore differences which are whitespace characters (spaces, tabs, etc.). Also causes differences in line terminators ( LF versus CRLF) to be ignored. | Off
Automatically save dirty editors before patching | This option controls whether any unsaved changes are automatically saved before a patch is applied. | Off

You can configure the following options in the Text Compare tab.

Option | Description | Default
--- | --- | ---
Synchronize scrolling between panes in compare viewers | The two compare viewers will "lock scroll" along with one another in order to keep identical and corresponding portions of the code in each pane side by side. | On
Initially show ancestor pane | Sometimes you may want to compare two versions of a resource with the previous version from which they were both derived. This is called their common ancestor, and it appears in its own comparison pane during a three way comparison. | Off
Show pseudo conflicts | Displays conflicts that occur when two developers make the same change, for example when both add or remove the same line of code. | Off
Connect ranges with single line | Controls whether differing ranges are visually connected by a single line or a range delimited by two lines. | On
Highlight individual changes | Controls whether the individual changes inside conflicts are highlighted . | On
Disable capping when comparing large documents | The capping mechanism is used to speed up finding differences in large files. In case where the capping happens the result can either be correct or it can display too many changes, but it never misses any change. Turn this option on, if you prefer a precise result in favour of possibly longer calculation time. | Off
When the end/beginning is reached while navigating an element | Use this option to configure what occurs when the end/beginning is reached while navigating an element. The options are: Prompt Loop back to the beginning/end Go to the next/previous element | Prompt

Three way comparisons

Comparing resources
Synchronizing with the repository
Merging changes in the Compare editor

Compare editor
Compare/Patch preferences