How to compare a local file with the copy on the server

Right-click the file in FTP by Zaweba and choose Compare with Server Copy. A diff window opens with your local version on one side and the server's on the other, changed lines highlighted. The same menu also offers Compare with Local Copy, which does the same job the other way round.

It's the quickest way to answer "what's different?" before you upload, download or restore anything.

Reading the diff window

Lines that differ are highlighted. Lines that exist only in one version are marked as Only on the left or Only on the right, so you can see added and removed code at a glance.

Two buttons move you between changes: Previous change (Shift+F7) and Next change (F7). On a long file that's much quicker than scrolling.

Two options help when the differences are noisy. Ignore whitespace hides changes that are only spaces, tabs or indentation, which is useful when someone has reformatted a file. Only changed lines folds away everything that's the same, leaving just the parts that matter.

Running a comparison

Connect to the site. In the local pane, find the file you want to check.

Right-click it and choose Compare with Server Copy.

Use F7 to jump to the first change. Read each one, deciding which side is right.

Close the window and act: upload your copy, download theirs, or edit one to match. If you're in the editor already, changes are easy to copy across by hand.

When comparing helps most

Before uploading over a file someone else may have changed. FTP by Zaweba warns before a single-file Put if the server copy changed since you last downloaded, opened, listed or uploaded it. Comparing at that point shows exactly what they changed, so you can merge it in instead of losing it.

When a sync preview lists a file you don't remember touching. A quick compare tells you whether it really differs, or whether only the date has moved, which can happen when a server's clock or time zone differs from yours.

When a page breaks and you suspect a recent edit. Comparing the live file with your local copy, or with an earlier version, often finds the stray character in seconds.

Comparing with older versions

The same diff appears in local version history. Before a file is overwritten by Get, Get Newer, a save or a Put, FTP by Zaweba keeps the previous version on your PC, and the history window's Compare with current shows how it differs from today's file. That's the tool when the question is "what did this look like before?" rather than "what's on the server?".

Comparing whole folders

For a single file, the diff window is right. For a whole site, use a list instead. Sync compares local and server files and gives a reason for every action. Disk's Compare lists its scan of the server against your local folder, sorted into only local, only on the server, newer locally, newer on the server and different size. Once you've found the files that differ, the diff window shows what's inside each one.