Release notes

Version 5.5

Added support for Visual Studio 2026.

Version 5.4

Added a notification for file changes in Visual Studio.
Added support for horizontal mouse scrolling in the Code Comparison document.
Code Compare now supports Visual Studio 2022.

Version 5.3

New async Code Compare package for VS 2015-2019

Now Code Compare is 35 percent more compact and loads faster not only in Visual Studio 2019 but also in Visual Studio 2017 and 2015, but we had to discontinue support for older versions of Visual Studio 2010-2013, which were already outdated and slowed down.

Support for PMA mode in VS 2019 for file comparison

Now you don’t need to disable the option “Optimize rendering for screens with different pixel densities” in Visual Studio 2019 and a file comparison will be created as before.

Online documentation

Instead of the obsolete offline documentation as a .chm file, we’ve implemented a more complete new online documentation, which is available on our website and will be actively updated and modernized.

Support for 4K monitors and usability improved

In this version, we’ve taken into account some comments about the UI of monitors with high DPI and updated button UI used for moving blocks in file comparison.

Version 5.2

New activation system with support for Customer Portal

Now when you activate a paid license, it will be added to your personal account at the Registered User’s Area and is bound to your computer with a unique hardware identifier. To conveniently manage licenses, for product activation, we also use a computer name that will be displayed in your personal account next to Hardware.

Integration with GitKraken in a standalone application

We supported opening comparison with GitKraken in Code Compare standalone application. You can learn more about Code Compare and GitKraken integration by referring to our documentation.

Possibility to check license expiration in the installer

To avoid any compatibility issues between a new product version and an existing expired license, we force a license check before an old version is uninstalled.

Version 5.1

Code Compare now supports Visual Studio 2019.

Version 5.0

New Code Compare with Greatly Improved Structural Comparison for C# 6.0/7.0 and VB

We have considered a number of comments on structural comparison and decided to switch to the Roslyn compiler that is the best choice when it comes to code analysis for C# and VB.

Improved structural comparison for the latest versions of the C# and VB languages.
Improved the binding of comments and processor directives to the structural elements in the code.

Support for JavaScript and TypeScript editors in VS

Now the list of available languages in Code Compare for Visual Studio features such popular languages as JavaScript and TypeScript.

Preliminary Comparison of Large Files

After running comparison, you will see a dialog box with information about the size, date and last modification for files exceeding 10 Mb and info about file differences.

Improved Support for 4-5K Monitors and Usability

We have also considered a number of reports on UI for the monitors with high DPI:

Improved the style of dialog boxes.
For more convenient scrolling in standalone application, we supported the Shift + mouse wheel shortcut. As for Visual Studio, we haven’t introduced anything new, since you can easily get this behavior with the SideScroller extension

Folder Comparison Improvements

The Launch Code Compare command is now called Compare Files or Compare Folders, depending on the type of selected nodes. It can be used on one pane or on the different pane, as it was earlier.
The Ignore line breaks option has been renamed as Ignore empty lines.
The node_module folder has been added to the default list of ignored folders for the folder comparison, and the resources folder has been excluded from this list.

Version 4.2

Visual Studio 2017 RC4 support.
Visual Studio 2017 is supported.
AnkhSVN 2017 is supported.
Code Compare v4.2 is compatible with the new Visual Studio 2017 right from its release date.
Syntax highlighting for Less, Sass, and TypeScript files.
The helpful feature is now available for the three file formats popular in web development.
Interface scaling support on high-DPI monitors.
Code Compare interface scaling was added as developers tend to increase the scale of an image for comfortable work on large screens.
A bunch of feature requests has been implemented in this version.

Version 4.1

The release of Code Compare 4.1 provides the following functionality:

Support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2015, a rich, integrated development environment for creating applications for Windows, Android, and iOS, as well as web applications and cloud services.
Support for Microsoft Visual Studio Community Editions 2013-2015, a free, fully-featured, and extensible IDE.
Support for Python Tools, a free, open source plugin that turns Visual Studio into a Python IDE.

Version 4.0

Automatic File Merging.
Now Code Compare enables to merge two revisions of the same file automatically. The only thing you have to do manually is to resolve conflicts.
Automatic file merge is activated via command line, when you set four files as command-line arguments.
Option to merge files without running the application UI.
Option to cancel the operation while merging large files.
Product Registration with License Keys
A user gets an individual registration key while purchasing a new license.
The key includes basic license information.
The application requires registration after installation.
The About window contains the license information.
Improved Three-Way Merge
Explicit commands for the merge completion and results applying have been added.
Redundant buttons for the changes transfer were removed to visually simplify the merging process and minimize a chance of accidental changes transfer to the wrong file.
The new Code Merging toolbar has been added to hide commands that are not used during the two-way file comparison.
The visual identification of panels with different file revisions is improved.
New UI Themes in Standalone Code Compare
Now the standalone version of Code Compare looks just like Visual Studio 2013.

Other Improvements

Tab-key navigation between toolbars during file comparison is added.
Hidden text manipulation during the document search is improved.
Similar Lines Detection algorithm is improved.
Visual marking of the missing source or target folder during folder comparison is added.
Option for cyclic focus switching by Tab is added.
Visual Studio 2015 Preview is supported.

Version 3.1

VS 2013 is supported.
Atmel Studio 6.1 is supported.
Behavior inside the VS is enhanced. At present, we won’t ask the user extra questions opening a file for comparison if it is already opened in the VS.
Update messages are more user-friendly now.

Version 3.0

Increased Application Startup Speed

Standalone application start is two times faster.
Opening a file comparison document in Visual Studio is two times faster.
Considerable acceleration of the first environment start after installing Code Compare.

Improved Text Comparison Interface

The text comparison interface of the application has been reworked to become more self-explanatory and user-friendly.

Implemented XML Structure Comparison

This feature allows you to compare and merge well-formed XML files, taking into account their structure.

Improved Folder Comparison

The speed of directory comparison has increased by 40%.
Commands for navigation through changes have been implemented.
Commands for multiple file selection by the type of change have been added.
The possibility to copy the selected files to a user-defined directory has been added.
The concepts of copying files and synchronizing directories have been split. From now on, the user manages the process of changes moving in a more accurate way.
The possibility to overwrite read-only files during copying has been added.
Extra “chrome” has been removed from the comparison document.
The comparison document pop-up menu has been rearranged.

Improved Comparison Options Setup

Settings storage has been joined for the standalone Code Compare application and Visual Studio add-in.
The so-called “local options” of the comparison document have been moved to the main menu.

Improved General Application Management

The main menu of the merge tool has been extended with new commands.
Toolbar content has been optimized.
Menus and toolbars have been adjusted to a common design in the standalone and integrated Code Compare versions.
Accessibility of some frequently used commands has been improved.
Missing shortcuts have been reviewed and added.

Added Atmel Studio Integration

Code Compare integration into the Atmel Studio integrated development environment has been implemented.

Discontinued Visual Studio 2008 Support

Visual Studio 2008 support is discontinued. For Visual Studio 2008 users, we keep Code Compare 2.80 available for download from our website.

Version 2.8

Visual Studio 2012 is supported.
Structure comparison for C++ is supported.
Comparison algorithm is improved.
Amount of used memory is reduced.
Normal working with UAC-elevated Visual Studio is supported.
Compatibility with third-party extensions is improved.
VS.PHP files are supported.
Focus restoring in Folder Compare is added.
Window position restoring on dual monitors is added.

Version 2.7

64-bit mode in standalone Code Compare is supported.
Highlighting and navigation through merge conflicts are added.
Rules-based folder comparison is added.
Inserts before/after selected text blocks are supported.
Buttons to move all changes in files and folders at once were added.
Independent file and folder history for each pane is added.
Automatic file choosing in inactive panes is added.
Syntax highlight for ActionScript and Tcl/Tk is supported.
Automatic integration into version control systems is added.
Enabling/disabling integration into Windows Explorer after installation is added.
.cshtml and .vbhtml files are supported.

Version 2.6

Enhanced comparison of empty and comment lines.
Added big file processing optimization.
Added a new comparison algorithm.
Added an ability to ignore comments and empty lines.
Structure comparison algorithm was enhanced.
A dialog for same files was added.
An ability to change CodeCompare skin was added.
The close buttons were added to the document tabs.
Added option for identical files ignoring in FolderCompare.
Added selected text merging.
Horizontal layout of compare panes.
File search in FolderCompare documents.
Document closing with ESC.
Detect XML files by content.
Language detection in files from Mercurial.
Detection of UTF-8 without BOM is added.
Disabling of color filling for modified blocks.

Version 2.5

Standalone solution with enhanced code editors.
3-way comparison and merge.
Folder synchronization.
Automatic difference unfolding.
Navigation between moved blocks.
Draw optimization.
Supported key shortcuts to show context menu in FolderCompare document.
Added automatic update checking.
Supported standalone comparer under 64-bit platform.
Environment choice from command line.
Smart Collapse expands all regions on second click.
Supported shell extension under 64-bit platform.
Supported Explorer menu in FolderCompare tree.
Supported .NET Framework 4.0.
Allowed running CodeCompare.exe without arguments.
Added command shortcuts.
Added new CodeCompare options.
Supported ‘twoway’ merge option.
Supported error report dialog.
Supported 2-way merging for TFS and Mercurial.

Version 2.0

Structure comparison.
Lexical parsing.
Folder comparison.
Added folder comparison options.
Folder browsing.
Added structure navigator.
Swap files and folders.
Visualize moved blocks.
Added history feature for browse path field.
Added autocomplete feature for browse path field.
Added supporting smart collapse feature for folder comparison.
Added case ignoring option.
Added skipping empty folders option.
Added automatic structure comparison disabling with unequal languages.

Version 1.0

Visual Studio 2010 support.
Enhanced Visual Studio editor support.
The Drag&Drop ability for the compared files.
Enhanced CodeCompare settings.
Add CodeCompare help.
Expand CodeCompare options.
Choosing language support.
Extend Solution Explorer menu.
Scrollbar synchronization disabling.
Add symbol difference colors options.
Supported shell integration in 64-bit applications.