Configure comparison options

Last modified: March 28, 2025

You can use project options to configure the behavior of Schema Compare.

When you create a new project, you should run the comparison with the default options and then review your comparison results. After you have reviewed your comparison results, you may consider changing some of the options. The options you set are saved for each project, and you can modify them on the Options page of the New Schema Comparison wizard.

Note

When comparing database objects, such as procedures, views, triggers, and functions, using dbForge Schema Compare, the tool automatically adjusts how the SQL code looks based on the active formatting profile rules. This formatting only affects how the scripts appear in Text Compare.

If you want to see only differences in DDL in Text Compare without the formatting applied, turn on Format Database Object Script on the Text Compare toolbar. This button appears when the Format Database Object Script in Text Compare option is activated. For more information, see Compare objects that differ only in formatting.

If you click Save Command Line, the Command Line Wizard will open.

To explore how to remove objects that have the Only in Target status, see Exclude all objects with the Only in Target status.

Default options

If you want to make the current selection of options your defaults, click Save As My Defaults. These options will be used for all new projects.

To restore your defaults after making changes, click My Defaults.

If you need to reset all the options to their original settings, click Devart Defaults.

The options are grouped, and there is a detailed description for each option.

Search for options

On the Options page, you can search for comparison options by typing the search text or symbol, such as a wildcard or an underscore, in the Search box. The list is filtered to display only those options that contain the search text.

The default search mode is case-insensitive. It means that searching for a term like ignore will highlight all options containing the text whether it is capitalized (Ignore) or lowercase (ignore). As you type, the text that matches your search criteria will be highlighted in the grid. The number of matching options will be displayed in the search bar.

If you write the text divided by spacebars, each subsequent input will highlight new results.

To remove the search input, click in the Search box.

In the Search box, you can use the following keyboard shortcuts:

• Ctrl+A to select all.
• Ctrl+Left Arrow (←) to move the caret to the beginning of the word.
• Ctrl+Right Arrow (→) to move the caret to the end of the word.
• Ctrl+Shift+Left Arrow (←) to select text from the current caret position to the beginning of the current word and move the caret to the beginning of the word.
• Ctrl+Shift+Right Arrow (→) to select text from the current caret position to the end of the current word and move the caret to the end of the word.
• Ctrl+Backspace to delete the word to the left of the cursor.

Save settings to a command-line arguments file

On the Options page, you can save command-line arguments and settings to a .txt file. To do this, click Save settings to a command-line arguments file.

The Save As dialog opens, allowing you to select the destination path to save the file. The default name is SchemaCompareArgs.txt. You can specify a different name and click Save. The file includes information such as the source and target connections, along with a list of comparison options indicating whether each option is turned on (Enabled) or turned off (No):

After that, a notification will appear indicating that you’ll need to manually enter the password for the specified connection when you use the file.

Note

Throughout the generation process, the command-line arguments file includes comparison and synchronization options.

List of schema comparison options

Option name	Option Group	Default State	Option Description
Associate column names having similar name options, 80 %	Auto Mapping	Disabled	Identifies similar column names to be equal.
Ignore case in object names	Auto Mapping	Disabled	Ignores cases in object names during mapping and comparison.
Ignore spaces in object names	Auto Mapping	Disabled	Ignores spaces in object names during mapping and comparison.
Compare database properties	Common	Enabled	Includes a database object in the comparison and synchronization.
Convert user data types into SQL Server system data types	Common	Disabled	Transforms user data types into SQL Server system data types during the database comparison and synchronization.
Disable dependency analysis	Common	Disabled	Disables dependency building algorithms and describes object types selected in the Object filter.
Ignore authorization	Common	Disabled	Ignores the AUTHORIZATION clauses and statements on the contained database objects during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore CHANGE_TRACKING	Common	Disabled	Ignores the CHANGE_TRACKING clauses during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore CLR datatypes in column	Common	Disabled	Ignores CLR datatypes in the column during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore collations	Common	Disabled	Ignores column collations during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore DATA_COMPRESSION for tables, indexes, primary and unique constraints	Common	Enabled	Ignores the DATA_COMPRESSION clause for tables, indexes, primary and unique constraints.
Ignore database and server names for synonyms	Common	Enabled	Ignores database and server names for synonyms during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore database extended properties	Common	Enabled	Ignores extended properties of the database during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore database object extended properties	Common	Disabled	Ignores extended properties of the database object during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore datatypes in column	Common	Disabled	Ignores datatypes in the column during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore event notification on queues	Common	Disabled	Ignores an event notification on queues during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore filegroups and partition schemes/functions	Common	Disabled	Ignores filegroups, partition schemes, and partition functions during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore full-text catalog path	Common	Disabled	Ignores the path in the full-text catalog during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore full-text search	Common	Disabled	Ignores full-text stoplists, full-text catalogs, and full-text indexes during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore next filegroups	Common	Disabled	Ignores next filegroups during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore semicolons	Common	Disabled	Ignores semicolons at the end of statements during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore tSQLt framework and unit tests	Common	Disabled	Excludes objects of the tSQLt framework and unit tests during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore user DEFAULT_SCHEMA	Common	Enabled	Ignores DEFAULT_SCHEMA for users during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore permissions	Common	Disabled	Ignore security permissions during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore users’ permissions	Common	Disabled	Ignores users’ permissions and roles memberships during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore user DEFAULT_LANGUAGE	Common	Disabled	Ignores DEFAULT_LANGUAGE for users during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore logins, certificates, asymmetric keys for users	Common	Enabled	Ignores logins, certificates, and asymmetric keys, and synchronizes the corresponding user properties. If you want to ignore users, first, you need to configure the Object Filter after the comparison as described in the Use object filter topic.
Populate full-text indexes	Common	Disabled	Populates full-text indexes.
Quote object names with square brackets	Common	Enabled	Quotes object names with square brackets during the script generation.
Force column order	Tables	Enabled	Forces the re-creation of the table when adding new columns to it.
Ignore bound rules and defaults	Tables	Disabled	Ignores bound rules and defaults during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore default column collations	Tables	Enabled	Ignores default column collations during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore history tables names	Tables	Enabled	Ignores history tables names during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore identity on columns	Tables	Disabled	Ignores identity on columns during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore identity seed and increment values	Tables	Disabled	Ignores identity seed and increment values during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore LOCK_ESCALATION	Tables	Enabled	Ignores LOCK_ESCALATION for tables during the database comparison and synchronization.
Ignore table DML triggers	Triggers	Disabled	Ignores DML triggers for tables during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore INSTEAD OF triggers	Triggers	Disabled	Ignores INSTEAD OF triggers for tables during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore state of DML triggers	Triggers	Disabled	Ignores state of DML triggers during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore state of DDL triggers	Triggers	Disabled	Ignores state of DDL triggers during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore firing order for triggers	Triggers	Disabled	Ignores a firing order for DDL and DML triggers.
Ignore check constraints	Indexes and constraints	Disabled	Ignores check constraints during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore column order in indexes	Indexes and constraints	Disabled	Ignores a column order for the included columns during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore constraint names	Indexes and constraints	Disabled	Ignores constraint names during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore constraints’ system names	Indexes and constraints	Enabled	Ignores constraint system names.
Ignore default constraints	Indexes and constraints	Disabled	Ignores defaul constraints and schema defaults during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore foreign key	Indexes and constraints	No	Ignores foreign keys during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore foreign key actions ON UPDATE and ON DELETE	Indexes and constraints	No	Ignores cascading referential integrity constraints for foreign keys during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore indexes	Indexes and constraints	No	Ignores indexes in tables and views during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore indexes’ names	Indexes and constraints	No	Ignores names of indexes in tables and views during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore NOCHECK state on constraints	Indexes and constraints	No	Ignores the NOCHECK clause for foreign keys and check constraints during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore NOT NULL constraint for a column	Indexes and constraints	No	Ignores the NOT NULL constraint for a column during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore PAD_INDEX and FILLFACTOR for indexes and constraints	Indexes and constraints	Disabled	Ignores PAD_INDEX and FILLFACTOR for indexes and constraints during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore PAGE_LOCK and ROW_LOCK for indexes and constraints	Indexes and constraints	Disabled	Ignores ALLOW_PAGE_LOCK and ALLOW_ROW_LOCK for indexes and constraints during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore primary keys	Indexes and constraints	Disabled	Ignores differences in primary keys during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore sort direction (ASC/DESC) for index columns	Indexes and constraints	Disabled	Ignores sort direction for index columns during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore statistics	Indexes and constraints	Disabled	Ignores statistics related to the column during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE for indexes and constraints	Indexes and constraints	Disabled	Ignores STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE for indexes and constraints during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore unique keys	Indexes and constraints	Disabled	Ignores differences in unique keys during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore WITH NOCHECK state on constraints	Indexes and constraints	Disabled	Ignores WITH NOCHECK for constraints during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore DML and INSTEAD OF triggers present only in Target	Keep objects in target	Disabled	Ignores dropped DML triggers in target while comparing and synchronizing tables or views.
Ignore indexes present only in target	Keep objects in target	Disabled	Ignores dropped indexes in target while comparing and synchronizing tables or views.
Ignore NOT FOR REPLICATION for indexes, constraints and triggers	Replications	Disabled	Ignores NOT FOR REPLICATION for indexes, constraints, and triggers during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore replication tables	Replications	Enabled	Ignores replication tables during comparison.
Ignore replication procedures	Replications	Disabled	Ignores replication procedures during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore replication roles	Replications	Disabled	Ignores replication roles during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore replication schemas	Replications	Disabled	Ignores replication schemas during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore replication triggers	Replications	Disabled	Ignores replication triggers during comparison and synchronization.
Decrypt encrypted objects	Script Objects	Enabled	Decrypts bodies of encrypted objects for comparison and synchronization.
Ignore case	Script Objects	Disabled	Ignores case differences in object’s body during comparison.
Ignore comments	Script Objects	Disabled	Ignores comments while comparing stored procedures, views, functions, etc.
Ignore keyword reduction	Script Objects	Enabled	Ignores differences in full and short names of keywords during comparison.
Ignore object names in definitions	Script Objects	Disabled	Ignores object names in definitions during comparison.
Ignore QUOTED_IDENTIFIER and ANSI_NULLS	Script Objects	Disabled	Ignores QUOTED_IDENTIFIER and ANSI_NULLS for stored procedures, functions, triggers, etc. during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore signatures	Script Objects	Disabled	Ignores signatures when comparing and synchronizing stored procedures, functions, triggers, and assemblies.
Ignore white spaces	Script Objects	Enabled	Ignores white spaces (new lines, tabs, spaces, etc.) during comparison and synchronization. Original white spaces in the scripts for database objects and computed columns are preserved.
Ignore WITH ENCRYPTION	Script Objects	Disabled	Ignores differences in the WITH ENCRYPTION attribute during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore WITH option order	Script Objects	Enabled	Ignores elements order in the WITH clause when comparing and synchronizing stored procedures, views, triggers, functions, etc.
Ignore CACHE	Sequences	Disabled	Ignores CACHE in sequences during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore CYCLE	Sequences	Disabled	Ignores CYCLE in sequences during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore INCREMENT BY	Sequences	Disabled	Ignores INCREMENT BY in sequences during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore MINVALUE	Sequences	Disabled	Ignores MIN VALUE in sequences during comparison and synchronization.
Ignore START WITH	Sequences	Enabled	Ignore START WITH in sequences during comparison and synchronization.