Home / SmartSynchronize / Latest / Manual / Starting SmartSynchronize

Starting SmartSynchronize

Using the GUI

Starting SmartSynchronize the first time will show the setup wizard. There will be an option whether initially to show the dual-pane File Manager or the Welcome dialog.

In the Welcome Dialog you can select what to do: compare files, perform a 3-way merge or compare directories. For directory comparison you have the choice between comparing two arbitrary directories or to open a previously saved profile (a named directory-pair with its settings, e.g. for ignored file and directory patterns). For more information, see Welcome dialog.

Command-Line Parameters

Use one of these parameters to define what to open --file-manager, --file-compare, --dir-compare or --file-merge. Add further parameters specifying the file or directory paths: --left=<path>, --right=<path> or --merge=<file> (only for --file-merge). If relative paths are used, you can use the parameter --root=<dir> to specify to which directory the paths should be relative. If no such parameter is specified, the relative paths will be treated relative to the current directory.

Examples

smartsynchronize.exe --file-compare --left=C:\path1\left.txt --right=C:\path2\right.txt

This will open a file compare for the files C:\path1\left.txt and C:\path2\right.txt.

smartsynchronize.exe --file-manager --left=D:\my-projects

This will open a file manager window with the directory D:\my-projects shown at the left side.

Alternatively, you can pass the file or directory names as command line parameters. If you pass three file paths, the 3-Way-Merge opens. If you pass two file paths, the File Compare opens, if you pass two directory paths, the Directory Compare opens. If you pass a file and a directory paths together, SmartSynchronize tries to take the opposite file for the File Compare from the specified directory using the name of the specified file. If SmartSynchronize could not find a suitable command to perform directly, the Welcome dialog is displayed with the specified files or directories in the file or directory input fields.

Examples

smartsynchronize.exe C:\path1\left.txt C:\path2\right.txt C:\path\base.txt

This will open the 3-Way Merge with left.txt on the left, right.txt on the right and base.txt as the base, where also the merge result will be stored.

smartsynchronize.exe C:\path1\file1.txt C:\path2\file2.txt

This will open the File Compare with file1.txt on the left and file2.txt on the right.

smartsynchronize.exe C:\path1\dir1 C:\path2\dir2

This will open the Directory Compare with dir1 being the left and dir2 the right directory.

smartsynchronize.exe C:\path1\file.txt C:\path2\dir2

This will try to open the File Compare with C:\path1\file.txt on the left and C:\path2\dir2\file.txt on the right.

Command-Line Usage on macOS

To launch SmartSynchronize without passing command line parameters, just invoke the SmartSynchronize application (assuming SmartSynchronize is installed in /Applications):

$ open /Applications/SmartSynchronize.app

To launch SmartSynchronize with passing command line parameters, invoke the following shell-script embedded in the SmartSynchronize application (assuming SmartSynchronize is installed in /Applications):

$ /Applications/SmartSynchronize.app/Contents/MacOS/Smartsynchronize file1.txt file2.txt

To not have to type the full path each time, it is recommended to create a symbolic link to the shell-script in your path (write on one line):

$ sudo ln -s /Applications/SmartSynchronize.app/Contents/MacOS/Smartsynchronize /usr/local/bin/compare

Then it becomes much less typing:

$ compare file1.txt file2.txt