To introduce new users to some of ExamDiff Pro's lesser known features, we decided to expand the default toolbars in ExamDiff Pro 3.6. In this blog entry, I will compare the 3.5 and 3.6 toolbars for text file, binary file, and directory comparison.

Text File Comparison Default Toolbar - Before and After

The Up One Level button was added to both the text file toolbar for users to quickly switch between file and directory comparison. The Save HTML Diff Report was added next to the Save Diff File button, because HTML diff reports are by far more popular among our users. The Synchronizing Splitter button was added because many new users were unfamiliar with ExamDiff Pro's manual synchronization feature. The Replace button was logically added next to the Find buttons, and a whole group of buttons were added before Options: Detail Level, Word Wrap, Use Plug-ins, and Ignore Comments, to introduce new users to these advanced features.

Binary File Comparison Default Toolbar - Before and After

As in the text file toolbar, the Up One Level and Save HTML Diff Report buttons were added to the binary file toolbar.

Directory Comparison Default Toolbar - Before and After

Finally, four new buttons were added to the directory comparison toolbar: Save HTML Diff Report, Recursion, Use Plug-ins, and Full File Comparison. In particular, we felt it was important to add the Recursion and Full File Comparison buttons because many users have difficulty finding where to adjust the recursion level in Options, and aren't aware of the toolbar button. The Full File Comparison toolbar button is new in 3.6, and was added for a similar reason.