Compare folder contents

RcloneView helps you identify differences between two folders—whether on local disk or across cloud remotes—and copy or manage files efficiently using its built-in Compare feature.

Selecting Folders to Compare

To begin comparing folders:

• Open two tabs in the Explorer pane.
• Select the folders you want to compare from the folder tree or manually enter the full path using the Path Bar.
• Click the Compare button in the top Home menu to start the comparison.

When the comparison is complete, a summary popup will appear. To disable this message in the future, check “Don’t show this message again.”

For details about the layout of the folder comparison screen and the meaning of each icon, please refer to the guide of folder comparision.

Compare Results and Manage Files

Folder comparison allows you to directly compare and select files for management.

However, if you need to sync large folders or manage multiple remote folders efficiently, using the Sync is a more convenient method.

Display by selected result type

You can filter the comparison results to display only the files relevant to your operation.   This helps you focus on what needs to be copied or reviewed.

For example, if you want to copy files from the left remote's folder to the right's:

• Click the Show left-only files icon to display only files that exist in the left folder but not in the right.
• Click the Show different files icon to display files that exist in both folders but differ in size.
• This way, you can focus only on the target files for copying to the right side, without being distracted by already synced files.

✅ This makes it much easier to select and copy only the necessary files in one direction.

More Icon details

Understanding Icons in the Compare Window

Display Icons

When you click each icon with the mouse, the following filtering behavior is applied.   Clicking again will toggle the filter on or off.

When multiple icons are selected, files matching any of the selected conditions are displayed (logical OR).

: Display only files that exist in the left folder but not in the right.

: Display only files that exist in the right folder but not in the left.

: Display only files that exist in both folders and are identical.

: Display files that exist in both folders but differ in size.

: Display any errors or confilcts

Navigate Icons

These icons are used in the Compare view to move up or down through the folder hierarchy based on the current flat folder list structure.

: Navigate to the Upper folder in the current list.

: Navigate to the Lower folder in the current list.

Operation Icons

These icons are used to perform file operations within folders—such as deleting files or copying them to the left or right.

: Copy selected files to the right folder.

: Copy selected files to the left folder.

: Delete selected files from either side.

Find Icons

The Find icons are used in the Compare view to locate folders where file count or file size changes are most significant.

: Find folders based on the number of files changed during comparison.

: Find folders based on the total size of files changed during comparison.

: Find and move to the folder with the most significant file count or size change.

: Move to the next folder with a larger file count or size difference.

: Find and move to the folder with the least amount of change.

: Move to the next folder with a smaller file count or size change.

Copying files between remote folders

Select files to copy

• Use Ctrl + Click to select individual files
• Use Shift + Click to select a range
• Or simply use drag and drop between panes

Perform copy operation

Once files are selected:

• Click the Copy → button to copy the selected files from the left side to the right side.
• Click the ← Copy button to copy from right to left.

💡 Copy only occurs if:

• The file doesn't exist on the target side
• The file exists in both sides but has a different size

After the copy is complete:

• Copied files will be marked as equal icon in the comparison view
• The status bar at the bottom will update with completion details

Checksum (coming soon)

By default, RcloneView compares files by name and size.   However, this might not be enough to detect content differences when file names and sizes are the same. ✅ Checksum comparison will allow byte-level verification of file contents.   This feature is planned for a future update and will help ensure even greater sync accuracy.

Deleting files

You can also delete selected files from either folder:

• Click the Delete button on the left to remove files from the left folder
• Click the Delete button on the right to remove files from the right folder

⚠️ Deletion is permanent. Double-check selected files before proceeding.

Using filters to refine comparison

The filter feature allows you to run folder comparisons more efficiently by excluding specific files or folders from the result.

Plus License Required

Filtering is available in the Plus License version of RcloneView.

Why use filters?

You may want to exclude certain folders or file types that are not relevant to your comparison task.   With the filter tool, you can easily define which files or folders should be ignored during comparison.

How to exclude a specific folder:

For example, to exclude all folders named folder2 from the comparison:

1. Click the Filter icon in the Compare screen.
2. In the filter input field, type folder2/ and click Add.
3. The folder will appear in the Others category.
4. Check the box next to folder2/ and click OK to apply the filter.
5. Re-run the comparison.

💡 Filtering is especially helpful when folders like cache, temp, or personal configuration directories only exist for reference and do not need to be compared or copied.

Frequently Used Filter Rules

Commonly Used Filter Examples

.iso : Exclude all .iso files

/.git/* : Exclude only files inside the .git folder in the root, not subfolders

/.git/ : Exclude the entire .git folder in the root, including everything inside it

.git/ :Exclude all .git folders and everything inside them, regardless of location