The controls on this options page are used to control the behaviour of the editing panels in the file comparison window.
Tab key inserts a tab character instead of cycling focus
This option alters the behaviour of the Tab key in the file editing panels.
- If checked the Tab key will insert a tab character into the editing panel or, if a selection is set, Tab and Shift+Tab will indent and un-indent the selection, respectively.
- If unchecked the Tab key will cycle focus around the controls in the file comparison window. In this case, you can use Ctrl+T to insert a tab character into an editing panel.
In either case, Ctrl+I and Ctrl+U can be used to indent and un-indent the selection.
Show tabs using # spaces
Check this option and fill in the entry field if you want Merge to expand tab characters to spaces within compared files. This only affects how the files are displayed; the original tab characters are preserved when merged files are saved.
Indent/un-indent by # tabs/spaces
This option specifies the number of tabs/spaces by which text will be indented or un-indented when you select some lines and press Ctrl+I or Ctrl+U in a file editing panel.
Allow editing in read-only files
By default, Merge does not allow editing of read-only files. If you want to perform editing prior to saving the file under a new name, then you can check this option to enable editing.
Use Ctrl and cursor keys to perform merging operations
When this option is checked, you can use the cursor keys in combination with the Ctrl key to perform merging operations. If this option is unchecked, you can use the primary keyboard shortcuts for the same operations.
| Keys | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+↑ | Move the editing cursor to the top of the previous change. |
| Ctrl+↓ | Move the editing cursor to the top of the next change. |
| Ctrl+← | Merge the current change into the file to the left. |
| Ctrl+→ | Merge the current change into the file to the right. |
When this option is checked, you lose the ability to navigate left and right in word boundaries, and to scroll up and down without moving the editing cursor.
Allow merging from left to right
Check this option to enable merging of changes to the right. Unchecking this option will hide buttons for merging to the right.
Allow merging from right to left
Check this option to enable merging of changes to the left. Unchecking this option will hide buttons for merging to the left.