Hold down the Option key while you drag the second Project X folder onto the Merged folder. Start by moving one of the Project X folders to the Merged folder either one will do.
The two source folders have the same name, Project X, but they’re located in two different locations on your Mac. While there are quite a few syncing apps that can do this for you, the Finder can also take care of this basic task.įor the Finder to perform the merge you’ll need a destination folder to hold the merged folders for this example, we’ll simply call this folder Merged.
You have two folders with the same name because you’ve been working on this project on two different computers, and now you want to merge the two folders into one, keeping the most recent versions of any files they contain, and discarding older versions. In this example, you have two folders named Project X, a super-secret assignment you’ve been working on. That’s a lot of items called folder, so let’s add some names to make it easier to follow along. In this example, you’re moving a folder into a folder that already has a folder with the same name. But there are different options when you find yourself moving folders with identical names into a folder. So far, we’ve looked at the options available when moving one or more files between folders. You can use Skip when you spot a file during the merge process that you didn’t mean to move. This is the same as the Stop function, but only applies to the currently listed file in the dialog box. Skip replaces the Keep Both option and allows you to skip over the currently listed file. Skip: This is the hidden option that can be revealed by holding down the option key when the dialog box is present. (The Skip option replaces the usual Keep Both button provided there are multiple files being moved and you hold down the option key once the dialog box is presented.) Replace: Selecting the Replace option will cause any file in the destination folder that has the same name to be replaced by the file from the source folder. Stop: As the name implies, selecting this merge option halts the merge function entirely no files will be moved from the source and no files in the destination will be replaced. As an example, if both the source and destination folder had a file named ExampleFile, then after the move, the destination folder would contain files named ExampleFile and ExampleFile 1. Keep Both: When a file name matches, both versions are kept in the destination folder, with the file that came from the source folder having a version number appended to its name.
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When one or more file names in the source folder match one or more file names in the destination folder, then the Finder will present four options in a dialog box for how to merge the files into the destination folder.Īctually, you’ll only see three of the four merge options the last one is hidden, but we’ll show you how to access it. (The default options for merging files conceal a fourth option that can be accessed under certain conditions.) If the files you’re moving are unique, that is, the names don’t match any of the files currently in the destination folder, then no merge option is presented, and files are simply moved to their new home in the destination folder. When moving or copying files (we’re primarily going to refer to moving files, though you could also be copying files) from a source folder to a destination folder, there are a number of options for how file merging is performed. But we’re going to start with just the Finder we use every day, and try out some of its merging options. Of course, there are quite a few third-party utilities that can perform the merge function for you there are even some Apple utilities that can assist in this undertaking. Seems simple enough, but for a long time this type of basic file/folder manipulation was beyond the capabilities of the Mac’s Finder. When there are two files with the same name, you want the most recent version to be used, and the older one to be replaced. In either case, the goal is to unite the two folders so they contain all of the files found in each one. Or perhaps you’re working on a project on just one Mac, but you have a folder for the currently active project, and one for the updates you’re planning to perform. It seems to happen quite often when you have a project you’re working on in two different locations, say at home and at work. While there are a few issues that are often mentioned, the one we’re going to address here is how to merge folders that have the same name.
One of the shortcomings of the Finder is the lack of options when it comes to managing folders and their content.