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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-14T10:42:08+00:00

I’m looking for an OSX visual diff tool that gives me only the changes

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I’m looking for an OSX visual diff tool that gives me only the changes plus a few before/after lines in context. Essentially what you get with unix diff context format, but in a visual diff tool.

SourceTree does a great job of this, showing only the hunks that have changed (example). , but I would like to compare arbitrary directories and then their files.

I know there are several SO questions on OSX diff tools, but I can’t seem to find this key feature in any of them. Or maybe I am missing a view option in one of them?

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  1. Editorial Team

    Why do I always find the answers after I ask the question :/?

    I found that DiffMerge has functionality close to what I would like. It’s called “Show Differences With Context”, but its not enabled until you switch to “Reference View”. FYI, You can default to “Reference View” when opening by using the -ro2 (open file 2 as read only) flag, but you then you lose the ability to switch to the Edit View later.

    That said, I would like a linear view like diff and SourceTree give you (DiffMerge has a side by side view). Would be great if someone knows of visual diff tool that does have that feature.

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