Get DirEqual 7.7.2 for Mac

DirEqual 7.7.2 runs on any Mac you’re likely sitting in front of—Intel and Apple Silicon are both covered, as long as you’re on macOS 10.15 or later. Before you install, a few practical things help set expectations. Here’s what people typically want to know.

• What exactly does it compare? Local folders on your Mac, shown as expandable trees side by side. You can drill into subfolders and see where things diverge at a glance.
• How does it flag differences? Color coding and icons mark what’s new, changed, or missing. For files where it matters, the comparison goes deeper than name and date—it reads the actual content.
• Does it sync automatically? No. DirEqual performs manual synchronization. You review the differences, pick which direction to copy, and trigger the sync yourself. That’s the whole point for careful folder work.
• Can I juggle multiple comparisons? Yes. A tabbed window keeps several folder pairs open without cluttering your desktop.
• Is the interface in my language? It ships in English, German, and French, so the trees and controls speak a familiar tongue for many users.

If you want a visual diff for folders that doesn’t make decisions without you, DirEqual fits a thoughtful workflow. Photographers comparing shoot folders and anyone reconciling backups will feel right at home.

Once you’ve used DirEqual for a few projects, the shift from version 7.6 to 7.7.2 becomes noticeable in the small moments that add up. The tabbed window got a little more responsive when dragging folders between panes, and reopening a saved comparison feels snappier—fewer beach balls on large directory trees. The filename template comparison, introduced quietly in an earlier point release, now handles wildcard patterns with more precision, so filtering out .DS_Store files or *.lrcat sidecars during a photo backup check is less likely to miss a matching file that lives one level deeper than expected. Color markers in the tree view also gained a subtle refresh to keep the difference states legible on both light and dark macOS appearances, a welcome fix if you toggle modes throughout the day.

Merging a Photo Library Across Two Drives

Imagine a Saturday morning sorting out a photo library that lives on your main drive and a portable SSD. You drag the local Pictures folder into the left pane, the external drive’s backup into the right, and DirEqual draws both trees in moments. You expand a few subfolders and spot orange markers on last weekend’s shoot—three RAW files on the SSD that never made it to the main drive, and a JPEG in the main folder with a later modification date.

You select those orange rows, right-click, and choose to copy from right to left for the missing RAWs. For that JPEG, you pause and double-click to peek at the content comparison: the internal thumbnail differs, so you decide the newer version belongs on the SSD too. A quick copy in the other direction, and the markers flip to a matching state. Before closing the tab, you save the folder pair. Next Saturday, one click reloads the same comparison and you pick up right where you left off.

Switch to Content Comparison for Bit-Accurate Checks

Out of the box, DirEqual works, but a few tweaks make it feel more like your own tool:

• Switch the default compare method to content. By default it checks name, size, and date—fine for a quick scan. For anything where files might have the same size but different bits, flip the preference so it reads byte by byte. It takes longer on huge folders, but the certainty is worth it when you’re hunting a corrupted batch.
• Set up a filename filter template early. In the comparison options, add patterns like Thumbs.db, .fseventsd, or *.xmp to keep system clutter and sidecar files from muddying the tree. You can toggle it per tab, so one comparison can ignore them while another leaves them visible.
• Pin frequently used folder pairs. The recent comparisons menu is handy, but manually saving a pair from the File menu locks it into a list that survives reboots and app updates. If you regularly reconcile a working drive with a NAS share, this saves the drag-and-drop dance every time.

If you’ve been managing folder differences in Finder with two windows and a squint, download DirEqual for Mac and let the trees do the squinting. The manual sync philosophy won’t rush you, and after a session or two, the color-coded tree view starts to feel like the sensible way folders should have been compared all along.

DirEqual 7.7.2 is a focused maintenance release that clears up a few small but persistent rough edges. The diff view now redraws more reliably when you switch between folders, and a couple of corner-case crashes have been ironed out. If you've been running a recent 7.x version, this update tightens things up without changing your workflow one bit.

• macOS 10.15 (Catalina) or later
• Apple Silicon or Intel 64-bit Mac