I am using folder compare mode in Beyond Compare to view files with content differences in batch, but it seems that content differences aren't acquired until you open the file first. I understand the overhead of recursing through an entire folder hierarchy and acquiring differences on every single file, but it seems as though an option would exist to allow me to do that if that's what I really want to do.
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Beyond Compare's default settings in the Folder Compare use file size and modified timestamp for comparison.
To compare file contents of selected files, use the Actions > Compare Contents command.
To compare file contents of all files, click the Rules toolbar button (referee icon). In the Comparison tab, check Compare contents and select CRC comparison, Binary comparison, or Rules-based comparison. This setting is saved with session settings, so if you load a saved session with it turned on it will compare contents as the session loads.
If you want the same content comparison as double clicking to view file contents, select Rules-based comparison. It uses the list in Tools > File Formats to compare file contents based on file mask. Txt files are compared as text, png as images, etc.
Chris Kennedy
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Okay, so only after I asked my question did I actually do more experimenting to figure it out.
At least in 3.3.10, you can go to the root folder in your comparison, hit CTRL+A to select all, then right-click on the selection and choose =? Compare Contents. After choosing your options from the pop-up dialog window, click OK and Beyond Compare will recurse through all selected folders and force a comparison and then show only files with content differences.
I was going to just delete my question, but this seems like something that could help out others, so I'll just answer it myself.
oscilatingcretin
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