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When performing a branch merge or code checkin within VS 2017, Microsoft provides an IDE-integrated merge tool with a standard three-pane view for comparing the source and target files and resolving conflicts.

My issue is that due to the autoformatting or text editor configurations of other developers, spaces and tabs in the code will have been modified. Consequently entire codeblocks that are identical will be highlighted as conflicts.

Worse, there could be relevant changes hiding in there somewhere, but I cant easily see them because every line of code in the block has been highlighted due to trivial whitespace changes.

How can I tell Visual Studio 2017 to ignore whitespace and highlight code changes only?

McHat
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  • I have been searching Google for how to default VS 2017 to use an external merge tool... so far no luck. – McHat Sep 19 '17 at 22:17
  • Do you need and specific external tool? Check this post for BeyondCompare https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4466238/how-to-configure-visual-studio-to-use-beyond-compare – 4D1C70 Sep 19 '17 at 22:21
  • @4D1C70 Thanks. I have used BeyondCompare and WinMerge in the past. Both are IMO better than the VS merge tool by a good margin. – McHat Sep 19 '17 at 22:24
  • you're welcome. I've used WinMerge too, better than default merge so far. – 4D1C70 Sep 19 '17 at 22:28

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