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Merge Tool
The merge tool fixes a conflicted file line by line. It shows your version, the other version and the result side by side, so you can pick exactly which changes to keep.
Merging src/app.ts: Yours (main) on the left, the Result in the middle, Theirs (feature) on the right, with colored connectors and 9 changes left.
- In the Conflicts dialog, select a file and click Merge..., or double-click it.
- In Changes, click a file in the Conflicts group, or use its merge icon or Resolve in Merge Tool in its right-click menu.
- In the editor, click Resolve in Merge Tool above a conflict or in the toolbar above the file.
- In the Files panel, right-click a conflicted file and choose Resolve Conflict....
The tool opens over the main window, titled Merge Revisions for and the file path, with a close button at the far right that works like Cancel.
- Left: your side, labelled for example Yours (main). Read-only.
- Middle: the Result, labelled with the file name. It starts as the common ancestor (the file as it was before either side changed it). This is the text that will be saved, and you can type in it.
- Right: their side, labelled for example Theirs (feature). Read-only.
During a rebase the labels read Upstream (...) and Your commit (...) instead. See Resolving Conflicts.
Each change is colored across its whole row, line numbers included, and a ribbon carries the color across to its place in the result:
- Blue: a changed block.
- Green: added lines.
- Grey: removed lines.
- Red: a conflict, where both sides changed the same lines.
Inside a change, the exact words that differ are highlighted. Each side's line numbers face the result: the left pane has them on its right edge. The three panes scroll together, so matching lines stay next to each other, and one scrollbar at the window's right edge moves them all. To make a pane wider, drag the edge of a column of ribbons; double-click it to make the panes equal again.
Each change has two small buttons on its first line, beside its line numbers (never on top of them):
- » (on the left, Apply left change) or « (on the right, Apply right change) applies that change to the result.
- x (Ignore left change or Ignore right change) marks that change done without applying it.
For a red conflict you can take both sides: apply one, and the other side's button now appends (its tooltip changes to Append right change or Append left change), adding its lines after the first. When a side of a change is applied or ignored, that ribbon disappears.
You can also edit the result by hand at any time, like a normal editor.
Most files have many changes that only one side made. Those are safe to take automatically. In the toolbar:
- Apply non-conflicting (the wand) applies every change that is not a conflict, from both sides.
- The » button before it does the same for the left side only, and « after it for the right side only.
These buttons are greyed out once no such changes are left.
After Apply non-conflicting: 2 changes left, both conflicts, and the wand is greyed out.
The two buttons at the end of the toolbar pick how the panes sit:
- Columns (three columns): yours, the result and theirs side by side, joined by ribbons. This is the layout described above.
- Stacked (two panes over one): yours and theirs side by side on top, the result across the bottom.
Stacked after Apply non-conflicting: each open conflict has its links in yours and theirs, and the result shows No changes accepted.
In Stacked, each change has a row of links above it instead of buttons:
- Accept takes that side's change into the result.
- Accept both (conflicts only) takes yours, then theirs.
- Ignore marks that side's change done without taking it.
Above each open conflict, the result says what it has taken so far: No changes accepted, Left side taken or Right side taken. Drag the line under the top row to give the result more room, or the line between yours and theirs; Nibtree remembers both.
Switching layouts keeps everything: your edits, the changes you took and Undo. The layout you pick is remembered for the next merge; Merge tool layout in Settings > Git sets it too.
- F7 jumps to the next unresolved change, Shift+F7 to the previous one. The arrow buttons in the toolbar do the same.
- The status on the right of the toolbar counts what is left, for example 9 changes left, 2 conflicts, and says All changes processed when you are done.
- The strip beside each scrollbar has a tick for every change. Click one to jump there.
- Cmd+F opens the find bar in the pane you are in. See Find and Replace.
- The Undo and Redo arrows in the toolbar (or Cmd+Z and Shift+Cmd+Z in the result) step back through every apply, ignore and edit, including the state of the buttons.
- Ignore whitespace hides changes that only differ in spaces or tabs, which helps after someone reformatted the file. Switching it reloads the merge and drops what you did so far, so you are asked first. It is the same switch as Ignore whitespace in the merge tool in Settings > Git, so the next merge starts the same way.
The bottom bar shows the hint F7 next change · Cmd+Enter apply.
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Apply (or Cmd+Enter) saves the result and marks the file as resolved. Cmd+Enter works in every pane, also while you type in the result. If changes are still unresolved, or the text still contains conflict markers (
<<<<<<<,=======,>>>>>>>), you are asked first (Save Anyway). - Accept Left or Accept Right in the bottom bar resolves the whole file with one side and saves right away.
- Cancel (or Esc, or the close button in the title bar) closes the tool without saving. If you changed anything, you are asked first (Discard Changes).
After saving, go back to the Conflicts dialog or the banner and click Continue once every file is done.
Some conflicts are about the whole file, not its lines:
- Binary files (such as images) can only be resolved by picking one version: Accept Yours or Accept Theirs. Each button also names its side.
- Deleted on one side, changed on the other. The tool explains which side deleted it and offers Keep Deleted or the version with the changes (Accept Yours or Accept Theirs). Merge Text Anyway opens the normal three panes if you want to combine the text yourself.
Cancel closes these choices without resolving anything.