What Is a Folder Diff?
A folder diff is the set of differences between two directories: which files were added, deleted, or modified. Unlike a file diff that shows line-by-line text changes inside one file, a folder diff operates on the whole tree and reports file-level changes. A reliable folder diff hashes each file so two files with the same name and size but different contents are still flagged as modified. Engineers run folder diffs during releases, backup verification, and migrations to prove nothing drifted. FolderManifest produces a folder diff backed by SHA-256 checksums and exports it as an interactive HTML report that a reviewer can open without installing anything.
Generate a folder diff with the free folder compare tool or read when a folder diff beats a sync.