The controls on this options page are used to configure the behaviour and appearance of file comparison windows.
Link horizontal scrolling
When this option is checked, Merge will match the horizontal scroll positions of the linked files. As one file is scrolled from side to side the other file (or files) will be scrolled as well. When scrolling a panel using a scroll bar, you can hold down Ctrl to enable/disable linking.
Link vertical scrolling
When this option is checked, Merge will match the vertical scroll positions of the linked files. As one file is scrolled up and down, the other linked file (or files) will be scrolled as well. When scrolling a panel using a scroll bar, you can hold down Ctrl to enable/disable linking.
Extend linking lines across documents
When this option is checked, the lines drawn within the linking lines panel are extended across the two file panels. This makes it easier to see which lines belong to each change block. You may prefer to turn this option off for a less cluttered display, especially if you have configured different background colours for each of the changed text block types on the Fonts and Colours page.
Width of linking lines panel
Sets the width (in pixels) of the linking lines panel. You may wish to reduce this setting if you are using a low resolution display or comparing three files side-by-side.
Automatically reload externally modified files
Choose this setting to make Merge check whether other editors have modified open files. If Merge finds that a file has changed on a storage volume, it will reload the file if it has not been modified within Merge.
*info On some file systems, it can be time-consuming (or impossible) for Merge to check whether a file has been modified. Merge will not check for modified files on these file systems.
Automatically show the first change when reloading files
Check this option to navigate to the first change (if one exists) when a file is reloaded or when the comparison is recompared. Uncheck this option to endeavour to preserve the current scroll position when reloading files.
Regardless of this setting, the first change is always shown for files newly opened in a comparison.