Conflict Resolution

Whenever BetterZip is about to overwrite an existing file – extracting on top of one, or adding items to a folder inside the archive that already contains entries with the same names – the Merge Conflicts window steps in.

What the Window Shows

At the top, a status line summarizes the situation: “3 folders and 5 files already exist at the destination. Choose how to handle conflicts:”

Below that are two popup buttons that let you decide for the whole batch at once:

• Folders: Merge, Replace, Skip, Keep Newer, Keep Both (default: Merge).
• Files: Replace, Skip, Keep Both, Keep Newer (default: Replace).

Each option means:

• Merge (folders only): combine the folder’s contents, then resolve each individual file inside it using the Files popup.
• Replace: overwrite the existing item.
• Skip: leave the existing item alone, discard the incoming one.
• Keep Newer: replace only if the incoming item’s modification date is newer.
• Keep Both: add a numeric suffix to the incoming name and keep both.

Per-Item Overrides

If the batch resolution isn’t right for every item, click Show Details. The window expands to reveal an outline view with four columns:

• Action: a per-row popup with the same options as the global Folders/Files popup, so you can change the resolution for an individual file or folder.
• Name: the item’s icon and filename; hover for the full destination path.
• Archive: the modification date of the item being added or extracted; the tooltip adds the size.
• Disk: the modification date of the existing item already at the destination; the tooltip adds the size.

The Archive and Disk cells highlight in green to show which side will “win” given the current resolution: useful when scanning a long list to see at a glance whether you’re overwriting newer or older data. For Keep Both, both cells highlight; for Keep Newer, only the side with the newer date does.

Folder rows in Merge mode are expandable and show the children that conflict inside them; folders set to anything else collapse to a single row.

Buttons

At the bottom: Cancel aborts the whole operation; Extract (or Add, when adding to an archive) commits the chosen resolutions and continues. Any rows still set to “Ask” default to Replace for files and Merge for folders.

Skipping the Window When Adding to an Archive

When you add new items to an archive that already contains files with the same names, the window’s defaults come from Settings – General: the In case of conflicts while adding items to an archive popups for files and folders. If both are set to something other than Ask what to do, the Merge Conflicts window is skipped entirely and BetterZip applies your chosen defaults silently. If either is set to Ask what to do, the window appears with those defaults pre-selected in the popups.

For extract operations the defaults come from the active extract preset: if its file and folder resolutions are set to anything other than Ask, BetterZip applies them straight away and the Merge Conflicts window doesn’t appear. Only when at least one is Ask does the window open, with the preset’s choices pre-selected in the popups.