Trying to merge folders with obviously different contents, but only get "replace" option.

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Level 1

11 points

Trying to merge folders with obviously different contents, but only get "replace" option.

Folder A has subfolders 1, 2, and 3. Folder A1, which has the same name and where I want to merge files has subfolders 1 and 2 only. Finder is only offering the "replace", not "merge". The problem is that there are newer versions of files scattered throughout the folders in either folder, so a merge is required or I will lose data. is there a way to fix this other than going folder by folder and file by file? Seems like a primary folder/file maintenance function, so what am I missing?

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 12.3

Posted on May 23, 2022 7:43 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

borisfrommanhattan

Level 1

4 points

Jun 4, 2022 4:56 PM in response to Nholtra

What I found: the folder merging works only when one folder ISN'T a full copy or a subset of another one. For instance, trying to merge two folders with the same name while hitting Option will end up with different results, depending of folders' content:

[a+b+c] merging to [a+b+c] = FAILURE (no 'Merge' button)
[a+b+c] merging to [a+b] = FAILURE
[a+b] merging to [a+b+c] = FAILURE

but

[a+b] merging to [b+c] = SUCCESS (I can see 'Merge' button)

Well, for me it looks like a poor UI, but it is how they made it.

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Answer 2

HWTech

Level 9

55,730 points

May 24, 2022 1:50 PM in response to Nholtra

Maybe there is a third party app out there that can do this, but I've never checked (you need to be careful in vetting third party apps).

It should be possible to create a script to automate the process. I'm not sure if AppleScript is the preferred method these days or not. I definitely cannot help with a script, but there are a few regular contributors who are very good at these things. It may be better to have this thread moved over to the Mac OS X Technologies forum where the scripting options are usually discussed.

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