TortoiseSVN

TortoiseSVN is a Windows shell extension that provides a user-friendly interface for Subversion, which is designed to allow developers easily maintain current and historical file versions.

After installing this software versioning application, one additional item is integrated in the context menu of any file in your computer. From there, you can access the Repo-browser and the program's settings. The latter window allows you to customize the items that appear in the context menu and other options.

In order to create repositories, developers normally use a Subversion server. But with the help of TortoiseSVN, you can easily transform an empty folder into a new local repository, which acts just like a server, allowing you to store files. The “Import” window enables you to assign a short description of the action you are performing and all the changes are recorded in your project history log.

When making changes to any file that is also found in the repository, even if you modify a line in a text file, the performed actions are recorded by TortoiseSVN.

In order to view them, you can use TortoiseMerge, an application that displays a two-sided window, enabling you to compare the revision and the original file contents.

The spotted differences are highlighted, so you can view them much better. Moreover, you can use TortoiseMerge to easily compare any text files you want.

While TortoiseMerge enables you to compare text files' content, TortoiseDiff allows you to compare two images. The side-to-side display and the overlaying option are the two features that enable you to easily identify any difference between the opened pictures. You can set the viewing options as you desire: link image positions, change their displaying size, zoom in and out.

One useful feature of TortoiseSVN is the possibility to view the project log. This way, you can keep track of any change that has been made to your files and folders.

To conclude, TortoiseSVN is a simple, yet useful and customizable program designed to help you easily manage files and folders over time. Using it, you can view all the modifications that a file has suffered and recover previous versions of it.