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<html><head><title>Chapter 5. Questions and Answers</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="help:/common/tde-default.css" type="text/css"><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.67.2"><meta name="keywords" content="KDE, kdeextragear, kdiff3, diff, merge, CVS, triplediff, compare, files, directories, version control, three-way-merge, in-line-differences, synchronise, kpart, tdeio, networktransparent, editor, white space, comments"><link rel="start" href="index.html" title="The KDiff3 Handbook"><link rel="up" href="index.html" title="The KDiff3 Handbook"><link rel="prev" href="kpart.html" title="Using KDiff3 as a KPart"><link rel="next" href="credits.html" title="Chapter 6. Credits and License"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"><meta name="GENERATOR" content="KDE XSL Stylesheet V1.13 using libxslt"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div style="background-image: url(help:/common/top-middle.png); width: 100%; height: 131px;"><div style="position: absolute; right: 0px;"><img src="help:/common/top-right-konqueror.png" style="margin: 0px" alt=""></div><div style="position: absolute; top: 25px; right: 100px; text-align: right; font-size: xx-large; font-weight: bold; text-shadow: #fff 0px 0px 5px; color: #444">Questions and Answers</div></div><div style="margin-top: 20px; background-color: #white; color: black; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px;"><div style="position: absolute; left: 20px;"><a accesskey="p" href="kpart.html">Prev</a></div><div style="position: absolute; right: 20px;"><a accesskey="n" href="credits.html">Next</a></div><div class="navCenter"> </div></div><div class="chapter" lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a name="faq"></a>Chapter 5. Questions and Answers</h2></div></div></div><p>This document may have been updated since your installation.
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You can find the latest version at <a href="http://docs.kde.org/development/en/extragear-utils/" target="_top">http://docs.kde.org/development/en/extragear-utils/</a>.</p><div class="qandaset"><dl><dt>5.1. <a href="faq.html#id2570336">
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Why is it called "KDiff3"?
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</a></dt><dt>5.2. <a href="faq.html#id2569721">
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Why did I release it under GPL?
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</a></dt><dt>5.3. <a href="faq.html#id2569735">
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Some buttons and functions are missing. What's wrong?
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</a></dt><dt>5.4. <a href="faq.html#id2569763">
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Often lines that are similar but not identical appear next to each other
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but sometimes not. Why?
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</a></dt><dt>5.5. <a href="faq.html#id2569787">
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Why must all conflicts be solved before the merge result can be saved?
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</a></dt><dt>5.6. <a href="faq.html#id2569806">
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How can I synchronise the diff and merge views, so that all views show the same text position?
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</a></dt><dt>5.7. <a href="faq.html#id2569826">
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Why does the editor in the merge result window not have an "undo"-function?
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</a></dt><dt>5.8. <a href="faq.html#id2569841">
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When I removed some text, then suddenly "<No src line>" appeared
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and cannot be deleted. What does that mean and how can one remove this?
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</a></dt><dt>5.9. <a href="faq.html#id2569879">
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Why doesn't KDiff3 support syntax-highlighting?
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</a></dt><dt>5.10. <a href="faq.html#id2569900">
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Can I use KDiff3 to compare OpenOffice.Org, Word, Excel, PDF-, etc. files?
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</a></dt><dt>5.11. <a href="faq.html#id2569967">
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Where has the the directory option "List only deltas" gone?
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</a></dt><dt>5.12. <a href="faq.html#id2569988">
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How can I make a big selection in the diff input window
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because scrolling takes so long?
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</a></dt><dt>5.13. <a href="faq.html#id2570009">
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There is so much information here, but your question is still not answered?
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</a></dt></dl><table border="0" summary="Q and A Set"><col align="left" width="1%"><tbody><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="id2570336"></a><a name="id2570338"></a><b>5.1.</b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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Why is it called "<span class="application">KDiff3</span>"?
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</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><b></b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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Tools named "KDiff" and "KDiff2" (now called "Kompare") already exist. Also "KDiff3" should suggest
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that it can merge like the "diff3"-tool in the Diff-Tool collection.
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</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="id2569721"></a><a name="id2569723"></a><b>5.2.</b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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Why did I release it under GPL?
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</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><b></b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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I'm using GPL programs for a very long time now and learned very much
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by having a look at many of the sources. Hence this is my "Thank You"
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to all programmers that also did so or will do the same.
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</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="id2569735"></a><a name="id2569748"></a><b>5.3.</b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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Some buttons and functions are missing. What's wrong?
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</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><b></b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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You compiled from source but you probably didn't specify the correct KDE-prefix
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with configure. By default configure wants to install in /usr/local but then KDE can't
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find the user-interface ressource file (i.e. kdiff3ui.rc). The README-file contains
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more information about the correct prefix.
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</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="id2569763"></a><a name="id2569764"></a><b>5.4.</b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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Often lines that are similar but not identical appear next to each other
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but sometimes not. Why?
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</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><b></b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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Lines where only the amount of white space characters is different
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are treated as "equal" at first, while just one different non-white character
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causes the lines to be "different". If similar lines appear next to each
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other, this actually is coincidence but this fortunately is often the case.
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See also <a href="interpretinginformation.html#manualdiffhelp" title="Manually Aligning Lines">Manual Diff Help</a>.
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</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="id2569787"></a><a name="id2569789"></a><b>5.5.</b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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Why must all conflicts be solved before the merge result can be saved?
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</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><b></b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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For each equal or different section the editor in the merge result
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window remembers where it begins or ends. This is needed so that conflicts
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can be solved manually by simply selecting the source button (A, B or C).
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This information is lost while saving as text and it is too much effort to
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create a special file format that supports saving and restoring all necessary
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information.
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</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="id2569806"></a><a name="id2569807"></a><b>5.6.</b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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How can I synchronise the diff and merge views, so that all views show the same text position?
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</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><b></b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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Click into the summary column left of the text. (<a href="merging.html#synchronise_views" title="Setting The Current Group And Synchronising Merge And Diff View Position">See also here.</a>)
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</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="id2569826"></a><a name="id2569827"></a><b>5.7.</b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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Why does the editor in the merge result window not have an "undo"-function?
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</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><b></b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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This was too much effort until now. You can always
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restore a version from one source (A, B or C) by clicking the respective
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button. For big editing the use of another editor is recommended anyway.
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</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="id2569841"></a><a name="id2569843"></a><b>5.8.</b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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When I removed some text, then suddenly "<No src line>" appeared
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and cannot be deleted. What does that mean and how can one remove this?
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</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><b></b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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For each equal or different section the editor in the merge result
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window remembers where it begins or ends. "<No src line>" means
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that there is nothing left in a section, not even a new line character.
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This can happen either while merging automatically or by editing. This is
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no problem, since this hint won't appear in the saved file. If you want
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the orignal source back just select the section (click on the left summary
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column) and then click the source button with the needed contents (A/B or
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C).
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</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="id2569879"></a><a name="id2569881"></a><b>5.9.</b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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Why doesn't <span class="application">KDiff3</span> support syntax-highlighting?
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</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><b></b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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<span class="application">KDiff3</span> already uses many colors for difference highlighting. More
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highlighting would be confusing. Use another editor for this.
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</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="id2569900"></a><a name="id2569901"></a><b>5.10.</b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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Can I use <span class="application">KDiff3</span> to compare OpenOffice.Org, Word, Excel, PDF-, <span class="abbrev">etc.</span> files?
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</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><b></b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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Although <span class="application">KDiff3</span> will analyse any kind of file the result will probably
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not be very satisfactory for you.
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</p><p>
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<span class="application">KDiff3</span> was made to compare pure text files. OpenOffice, Word, Excel etc.
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store much more information in the files (about fonts, pictures, pages,
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colors etc.) which <span class="application">KDiff3</span> doesn't know about. So <span class="application">KDiff3</span> will
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show you the contents of the file interpreted as pure text, but
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this might be unreadable or at least it will look very odd.
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</p><p>
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Since most programs nowadays store their contents in XML-format, you might
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be able to read it as pure text. So if the change was only small,
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<span class="application">KDiff3</span> still might help you.
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</p><p>
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The best solution if you only want to compare the text (without embedded
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objects like pictures) is to use "Select All" and "Copy" in your program
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to copy the interesting text to the clipoard and then in <span class="application">KDiff3</span> paste the
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text into either diff input window.
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(See also <a href="selections.html" title="Select, Copy And Paste">Select, Copy And Paste</a>.)
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</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="id2569967"></a><a name="id2569969"></a><b>5.11.</b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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Where has the the directory option "List only deltas" gone?
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</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><b></b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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There are now several <a href="dirmergevisible.html#selectingvisiblefiles" title="Selecting Listed Files">"Show"-options</a> in the directory menu.
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Disabling "Show identical files" will achieve what enabling "List only deltas" used to do.
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</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="id2569988"></a><a name="id2569989"></a><b>5.12.</b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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How can I make a big selection in the diff input window
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because scrolling takes so long?
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</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><b></b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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Start the selection as usual (click and hold the left mouse button).
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Then use the navigation keys (e.g. page up, page down) while holding the left mouse button down.
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(See also <a href="selections.html" title="Select, Copy And Paste">Select, Copy And Paste</a>.)
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</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="id2570009"></a><a name="id2570011"></a><b>5.13.</b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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There is so much information here, but your question is still not answered?
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</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><b></b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
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Please send me your question. I appreciate every comment.
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</p></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><div style="background-color: #white; color: black; margin-top: 20px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px;"><div style="position: absolute; left: 20px;"><a accesskey="p" href="kpart.html">Prev</a></div><div style="position: absolute; right: 20px;"><a accesskey="n" href="credits.html">Next</a></div><div align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a></div></div><div style="background-color: #white; color: black; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px;"><div class="navLeft">Using <span class="application">KDiff3</span> as a KPart </div><div class="navRight"> Credits and License</div><div class="navCenter"><a accesskey="u" href="index.html">Up</a></div></div><br><br><div class="bannerBottom" style="background-image: url(help:/common/bottom-middle.png); background-repeat: x-repeat; width: 100%; height: 100px; bottom:0px;"><div class="BannerBottomRight"><img src="help:/common/bottom-right.png" style="margin: 0px" alt=""></div><div class="bannerBottomLeft"><img src="help:/common/bottom-left.png" style="margin: 0px;" alt=""></div><div id="comments" style="position:relative; top: 5px; left: 1em; height:85px; width: 50%; color: #cfe1f6"><p>Would you like to make a comment or contribute an update to this page?<br>
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Send feedback to the <a href="mailto:kde-docs@kdemail.net" style="background:transparent; color:#cfe1f6; text-decoration: underline;">KDE Docs Team</a></p></div></div></body></html>
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