# Generate the Interactive Merge Report

When you want to examine all merge points, simultaneously comparing your content to existing base and incoming content, run the Interactive Merge report. You can step through each merge point one-by-one to analyze the impact of each content change, and then decide which version of the content to keep.

To ensure that the base precedence level for the incoming and existing repositories remain in synch, any content deleted from the incoming repository also is deleted from the existing repository when the merge process is completed.

Follow the steps below to run an Interactive Merge Report:

1. In the Admin Tool, open a content repository by selecting File>Open Repository.
   The Folder Selector window appears.
2. Navigate to the existing repository and click OK.
   The repository opens in the Admin Tool.
3. From the Tools menu, select Difference Decisioning & Merging.
   The Folder Selector window appears, allowing you to select the incoming (new) content repository.
4. Click OK to begin the analysis.
   The Analyzing Content window appears while the report is being generated.
5. The Analysis Complete dialog appears when the report is complete. This dialog indicates how many merge point conflicts were found.
6. Click OK.
   Regardless of the number of conflicting merge points, including 0, the Interactive Merge report (an HTML document) displays. Conflicts appear in red.

   You can use the relevant release notes for additional information and to help you troubleshoot merge conflicts.
7. Click the Save button to save the report to your system for analysis.
8. Click the Complete Merge button to continue the merge process.
9. Click the Create User Decisions Report button to generate a report that includes all of the merge decisions. You cannot create this report until all merge conflicts have been resolved. This report is described in the Reports and Log section earlier in this guide.
10. Click the Preferences button to select a new display color for content differences and for highlighting all instances of the DTA, Iterator or Condition when using the View References button, described below.
11. Double-click a conflicted merge point to open the Differences for Requirements Documents Tool (Differences Tool); this will allow you to analyze the merge points.
    If you double-click a COND, ITR or DTA, the Differences Tool will display the View References button. Use this button to display the References for: (DTA, condition or iterator) window, which highlights all instances of the DTA, Iterator or Condition in the REQ.
    Note: Be sure to click + to expand the comparison details; this allows you to see the detail of what has changed, including text changes and updated metadata, deletions and so on.
12. You can perform the following tasks from the Differences Tool:
    - Simultaneously display and compare the common base, existing, and incoming content
    - Select the content to use at a conflicting merge point by clicking either the Existing or Incoming button. These buttons exist in the Selections area of the tool. The window pane of the content you select is highlighted (in yellow) and is saved as you review other merge points.
    - Display the previous or the next merge point by clicking the back or forward buttons. Use these buttons to review the merge difference selections you have made before saving them. These buttons exist in the Differences section of the tool.
    - Save the merge point decisions by clicking the Close button (in the Selections area of the Tool).
    - Display additional information and tips about content objects (in the red area of each pane): move your cursor over an object to display the information for that type of object.
    Note: If you need to stop before you complete the merge decision process, you can save your work and resume the process later. Save the file to your system. The file is given a *.merge extension. To resume the process, select Tools > Continue Difference Decisioning & Merging and select the saved file.
13. After you make your decisions and click the Close button, the Differences Tool closes.
    In the Interactive Merge report, the merge conflicts you have resolved now display in green.
14. Continue using the Interactive Merge report to identify the merge conflicts (displayed in red) so you can fix them using the Differences Tool.
15. After you have resolved every merge conflict listed in the report, click the Save button to save the report, or click the Close button to close without saving.
16. To ensure that all of the merge conflicts were addressed: select Tools>Difference Decisioning & Merging: run the report against the same repository until no merge conflicts exist.

Parent topic: Expere Knowledge Base Repository