Evaluate Pro when Licensed for Standard
BC version 3 or later
If you are licensed for Beyond Compare Standard Edition but you want to evaluate Pro Edition features, you can place BC back into trial mode.
To restore trial mode, close Beyond Compare, then rename the file where your license key is saved from BC5Key.txt to BC5Key.back. (This is an example. You will use the key filename corresponding to your version.)
License key location
- Windows, current user:
C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Scooter Software\Beyond Compare 5\BC5Key.txt - Windows, all users:
C:\Program Files\Beyond Compare 5\BC5Key.txt - Windows, all users, v5 alternate location:
C:\ProgramData\Scooter Software\Beyond Compare 5\BC5Key.txt - macOS, current user:
/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Beyond Compare/BC5Key.txt - macOS, all users:
/Applications/Beyond Compare.app/Contents/MacOS/BC5Key.txt - Linux, current user:
~username/.config/bcompare/BC5Key.txt - Linux, all users:
/etc/BC5Key.txtor/usr/lib64/beyondcompare/BC5Key.txt
After you've renamed the license key, run Beyond Compare, then select Help > About Beyond Compare from the menu (or Beyond Compare > About Beyond Compare on macOS). Check Evaluate Pro Edition features. Restart Beyond Compare. When you are finished evaluating the Pro Edition, rename BC5Key.back to BC5Key.txt to restore your license.
