Announcing GitHub Desktop 1.4

Get warned about merge conflicts before you merge

In the past few releases, we’ve been working on ways to simplify collaboration in GitHub Desktop. In 1.2, we introduced the ability to compare one branch to another and merge, then 1.3 came along and we added a handy notification for new changes in your master branch, including the ability to easily bring these changes into your branch. In this 1.4 release, GitHub Desktop provides information about whether or not you’re going to encounter conflicts before merging.

We’ve heard from lots of people that merge conflicts are a particularly frustrating part of collaboration, and it’s helpful to know what you will encounter prior to attempting to merge. This release allows you to make an informed decision about merging with fewer surprises. Will the merge take a single click and be done? Now you’ll know ahead of time:

Will the merge result in a conflict? GitHub Desktop will let you know, along with a sense of how much effort the conflicts might take to resolve:

We’ve heard your feedback, and we thought adding details about merge conflicts would be a great addition to GitHub Desktop. With our upcoming releases, we’ll add more functionality to help you and your team make sound decisions when you encounter a merge conflict. Using GitHub Desktop, you can collaborate with your team more easily—with less overhead.

Preview what’s new in the app

We’re also releasing our first step towards showcasing what’s possible when using GitHub Desktop. In 1.4, we’ve added our release notes to the app to highlight what’s changed since the last release, and to recognize—and thank—our amazing contributors.

We’re looking forward to continuing to make GitHub Desktop a valuable and intuitive tool for collaboration (and more!), so stay tuned for even more enhancements.

Try GitHub Desktop

Written by

Neha Batra

@nerdneha