Resolve Merge Conflicts with Bitbucket Power Editor

Bitbucket users frequently need to make quick work of simple file edits as part of the submit or PR process.

They need to. But ‘quick’ may not be the right description.

Users know the drill. You create a pull request but Bitbucket detects a merge conflict. The first step to resolution is to get back into your local environment — you pull the changes to your local repository, use the conflict markers to guide your fixes, then back to the browser to add and commit the change.

Do that just a few times and some part of you will start to wonder if there’s a better way.

There is.

Power Editor — Integrated Simplicity

The Power Editor for Bitbucket plugin is a full-featured markdown editor deeply integrated with Bitbucket’s core functionality. It gives you full file edit and CRUD control — inline editing, saving, and commit functionality, without ever having to leave the browser.

When merge conflicts occur, you really don’t want to force your developers to jump back and forth between the browser and local workflow, especially not just to make a quick edit or two. That’s not the kind of ‘quick’ anyone needs in their workflow, but it is what’s required by Bitbucket’s server and datacenter editions.

That UI switch is more than just a hassle, especially when you’re iterating through pull requests — it’s valuable time not spent coding. But as co-founder of Stack Overflow Jeff Atwood famously said, “Code doesn’t exist until it’s checked into source control.”

We know frequent little pivots between UIs are inevitable — the small price you pay for feature-rich but not quite fully integrated tools. But those pivots can add up, so any time you can streamline and remove them simply, it can be a big win.

Features…

Integration with Bitbucket is the key here, but the utility of the editor matters too.

• Resolve pull request and merge conflicts in the browser.
• Edit files directly in the browser. Edit button on README page, on source view page, and on pull request page.
• Markdown and reStructured Text (RST) files are supported.
• Add new files to your repository.
• Rename, upload, and delete files.
• Preview markdown and file version diffs easily.
• Commit directly or create a pull request. Enabled git hooks apply to all changes made through the editor.
• Disable direct commits in repo settings so users must create pull requests.
• “Edit” button in the pull request diff tab and on the README page to help quickly fix typos.

Preview changes, resolve merge conflicts in the UI

If you’re fixing merge problems, you can quickly see diffs, visually inspect and resolve any conflicts, then commit your cleaned up code right from the web UI.

Just making quick edits to a README file? Authoring and editing markdown? Power Editor lets you preview your markdown and RST files before committing. Click the Preview button and see how your markdown changes look before you commit.

Resolving conflicts manually, in situ, without ever going back to your local environment, can transform your commit workflow — dramatically reducing total time and effort as you iterate through pull requests.

Add, Edit, Rename, Upload, Delete files

Power Editor’s deep integration means users get full in-browser file I/O functionality. And that means you and your team can quickly iterate on pull requests right from the browser. No wasteful pivot back to local workflow — all file update actions are supported directly within the web UI. Easily address issues without having to revise files locally.

Authoring a new file, like an impromptu README or release notes is greatly simplified.

Power Editor offers dropdown file options to rename or delete files right in the browser.

Powerful in-editor tools to make changes quickly

Power Editor offers the expected quick format actions from its toolbar — click to bold, italicize, linkify, justify, list, and perform common formatting functions. Plus, convenient options like the ability to select whether to automatically substitute spaces for tabs.

Editing directly in the browser:

The full-featured markdown editor makes it trivial to create or edit a quick README file as an integral part of your workflow, instead of a disruption to it.

The Bottom Line

If you notice that repeatedly pivoting between the Bitbucket UI and your markdown editor is affecting your team’s productivity, Power Editor is a quick-to-install, simple-to-use solution. It puts a stop to ping-ponging between tools, without requiring anything resembling a “learning curve”.

Even if you haven’t noticed any impact on efficiency, that doesn’t mean there isn’t one.

Resolving merge conflicts or making quick edits is a necessary interruption to the coding workflow, but your tools shouldn’t be taking valuable developer time on top of it all. Like unrolling a wasteful loop in code, fixing the little things embedded in a repetitive workflow can have a huge positive impact on your team’s sanity and efficiency.

Try it for free right now

Want to try the plugin for free? Download Power Editor for Bitbucket now, to see how easy it is to make quick edits to files without going through the local workflow. Power Editor and other powerful plugins from Mohami are available from the Atlassian Marketplace.

Your Confluence administrator can start plugin installation with a single mouse click and you can start using it right away.

1. Log into your Confluence instance as an admin and choose Add-ons, or go to the Atlassian Marketplace.

2. Locate Power Editor and click Try it free.

Installation is simple, and even the free version is fully functional. Just install the plugin using Atlassian’s interface. It works right out of the box!

3. You’re all set! Click Close in the Installed and ready to go dialog.

Power Editor supports both server and data center deployments.

Even Better Together

As simple as it is to realize ROI from Power Editor, it gets even better when used with complementary macros. Check out these other Bitbucket macros from Mohami. They can help take your development to the next level…

• Prevent accidentally exposing sensitive data with Security for Bitbucket
• Host documentation or any static website directly from a repository, with Pages for Bitbucket
• Easily create and share code snippets in Bitbucket Server with Snippets for Bitbucket

Mohami is an Atlassian Platinum Partner. We prioritize quality, robustness, and quick customer support. View more of our Atlassian apps here.

Our apps extend the Atlassian ecosphere with a suite of sensible, productivity-boosting macros that plug key gaps in functionality, unlock integration between platforms, and streamline development operations.