title: TFS Merge by File Version
body: <p>I posted a question a while back concerning the downsides to Merging individual files.</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8175892/is-it-okay-to-merge-individual-files-from-one-branch-to-another">Is it okay to merge individual files from one branch to another</a></p>
  
  <p>The answer posted said that I should do by changeset rather than by file version. However, I've been reading that merging by changeset (cherry picking) is a very bad idea. You might end up getting merges you don't intend unless you really understand the contents of each changeset  and how TFS stores deltas.</p>
  
  <p>I'm trying to convince my team in our migration from VSS to TFS that we should only be merging at the branch level. However, I lack a good example of the potential impacts of merging by file version. Can anyone explain or provide a good link to information on merging by file version (not necessarily changeset).</p>
  
  <p>Something I'm not sure on is if you merge by file version, are you still merging the changesets associated with that file version? If those changesets affect other files, do those files get changed?</p>
  
  <p>Thanks in advance guys!</p>