GitHub: "Some uncommitted changes would be over written by syncing"

Question

I am attempting to update my project folder on my laptop. I was working on it on a iMac and my latest version is on that as well as on GitHub. When I attempt to sync it to my laptop I am getting the following error:

Some uncommitted changes would be over written by syncing. Please commit your changes and try again

The version on my laptop is out dated and I don't want to sync it.

Answer 1

If you are using the GitHub GUI and are not worried about losing the local changes on your laptop but just need to get the latest version from GitHub:

Simply use "discard changes" before attempting to sync. This can be done either for a specific file:

or for all files:

It reverts all selected files to the last committed version. Then you can sync to retrieve the new version from GitHub without any issue.

Answer 2

When you get that message you basically have three options:

1. git reset --hard HEAD -- Destructive. When you do this you'll throw away everything you've done up to that point and be back at the last HEAD before you made any changes.

2. git commit -- In the middle. With this you're committing your changes which will get rid of the error but if the changes aren't complete its probably superfluous.

3. git stash -u -- My recommendation. With this you're able to "stash" or set aside the changes you've made up until this point. Then you can pull from a remote without interfering. Once you've done that you can run a git stash pop which will put back all of the changes you've made (without committing them).