Tonight I setup my first collection. I went into the Folder Formats for collections which was already checked and I changed the columns. And nothing happened. So assuming that I was somehow falling into the default I looked at the columns I was getting vs. the columns setup for Custom which as I understand it is suppose to be the default if nothing else applies but how that would override a Collection Layout unless the collection layout was not selected or defined I don't know. Well since my Content Type is showing as none that would be the only expected column layout I should be picking up but yet that column layout didn't match either.
Having read this post which served to confuse the issue somewhat more I went in and looked at the Lister Styles and since I was using the Explorer Style I was expecting to find something in that section that would tell me what was going on. I checked the Format boxes as suggested and it is off for every single style both left & right panes. So perhaps someone could explain why my columns don't match any of the Folder Formats nor do they Match the Format under the Lister Style even though that box is not checked nor would the columns on the underlying list match anyways. So I am getting columns that don't appear to be defined anywhere.
Secondly, I don't understand the point of the check boxes on the Lister Styles for several of the options. For example, what's the difference between checking Flat View and selecting Off and just not checking Flat View to me it seems to mean the same thing. What happens if I don't check file display? What do I get? No file display? Why check Viewer Pane and then select Off? Wouldn't the act of not selecting it turn it off? Or does the removal of the check mean that it remains in the state it was in prior to changing to the Lister Style being chosen? I tried changing the View Mode from None to Auto but it made no difference. And since explorer is a single paned lister which side am I truly setting options for the left or right since they are both available to be set. I would expect that anytime a single pane lister is chosen that one of the sides would be grayed out.
The columns that are appearing when I go into my collection are Name, Date Modified, Type, Size, Folder.
Editing Folder Formats via Preferences won't change what you see in any existing windows. It just changes the formats which will be applied the next time you change to a matching folder.
Existing windows keep their current formats, at least until they change folders; even then they can keep their current format (see the Changes to the Default Formats section of the Folder Formats FAQ). So, if in doubt, if you make a Folder Formats change and it doesn't seem to have done anything, close & re-open the window.
Even when the Content Type is "none," you can still pick up columns from other formats if the main format is set to do so. (See the Column Inheritance section of the Folder Formats FAQ.)
Also, check that there isn't a format set for the specific collection you are looking at. In Preferences - Folders - Folder Formats, expand the top section of the list and see if there are any formats starting with coll://, like the ones for Find Result and Duplicate Files in this example:
If a style does not have Flat View checked then activating that style will not change your current Flat View mode. If Flat View was off then it will stay off and if Flat View was on then it will stay on.
If a style has Flat View checked and set to "Off" then activating that style will turn Flat View off.
Well it's a new day and as usually when doing these things sometimes a new day sheds new light. I realized this morning as I was re-reading my question that I've inadvertently confused Collections with MS Libraries assuming that they were the same thing. I did go and setup a DO Collection and it does seem to retain the columns that I was expecting for the most part. I do have a few folders that are not what I was expecting but without digging into them I think I know that they are picking up or using another layout as their primary and I think I can figure them out. And not that I have clarity on the Styles options that will be helpful in other endeavors.
Now onto the real problem. How do I control MS Library layouts via DO? If you read the last paragraph now and come back here you'll see I've answered some of my own questions although DO has basically just passed these folders over and maybe that will be the way they need to handle them as opposed to being able to setup Folder Formats. Since they are not collections in DO's sense of the word and they are not falling into any of the other Folder Formats I'm not sure what or how to manipulate them. Some additional oddities with MS Libraries and DO:
Column headers appear identical in nature to setting auto-filter on columns within MS Excel (if you've ever used that functionality you'll understand immediately what I mean). So they have a drop down on the right-side of each column allowing you to retain those files that match your selection which you can choose from the drop down.
It appears that because of the Filter Drop Down being part of the column that DO does not identify the column split it as it normally does. Instead of seeing a line with an arrow pointing left and right you get just two arrows pointing outward and while it does appear to re-size a column it appears to work only for the data that's visible at the moment. If you scroll down one screen you may find fields that are not expanded to their entire length obviously dependent on your particular data. The very last column works even a bit differently in that it doesn't even expand to fit the visible data but instead only expands by a letter or two at a time.
Adding columns by right-clicking on an existing column heading and choosing more to select your new column may or may not show data. In my particular instance I added the field Duration but found that it did not get populated at all. Seems that columns within MS Libraries are not available as one would expect. Which brings me to a side-issue about durations. Sometimes durations seem to be available and sometimes not but it doesn't seem to have any rhyme or reason as for one .avi it may appear and the next one it won't. The same happens with .wmv's. while never appearing for .flv's, .mpg's (.mpeg's) and .mp4's. These values appear to be related to whether or not DO is able to decipher the Codec meaning that if I have a value in the Codec field then I will have values in the duration and dimension fields, otherwise these columns are blank.
Video Codec is not even available as a field selection even though there are fields available like telex, spouse, e-mail, etc which seem like bizarre fields for a file explorer.
By right-clicking on a column heading and choosing Size all columns to fit does not appear to work any better than the column by column method. In fact further investigation shows that if you find the longest field in a particular column and then select Size all columns to fit it will expand the offending column but it will also reduce any other column that may have had a wider field which is now no longer within the current view.
On the positive side these Library folders do seem to retain their settings between executions of DO and even from one folder to another. So although you cannot create a DO Folder Format for the MS Libraries at least you won't loose what you setup which I presume is being saved in the Thumbs.db within the folder that is set in the properties sheet for the library's save to option. But for each library you will have to set it up to you liking.
