Opus: "The Other Manual"

MAJOR UPDATE:

  1. The "Other Opus Manual" is now a small website. Many people had suggested breaking up the one huge page, which was as long as a small book. Finally had time to listen to the voice of reason. Also edited the content, added to it, updated... It took a huge amount of time, and I'm pleased with the change, but there are bound to be typos and errors. If you have any feedback, I'm wide open! Typos, ommissions, suggestions... anything.

  2. Updated both toolbars. Can't be sure I remember all the changes, but this should just about cover it:
    --- In the "Select" menu, added a "Select by Base Name" item, taking advantage of the "Select SIMILARBASE" feature introduced in 10.0.4.1 beta. If you have already selected file_1.txt and file_2.doc, this feature will select other files starting with file_1 and file_2.
    --- In the Folder and Properties menus, updated the "Label Color" sub-menu. The Ctrl + Shift + 0 shortcut to reset the color wasn't working on some computers, so I moved all the color shortcuts to Ctrl + Alt + 0 through 9. (Zero still being "reset".) Alt makes sense, actually, since we're ALTering the colors.
    --- In the "Up" button, added a Drive menu, which is just an excuse to give ourselves shortcuts to all drive letters from A to L. The shortcuts: Win + Shift + F goes to drive F:, and so on.
    --- New shortcuts to select a few special folders:
    --------- Win + Alt + D = Desktop
    --------- Win + Alt + C = Computer
    --------- Win + Alt + R = Recycle

That's it for now!
Feedback always gratefully received, good or bad (if there is such a thing.)

If you'd like to be notified of updates, just subscribe to this thread.

:smiley:

Wishing you all a fun weekend.

Well done on the update!

For people skimming the guide's different sections, it might be worth pointing out that, in places, it assumes a non-standard configuration.

For example:

F12 won't open Prefs for most people reading the guide, which might confuse them. Maybe "(F12 if you're using my custom config)" or similar?

Great to have the site up and running, kudos!

Thanks very much, tekguru!

Spot on, Leo! I had already mentioned it in a few places, but you're right that someone who is skimming or landing on a random page might miss that. Just for you, I added the two big blue boxes at the top of the "cool features" and "tips and tricks" pages.
asiteaboutnothing.net/opus/o ... tures.html
asiteaboutnothing.net/opus/o ... ricks.html

The other ones should be clear.
Hope this works. Please feel free to send any other ideas.

Wishing you's a fun weekend

:slight_smile:

Thank you so much for all your work.

UPDATE:

  1. Many tut improvements, including additions to reflect cool new features from the legendary 10.2.0.1 release.

  2. The menu toolbar has been updated to version 1.3. The Sync button now includes a "Slave Tabs" feature (Ctrl + Alt + Shift + K, similar to Ctrl + Shift + K for Navlock) and a "Link Tabs" feature (Ctrl + Shift + L). More details about usage in the tut's section about the Sync button.
    The toolbar is really easy to replace! Download the toolbar from the Interface Setup page, type "/buttons" in a lister, drop the new toolbar in that folder. Then right-click the toolbar, enable Menu_playful_1.3. Right-click again, disable the old version.

  3. Also, minor update to the Operations toolbar (now version 1.7), available in the same place:
    Shift + Left Arrow now focuses on the left or top lister
    Shift + Right Arrow now focuses the right or bottom lister

Enjoy!

Wow! It had been eight months since the last update to the toolbars.

Team Opus has been busy, so this update is packed with features.
You can download the new toolbars from the new website: dearOpus.com
Remember, updating your toolbars to the new version is super-easy. You download / copy them to your /buttons folder, then you right-click an empty space on the toolbar and select the two new toolbars from the submenu. You can then either turn off the old versions, or, if you've customized them, drag and drop buttons between the old and the new (first alt-click to enter customize mode).

As usual, please send feedback and ideas!
Peace,
Andy

Before we start: this release includes lots of keyboard shortcuts, so for the occasion I've fully rewritten the shortcuts page, organizing all the keyboard shortcuts into logical themes.

  1. Zooming
    Beautiful zooming functions were introduced in 10.2.0.1 beta.
    To take advantage of zooming, the toolbars incorporate these shortcuts, consistent with programs such as Photoshop:
  • Zoom in and out with Ctrl-Plus and Ctrl-Minus
  • Restore default with Ctrl-0
  1. Huge mode
    You've got to try this: Ctrl + Alt + H
    I use this when moving away from the screen to sit on the couch, and "remote controling" the computer from a wireless keyboard. Huge Mode makes everything huge so you can read the Opus screen from far away.

  2. Explorer Mode
    Pressing Ctrl + E now quickly toggles you between Dual mode and "Explorer mode" (single pane).
    This is parallel to the existing Ctrl + H shortcut that toggles dual listers between horizontal and vertical modes.

  3. Shell Command Library
    Under the Tools menu, there is now a library for useful shell commands / batch scripts. I'm planning to beef it up as ideas arise—please send your thoughts on what would be useful! At the moment, we have:

  • Last Wake (Ctrl + Shift + W): tells you which process woke up the computer from its last sleep. Useful when your computer seems to wake up for no reason.
  • Troubleshoot connection (an ipconfig script)
  • Check System Files (sfc /scannow)
  1. Rename button
  • It now opens in Find-and-Replace mode by default.
  • Its pull-down menu now includes a "Lower Case" option (Ctrl + Alt + L)—as well as Title, Sentence and Upper case.
  • "Rename Dots to Spaces" is now Ctrl + Alt + .
  1. Copy button
  • It now includes a Make hyperlink" button (Ctrl + Shift + L) that takes a file name (such as myfile.txt) and places a fully formed hyperlinked to the clipboard:
  • In that spirit, added Leo's brilliant "Copy Image Links to Clipboard" button (Ctrl + Shift + I) that creates an img link for the selected file: Copy IMG links to Clipboard with Width and Height
  • It also has a new shortcut (Ctrl Shift 5) for "Copy MD5 Checksums".
  1. "Go Up" Button
    The menu now contains a "Shortcuts to Misc Locations" submenu. This is an excuse for keyboard shortcuts to locations used by most Windows users (it's easier to share these "super favorites" through that submenu than with favorites).
    Alt + Home: Computer
    Shift + Home: Desktop
    Alt + Del: Trash
    Alt + 6: Programs x86
    Alt + 4: Programs (think 64 bits)
    The shortcuts to drives A through Z (now Alt + A—Z) have also moved here.
    That menu also now includes the new "Go to First Folder" feature (Alt + Page Up) to navigate to the tab's original folder.
    The "Open File's Folder" item (Alt + Page Down) opens the selected file's folder, which is useful in flat view or collections.

  2. Move button

  • The pull-down menu now includes "Move to Desktop" (Ctrl + Shift + D), complementing the existing "Move UP" (Ctrl + Shift + U)
  1. Folder / Folder Tabs
    Duplicate Tab on the other side = Ctrl + Alt + Shift + 1 (similar to Ctrl + 1 for Copy)
    Move Tab to the other side = Ctrl + Alt + Shift + 2 (similar to Ctrl + 2 for Move)

  2. Prefs button
    It now has a group called "Custom Shortcut Repository". This allows us to store useful shortcuts (arranged by themes) without cluttering the interface.

  • For instance, this repository contains the "zoom level" shortcuts mentioned above.
  • It contains "Open With" shortcuts, such as "Open with Photoshop", to be customized according to what software you use.
  1. FlatView button
    When toggling out of Flat View, the quick filter is now cleared, enabling you to see the contents of the original folder, instead of the results of the previous quick-filter—usually empty once you're out of flat mode.

  2. New Shortcuts

  • The "Pics" button now has a shortcut: F6 (six rhymes with pics)
  • The "Show" button now has a shortcut: F7. Press it repeatedly to cycle between List view, Details, Thumbnails, Tiles etc.
  • Format Lock: Ctrl + K (Navlock is still Ctrl + Shift + K)

The new website reflects these changes, plus heaps of edits and a major reorg.
Please share your ideas for further improvements! :slight_smile:

For those who use my toolbars and want to try the DO11 Beta, I've thrown a quick page about the upgrade process. It's not scary! Including a new version of the toolbars.
It's very early days: at this stage, the goal of this page is to get us up and running on DO 11 in no time.
The page is a work in progress as I haven't had time to explore the new features, but will report as I do.

Upgrading to Directory Opus 11

Ummm... just HOW do I subscribe to this thread?? :blush:


Subscribe - wthayer@annapolis.net

Hi there!

Thank you so much for doing this guide! It's just wonderful and now I can actually use Windows productively. I ususally just get sick of it and go back to [insert Linux distribution that I like at the time], but this is a major game-changer!

Let me know if you have a PayPal account or something going on as I'd love to throw some money in your general direction for your hard work.

Thanks again and looking forward to what you're gonna cook up for DOpus 12. :slight_smile:

Hi gang,
Announcing a few updates.

  1. There is now a page about Script Add-Ins.
    The main idea is to demystify add-ins for non-coders and to introduce some of the beautiful add-ins made available to us by the Opus community since the DO11 launch.
    Huge thanks to the people who write these scripts, and to Team Opus for making this magic possible with the new and evolving scripting interface.
    If you have any suggestions and comments for the page, please let me know.

  2. There have been a number of small additions and changes to the toolbars, here are some that come to mind:

  • Ctrl + F1 opens the Opus Forum
  • Shift + Space toggles the focus ("shifts the space") between the left and right (or up and down) lister
  • Under the Conv button pull-down, added Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical
  • The Copy menu now contains Leo's Paste File & Folder List button
  • The Folders menu now contains Leo's Merge Folders button
  • Ctrl + S no longer binds to "Select by Pattern" but toggles between Showing thumbnails and details while preserving the current selection. This relies on a script by tbone, see the Scripts page for details
  • For a number of revs, Prefs / Shortcut Repository has contained a Search With section with shortcuts to search the current selection with Google (Ctrl + Shift + G), Google Images, Wikipedia and Youtube. I haven't been using it much but maybe some of you will think of a use case.

Happy Opussing to you all

Hey all,
A few more small changes in the toolbars' latest version.
Thanks to Team Opus and all the forum contributors who make all this possible.

Notes

  1. Remember that updating is just a matter of copying the new toolbars to the /buttons folder, then right-clicking the chrome to add the new toolbars and remove the old ones.
  2. If you are getting lost with shortcuts remember that the updated version is always on the shortcuts page.
  3. I recommend you install Jon's GoExisting script (just drag script file and drop it into Prefs/Scripts)

Changes

  • The Help menu now contains a "Restart Opus" item
  • Rename pull-down: expanding the list of quick renames,
    ==> added "dashes to spaces" (Ctrl + Alt + Dash)
    ==> added "zap spaces" (Ctrl + Alt + Spacebar)
  • "New" pull-down: added "New Tab" (Shift + T)
  • "Delete" menu:
    ==> Shift + Del: delete without recycling (uncheck the conflicting command under Customize/Keys)
    ==> Ctrl + Shift + Del: empty recycle bin (relies on GoExisting, just drag and drop the script file into Prefs/Scripts)
  • "Copy" menu: Duplicate now adds a [copy] suffix to the file name. The shortcut is Ctrl + J for "Jump" as in Photoshop.
  • Improved the functions for Copy Tab and Move Tab (they switch to the new tab), and switched some shortcuts around to reflect most frequent use:
    ==> Duplicate Tab is now Ctrl + Shift + 1 (remember Ctrl + 1 is copy), while Copy As is Ctrl + Alt + Shift + 1
    ==> Move Tab is now Ctrl + Shift + 2 (remember Ctrl + 2 is move), while Move As is (Ctrl + Alt + Shift + 2)

If any questions arise, please let me know. :slight_smile:

For all of you who are subscribed to this thread, I'm really excited to announce a brand new page on the dearOpus site.

Before the summary, let me say that I am hugely excited about the potential and invite you all to brainstorm about it in the linked Coffeeshop thread.

Summary
I'm sure all of you have used naming conventions of many kinds. For instance, even having a date prefix in file names is a naming convention.

The new page shows how to leverage DO11's new features to parse parts of the file name (such as a date prefix) into columns.
It introduces a really simple convention where you can set columns by adding column=value to the file name.

As a result you can manage metadata for all kinds of files, even if they have different extensions. And you never see the long file name because its components get fanned into columns.

Here is how it can look for movies:


(the script for this is included)

And here is how it can look for books and comics:


(the script for this is included)

Looking forward to your thoughts! Here's that brainstorm link again.
:smiley:

Ah, yes, you might want the link: Using File Names to Make a Database

I just have a peaked at your site and it seem like a very powerful resource. I have no looked at it extensively however thank you.

Hi, I've just updated to the new Win10 process and since then I can't click on a file, then hold down CTRL, select another file or more and move them etc, I can only select ONE file or folder at a time?? Any suggestions Please.

Sounds like you might be in Power Mode instead of Details? You can check which mode you are in from the View menu

Hey guys,

It's been a while, hope you're all doing great.
Some quick announcements:

  1. New page on the site about DO12 Features (spoiler alert: it rocks!)
  2. Updated toolbars

Thanks for any feedback. :slight_smile:

--

Sorry I didn't make a full change log about the toolbars, but here are a few notes.

  1. The labelling functionality now has its own button. It includes the new status feature from DO12. Also label application is now cumulative, i.e. a file can be bold AND red. Added Bold button, Italic, Underline (with shortcuts). For it to work, add Bold and Italic styles in Prefs / File and Folder Labels

  2. It seems to make sense to start adding presets under the Convert menu. To get the ball rolling, "33%" converts to an image 33% the size.

  3. Some shortcuts I wrote down over time (probably not exhaustive)

Ctrl + U: create url
Ctrl + Sh + : create shortcut here (from SpiroC: Paste URL from clipboard text? )

Ctrl + I no longer Invert (now launches imdb for the current movie using the Movie Database script's naming convention)
Ctrl + Shift + I no longer makes img link from file name (now searches imdb)
Ctrl + M no longer Edit Medatata (now toggles movie mode)
Ctrl + Alt + M: toggle Comics view (in the Folders button)
Ctrl + Alt + B: Bold this file or folder
Ctrl + Alt + I: Italicize this file or folder

Ctrl + F12: Customize Toolbars
Alt + F12: Go to the "Settings" alias

Ctrl + Ins: Copy the path
Ctrl + Alt + V: Go to the path in the clipboard

Changed Locking shortcuts
Ctrl + K: toggle Navlock
Ctrl + Alt + K: toggle Tab lock

Hi again friends,

another announcement:

Added a page with a DO12 rename scripting walk-through, showcasing a cool DO12 feature that allows you to insert rename options in the chrome.


The goal is to break any fear of getting started with rename scripts -- I'm a beginner myself.
Enjoy!