When creating a saved Folder Format (Tools | Options | Save | Save a favorite format), I include an ampersand before the character I want to use as an accelerator in the name of the new Folder Format.
I place an item on my Menu bar that drops down the list of Folder Formats, and these accelerator characters work fine -- when I click the Folder Formats menu item, the list drops down, and typing the accelerator character applies the selected Folder Format to the current lister.
But here's the rub: in the dropdown list of Folder Formats, the ampersand doesn't cause the next character to be underlined, as is common. Instead, the ampersand character is visible in the Folder Format names:
Again, the accelerators work fine -- pressing Alt-C correctly applies the Folder Format "&Created time", pressing Alt-M applies "&Modified time", etc.
But I would prefer to have underlined characters rather than ampersands in the names of the saved Folder Formats. Am I doing something wrong?
Below is a screenshot of my Folder Formats in Preferences, showing the single ampersands in the Format names. Many thanks for your help!
P.S. Should have mentioned: If I remove the ampersands, the first letter of the Folder Format name does NOT act as an accelerator. For example, here I've removed the ampersand from "Created time", and when I drop down the list of Formats and press "C," nothing happens:
The menu item that drops down the list uses the function "Properties FORMATLIST":
That's by design. Ampersands in folder format names are not meant to turn into accelerators if the folder formats are listed in an automatically-generated menu.
If you want certain formats in a menu with accelerators for quick access, creating a menu with individual items for each format will let you do that, as you get full control over the items' labels.
For quick keyboard access to commonly used folder formats, creating hotkeys for them is another option. (Hotkeys can be assigned to individual menu items, or made standalone.)
If you're only using the folder formats to add and/or sort by extra columns, then you can also do that using commands in menu items or hotkeys, and have everything defined in one place, without needing to go to Preferences to configure the formats.
