Can someone help me please?
All I want from Dopus is multiple panes so I use Dual Horizontal. The sequence of the columns is Name Size Type Modified. I want Name Size Type Modified for everything. But I can't change the default format.
The help file is so complex I would need to study it for a week - it always starts in the middle of a set of commands.
Dr Greg sent me a really long complex response about lots of stuff. He just didn't tell me how to change the thing I want to change ("You can set the format for specific folders or global formats." tells me I can do it but does not tell me how.)
I couldn't even understand some of the questions when registering here!!
Can someone please take pity on an old thicko and explain in words of one syllable? 
See the Folder Formats FAQ (2nd FAQ in the list).
I's starting to get there, thanks.
A dialogue box comes up asking if I want to save as the new custom format and replace all or leave existing intact. I think explanation 1 applies to button 2 and vice versa. So I tried the Replace All button.
Lower level folders now have the right sequence but the sequence for the top level folders (the ones that appear when I start dopus) haven't changed.
Any thoughts?
Open Preferences and look at all the different formats in the list to check they are correct:
Also note that folders like Desktop are special.
I have no folder formats and I am not working with the desktop or other special folders
After spending another half hour randomly clicking buttons I thought I had worked out what to do
For each of the tabs in the lister (if that is the right term) I had to click reset to default
But then if I close the lister and open it again I am back to the old problem.
So I don't understand. maybe I should give up and go back to explorer
You can't have no folder formats at all; there's always the Default Formats section of the list which should be checked to make sure they have the columns you want.
Folder Tabs can also complicate things further, though. That's probably what's happening here. Set each of the tabs up the way you want and then save the current settings as the Default Lister by clicking Settings -> Save as Default Lister. Does that fix it?
I was quite precise when I said I had no Folder Formats. I've got Content Type Formats and Default Formats just not Folder Formats.
Well your advice it sort of helps but......
The panes that point at folders are updated (hooray!) and when I close and opent it again the lister stays updated (horray x 2)
But the empty tabs haven't changed and when I click "Dual Horizontal" I'm back with the same problem.
And all the other style tabs still have modified as column 4 not 2. So if I go into OO speak, some tabs are inheriting their behaviour from the custom format, but there is some other format higher up the food chain that I can't get at. Is it Default? If so, how do I get at it!!!!!!!!!!!
Heck this is difficult!!!!
They're all folder formats really and in Preferences under the Folder Formats section.
I guess it's potentially confusing that the top section of the folder formats list is also called Folder Formats. Maybe it should be called Folder Folder Formats since it contains folder formats for specific folders.
If changing styles causes the format to change then the style must be overriding the format. Right-click the styles tab and choose Edit Styles. For each style, check that it doesn't have the Format checkbox set at the bottom.
(Note that the bottom part has separate sections for the left and right display. Also, if you've modified the styles to open folder tabs then you need to click the Tabs button as each tab can have a different format. By default I don't think any of the styles open tabs, though.)