Feedback from a beginner, but experienced software designer

Help & Support
1

Be able to se and select stuff from several folders at once.

Right now you can only copy stuff from one folder.

Be able to color folders and rate them not just with 5 stars but rather 10 stars.

(this could be an option in the settings.)

About the folder tree view.

I would like to be able to hide earlier or later folder trees.
I think this can be accomplished thru using the bottom location view.

Or there could be a dropdown button for viewing:
Only the current folder tree
The current+ only the previous

(Ofcourse you can view only the current but then you have to use another mode, in which you allways view only the current, which ofcourse you can swith. But it would still be neat to be able to toggle it in the folder tree view.)

There is no easy obvious way of closing a tab.
I think you should add a X next to the tab.

I´m a beginner so forgive me if you already can do some of these things.

2

I don't know aboout your other questions butyou can set to have an X displayed on the tab for easy closing in the preferences of DO.

Go to Preferences->Listers->Folder Tabs

Select the show tabs close buttons

SoSweet

3

The much-requested copy queue should address that, if you mean what I think you mean. (i.e. Being able to copy from multiple places without all the copies happening in parallel which slows things down.)

There's no star-rating system at all in Opus so far (EDIT FROM THE FUTURE: there is now!), although you could set the Description for folders to "*****" or whatever as a cheap alternative.

As for colouring folders, you can define any colours (and text styles) you like via Preferences:

I'm not completely sure what you mean here. Previous as in the parent directories, or as in the earlier sibling directories?

If we're talking heirarchy, what's the difference between hiding all later folders and collapsing the tree? I think there's a command you can run which collapses everything in the tree except for the current folder, if that's any use.

Like SoSweet says, you can put X buttons on the tabs via Preferences. You can also close them by middle-clicking them, or double-clicking them (depending on Preferences), as well as by clicking the X button in the File Display Border (the place that shows the current directory, which may be hidden unless you're in dual-display mode, again depending on Preferences).

4

The much-requested copy queue should address that, if you mean what I think you mean. (i.e. Being able to copy from multiple places without all the copies happening in parallel which slows things down.)
[/quote]

Well I mean being able to se two different folders from different places and be able to select content from both folders at the same time and copy that content into another folder.

For example you could have two different music folders at different places and you are able to select files from both locations at the same time instead of firt selecting from one folder and copy then selecting from the other folder and copy.

While I´m at it, it would be nice if it was possible to remember and name file selections.

Perhaps it is also already possible.

There's no star-rating system at all in Opus so far, although you could set the Description for folders to "*****" or whatever as a cheap alternative.
[/quote]

Then a star system also of rating files/catalogues would be excellent.
Would also be nice to be able to quickly rate a file as important/un important. Could be nice if you quickly wanted to delete and search for unimportant files.

[quote]As for colouring folders, you can define any colours (and text styles) you like via Preferences:
[/quote]

What I mean is to be able to simply rightclick on a folder and chose a color to quickly color it. I think it is possible to do in windows by drawing colored folder icons and then using them instead of the default by going into the folder properties but it is a hazzle, and it should be able to do it quick.

Why not implement coloring/different apperance of filenames too.

For example all picture filenames could be a certain font, etc.
This would make it even quicker/intuitive to recognize what filetype a file is.

[quote][quote]About the folder tree view.

I would like to be able to hide earlier or later folder trees.
I think this can be accomplished thru using the bottom location view.

Or there could be a dropdown button for viewing:
Only the current folder tree
The current+ only the previous[/quote]
I'm not completely sure what you mean here. Previous as in the parent directories, or as in the earlier sibling directories?

If we're talking heirarchy, what's the difference between hiding all later folders and collapsing the tree? I think there's a command you can run which collapses everything in the tree except for the current folder, if that's any use.

[/quote]

What I´m after is to narrow down the number of folders in a folder tree view that you see at the same time to make it easier to get a overview.

This could be done by hiding some of the parent directories from view. For instance by having the option to only view a certain depth of the catalog structure.

[quote][quote]There is no easy obvious way of closing a tab.
I think you should add a X next to the tab.[/quote]
Like SoSweet says, you can put X buttons on the tabs via Preferences. You can also close them by middle-clicking them, or double-clicking them (depending on Preferences), as well as by clicking the X button in the File Display Border (the place that shows the current directory, which may be hidden unless you're in dual-display mode, again depending on Preferences).[/quote]

Really nice! Should be default way of view because it is more beginner friendly!

5

I saw now that you are in fact able to give different filetyps different colors!

Wow I´m impressed. i will definatly buy this program and give it my best word of mouth.

I will try to get my company to use this...

But it would still be nice to be able to quickly color folders (not by type). And have different fonts for different filetypes.

Another nice thing would be to quickly be able to see how many files or how large a folder is. (It could be something you should easy be able to toggle on/off).

Ofcourse it should be user specified but could be have a default setting.
For example any folder containing more than x files could have another a bit larger icon.

What about even being able to have animated icons perhaps 3d icons. It could create a great skinning community.

And perhaps the best way would be to make the icons as vector graphics. In Svg (Scaleable vector format.) It is used by mobiles to make their cool menys...

Anyway great program!

6

I don't think this is exactly what you are asking for, but in Preferences -> Folders -> Optionos, you can enable Caclulate folder sizes automatically ...

7

[quote="spline"]Then a star system also of rating files/catalogues would be excellent.
Would also be nice to be able to quickly rate a file as important/un important. Could be nice if you quickly wanted to delete and search for unimportant files.[/quote]

With a little bit of setup, you could achieve a workable system that used file collections - just create a collection for each of your ratings and / or categories and copy files to them (you could set up buttons / keystroke combinations to do this) as required.

I do this for identifying files and directories i want to regularly backup, as well as files and directories I intend to clean out because they're no longer required.

It's not exactly what you're looking for, but it might help for the time being.

planetthoughtful

8

Your idea of selecting multiple places in the tree and showing a merged view of them is interesting. You could sort-of do it with file collections, or a combination of Flat View and NTFS junctions, but neither of those things are quick to set-up on-the-fly like a multi-select tree (or "Go AddToCurrentView" command or something like that) would be.

I'm not sure how many people would use it, nor how difficult it would be to add to the program, but it might be worth submitting the idea to GPSoft so it's at least in their database for consideration.

You can make commands which will select a pre-defined set of files. It isn't automatic (like, say, saving a named selection in Photoshop) but it will do the job just as well if it's something you only need in a couple of places, and the selections don't change often or involve hundreds of files.

The Reselect command also allows you to recall the previous selection, which can be useful.

Are there situations where neither of these two things will do? What type of thing are you doing?

I would use either a collection or the description column for that kind of marking.

I guess you haven't read my guide (or this one). :slight_smile: You can do this in Opus:

583×544 106 KB

It isn't in the menus by default but you just need to add the command Properties SETCOLOR to the Context Menu of the All Folders filetype.

I agree, and I've filed a suggestion that the folder colouring system be extended to work with files as well.

As you found you can colour files by extension which comes in handy, but I don't see why we shouldn't be able to colour individual files to highlight them like we can with folders.

You can see that kind of information for the current folder in the status bar. For folders below the current folder you can see if by adding the relevant columns (e.g. total file count). Having those columns will trigger automatic size calculation, which can be a pain when you don't want it. See this FAQ for more details.

9

Thanks thats neat!

I did manage to do it, but it did not end up as in your picture as a sub meny with an icon.

What I did get was the different color names right in the mainlist of the context window.

Is there a way to add a own colors?

When I though of coloring folders I mean to acctually color the folder icons which would be really nice if it was possible.

10

You can put anything you want into a submenu. Add a new thing to the Context Menu and set its type to Sub-Menu, then move the colour item you made before into the submenu. Finally, right-click the colour item and set it to end the sub-menu (else everything below it will also be in the sub-menu).

Yes, via the Preferences page shown in my 2nd last reply.

To do that you have to customize the folder icons the same way as in Explorer, or use one of the many shell extensions that let you do the same in a more convenient way. (They should work fine with recent versions of Opus.)

If you want to do it the Explorer way some icons can be found here:
[Color Folder Icons)