Folder Formats not behaving

Help & Support
42

So are the Favorites, which I've detailed multiple times now.

https://www.gpsoft.com.au/help/opus12/index.html#!Documents/Prefs/Folder_Formats.htm

" Favorite Formats: These are formats that aren't linked to a specific folder, but instead can be applied quickly to any folder through a drop-down list in the Lister's Folder Options menu."

You do not want to be saving content formats as favorites as that will not apply to the folder upon load. In order to save any folder format changes, including applying a favorite, you'll need to save them via the save folder format dialog or by using the code I provided above.

In addition, favorite folder formats do not contain the "Consider subfolders when calculating content threshold" option because that is an option designed specifically for content type formats.

" Content Type Formats: The Content Type section contains formats that are defined for file type groups. When the Content Types system is enabled, these formats will be used automatically when a folder containing enough of those types of files is read. For example, the Content Type format for the Images group can be set to switch the display into thumbnails mode. If you navigated to a folder that contained mostly images, this format would be applied automatically."

Favorite folder formats don't automatically apply to anything so there's no point in giving them that option. They apply when and only when the user applies them as you are doing in your examples.

Notice this line of code from your example above?

<path name="Music">

"Music" isn't a folder path. Path folder formats (the formats that do automatically apply to a folder on load) have a path letting directory opus know which folder to apply the format to. For example:

image
image872×641 15.7 KB

And the reason they were being added is a setting that cannot be changed for some stupid reason after the Favorite has been created

You can change favorite formats after they are created by doing the following:

Go to folder formats > manage folder formats
image

This will bring up the following menu. From here, double click on any format (including favorites) to open them for editing and make any edits you desire.
image

As detailed above though, you will not get options for content type formats in favorite or path formats which have different uses of application methods.

43

I didn't say that it was. I was never talking about folder paths.

I know that. That's what I've been talking about all along. But as you also pointed out, and I have repeatedly, is that there are three options that are not editable. That's the problem. The setting they adjust ARE STORED and they ARE USED. If they weren't, I wouldn't be able to make different favorites where one adds new columns and one doesn't. Yet, I can make a favorite that uses a threshold of any number I want, or will or will not add additional columns. I covered this in as much detail as I possible could without recording a video.

Content Types and Favorites work the same, they have the same information, including the three options that are not editable in the Favorites panel. Both will disappear if you navigate away, and then return, unless you make them permanent using the Save tool. And that's when I was getting the added columns, which was happening in both. But with the Content Type, i was at least able to see those controls and edit them. No such luck with the Favorite, where I had to make a new one after setting those options to do what I wanted. That's a workflow issue if the only way to change something is to make a new one from scratch.

44

Basically it comes down to the fact that you're using Favorites for a purpose they weren't designed for. They were added to the program to provide a quick way to switch the current file display between different pre-configured formats. They weren't meant as a factory for making permanent path formats.

45

You don't have to start with a content type format if you want to see the "include columns from other matching formats" option for folders you've applied a favorite to . For example, I applied a favorite to a folder, saved it to the folder, and then went to folder formats > manage folder formats and doubled click on the folder format I just saved under path formats:

image

It would be easier though if the "Include columns from other matching formats" setting was present in the regular folder options dialog though, less clicks and a bit less confusing.

To me though it sounds like you should be using content type formats instead of favorites. What you are trying to do with favorites can be achieved with content type formats in less steps.

46

Which is what, exactly? If it's not to rapidly make a convenient set of columns and behaviors to apply to a folder, then please, elaborate. I cannot think of any reason a Favorite, that's created by essentially copying a Content Type (or any other type of Folder Format) exactly, should not be used to do what the originating Folder Format does. What reasoning is behind this whole "They're supposed to just be temporary" excuse you keep giving me? What makes them so special that they should never even be considered to save as folder format?

And why not? That seems like the most useful purpose for them. Anything else is just an unnecessary limitation. They store the exact same information, so adding controls to edit that information won't break anything; it's already there, and it works just like it does in Content Types. I sure as hell don't want to have to apply a Favorite every time I go back to the same folder- that gets old real fast. I can only assume that's why there's an option to even save formats at all.

And again, they act just like Content Types - neither are permanent - both will vanish after leaving the folder, until they are saved. They are, in all ways I've tested, identical, right down to their configs, except one has additional controls in its interface.

It's like you had some weird idea to make Favorites work in some weird alternate way, but when they were coded, they worked better than planned (aside from the missing controls), and it just happened to be the same way Content Types worked. And they have the benefit of being a lot easier to create than a new Content Type. Basically, a "It's not a bug, it's a feature!" sort of deal.

47

I feel like this discussion is pointless. If you're not prepared to listen to what the guy who actually wrote the program is telling you I don't really see what's to be gained by continuing.