Have to click 4-5 times until file rename

Hi forum,

because the ActiveX viewer steals focus every time a file is selected (*.doc and *.pdf mostly in my case), I have to click like 4-5 times on a file name until I finally get to the cursor in the file name in order to type.

Jumping from one file's inline rename to the next/previous file via down/up button also doesn't work because of the same reason.

Any ideas how to prevent this problem...?

Thanks
David.P

Change PDF viewers to one which doesn't steal focus, or close the viewer pane when you don't need it, or rename the files via one of the other methods.

Is there one -- I thought they all use ActiveX?

What about *.doc -- is there also a viewer that doesn't use the ActiveX environment?

Regards David.P

The ones which are Preview Handlers should not take focus, since it is part of the specification. (Of course, people who make PDF softwate are not all good at following specifications, so some Preview Handlers may be better than others).

The .doc Preview Handler that comes with Word should not take focus.

OK; I'll try a few of the native PDF preview handlers.

Here, unfortunately it does! These are my settings for the preview handlers:

It doesn't look like the Word preview handler is installed there.

It would be in the top part of the list ("preview handlers").

OK, possibly because I'm using Word 2003.

Is there a known way to install the Word preview handler without buying and/or using Word >2003?

Word Viewer maybe?
microsoft.com/de-de/download ... .aspx?id=4

You need Word 2007 or above to get the preview handler.

True, the 2007 Viewer didn't do it.

Will a Word trial version suffice?

I don't know.

QuickViewPlus is another option, but not free.

OK thanks.

[quote="leo"]If the issue is with the viewer you're using taking focus, you need to take it up with the people who make the viewer, or switch to a different viewer.

Preview handlers should not take focus; it is part of the specifications. There isn't a lot we can do when something does take the focus, other than try to take it back, which isn't always possible. This has already been explained.[/quote]
For example, Dopus could track the last click the user has made (in case a file name has been clicked). If the user shortly afterwards (like within one second) clicks on the same file name again (but between the two clicks the viewer had taken focus), Dopus could still simply enter inline rename directly -- instead of mistakenly assuming EVERY SUCH TIME (about 50 times a day for me) that the user has clicked for the first time and wanted to select instead of rename.

Note that the above is a [brand new] feature suggestion. So there is no need to lock the thread this time.

Cheers David.P

The problem here is you're using a version of Office that is 11 years old and comes from before preview handlers existed, and thus does not provide a viewer component at all. Opus does its best to make-do with that situation by hosting the Office apps themselves inside of the viewer pane, but that has severe limitations (and, in particular, Office is designed to take the focus when launched inside another application, and will take it for several seconds sometimes).

If you upgrade to a more recent version of Office (even Office 2007, from 8 years ago), or use an alternative Office preview handler, then your problem should go away, without the need for us to implement kludges that will take time away from other work and may cause unwanted side effects, and may not really solve the problem in the end.

You'll also get faster and more reliable Office document viewing, since hosting Office itself inside other applications was never that great, but was the only way to do things back then. The preview handlers introduced in Office 2007 improved things greatly, and if you view Office documents a lot (which it sounds like you do), then the preview handlers justify the upgrade just on their own.

Closing the viewer pane, or using the Rename button on the toolbar, are other options, if a modern version of Office or alternative viewer is out of the question.

(BTW, your proposal would not work because the focus would be stolen again after the file started being renamed, which would cancel the rename. Unless you waited the same amount of time you're already waiting, which would still require extra clicks and change nothing. We've already done the best we can to take focus back from viewers which take it. For better, you need to use a proper viewer which does not take it in the first place.)

OK, for reasons unrelated to this tread I need (and want) to use Office 2003 basically forever.

As you are saying that the preview handlers introduced in Office 2007 'improved things greatly', I shall again look for a way to install these parallel to my Office 2003.

However I may point out that it is not only Office files but (possibly many) other file types that are still viewed inside the ActiveX viewer and (possibly) suffer from focus loss. Therefore I'd like to uphold my humble feature request, for that matter.

No, because Dopus would actively/intelligently enter inline rename after that [i]single /i click according to this feature request, thus focus would not be lost another time, and no third (fourth etc.) click would be required.

Cheers David.P

If you must stick with a very old version of Office then you're going to run into limitations which you'll have to live with or work around (e.g using the Rename button, alternative viewers, closing the viewer pane before renaming, or various other workarounds). We can't really help there beyond what we've already implemented, and even if we could there is a very limited user base who would benefit from the development time because most people who use Office a lot have moved on from Office 2003 now. Office 2003 isn't even in Microsoft's extended support anymore.

Yes, the problem can affect other ActiveX viewers (and a couple of badly written preview handlers). This is one of many reason why ActiveX viewers are a last resort, and preview handlers are given priority. However, there aren't that many file formats these days where ActiveX is the only way to view them, so it's not that big a problem. ActiveX for file viewing is very much a legacy technology and not something anyone is investing in, not with viewers and certainly not with viewer hosts (Opus and IE are the only general-purpose ActiveX viewer hosts I can think of, and I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft new replacement for IE drops that support).

Inline rename after a single click would not help you because the click would still trigger the ActiveX viewer to load the file, and the ActiveX viewer would still take the focus, which would cancel the rename. You can't just throw the word "intelligently" into a computing problem and solve it by magic. :slight_smile: Computers aren't intelligent, especially when one of the components involved (the Office 2003 non-viewer apps) is actively sabotaging the process.

No -- because the file would already be loaded after the first click. The second click only takes the focus back to the lister, and could be used to directly enter inline rename without problem -- if Dopus only would remember that it is a SECOND click the user made in order to rename, not to select.

No, because the focus is stolen asynchronously, after the viewer is asked to load the file, and sometimes several seconds after. Sometimes it will continue to be stolen for several seconds, even if you try to reset it to where it was.

Trust me, I spent days investigating this stuff and have made it work as well as reasonably possible.

You have plenty of options for solutions and workarounds, but if you don't want to change anything on your end then you're going to have to live with things as they are, as we cannot improve how Office 2003 works, and could not justify the development time on this now even if we could.

True -- but it should still be possible for Dopus to recognize like "the user has clicked 2 times on that same file name within the last second and therefore I'm going to enter and keep inline rename open no matter what -- even if that stupid viewer takes another three seconds to load or even when it steals focus a second time. Heck, I'll even record any keystrokes in the meantime and steal that focus actively back asap such that the user doesn't have to click a third (fourth etc.) time and doesn't lose any of his typing" :unamused:

Anyway, I'll start and look for those preview handlers...