How to keep extension when creating shortcut?

Help & Support
1

When I create a shortcut for a file, I only see .lnk, and the original extension is not there.
I find having the extension useful, so like .exe.lnk, .txt.lnk.

Any way I can configure this, please?

2

This command will make shortcuts to any selected items, putting them in the same place as the items:

Copy HERE MAKELINK PATTERN * AS *.lnk

Removing HERE makes the shortcuts in the destination folder instead, if you want that (use this if you want to create shortcuts via drag & drop):

Copy MAKELINK PATTERN * AS *.lnk

If you need help with how to set up either command, let me know which method of creating shortcuts you use and want to focus on.

1 Like
3

Hi Leo,

I saw this command earlier when I was searching the forum, but I thought that was talking about something else.

I'm not sure how to use the command, if you can please point in the right direction.
I just use two basic ways to create shortcuts:

  1. Right-click -> create shortcut in current directory
  2. Drag folder/file to destination folder -> choose to create shortcut

Thanks for helping me on this

4

Both are done via Settings > File Types > All Files and Folders. Once there, here's how to add each thing:

  1. On the Context Menu tab, create a new item. set Type to Run an Opus function, and use this as the command:

    Copy HERE MAKELINK PATTERN * AS *.lnk

  2. On the Drop Menu tab, create a new item (or edit the existing Create Shortcut(s) Here if you want to replace it), set the type as and use this as the command:

    Copy MAKELINK PATTERN * AS *.lnk
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5

thought i'd add onto this instead of making a new post... i followed this guide here: Disable the '- Shortcut' Text Addition for Shortcuts in Windows 11 (winaero.com), which suggests adding an entry in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\NamingTemplates.
That works fine on my Desktop and in Windows Explorer but not in Directory Opus. If i uncheck the "Use template when creating shortcuts" option in Settings>File Operations>Options, Directory Opus will remove the shortcut text (was that because of my registry edit?), but also removes the extension, as the OP mentions. Is that expected?

All that to say, I tried to look around in Settings but i couldn't find " File Types > All Files and Folders " nor the Context/Drop menu's mentioned, so I have no idea where to put in the commands mentioned.

Any help appreciated!

6

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7

Oh, sorry, I (incorrectly) assumed Settings meant Preferences and just glossed right over that. After playing around with this a bit, I can't seem to replicate my preferred method of creating shortcuts, which is by selecting a file, then pressing Control+C to copy, then right clicking in the destination and choosing "Paste Shortcut". Is there a way to do that?

Out of curiosity, why does Directory Opus not just follow what Windows does when unchecking the "Use template when creating shortcuts" option?

Thanks for your help!

8

There's an option in Preferences to control the shortcut name, use the search field to find it by searching for "shortcut".

10

Enter this as the shortcut template in Preferences / File Operations / Options, if you want the shortcuts to include the original files' extensions:

=if (count==0) return name+ext; return name+ext+" ("+count+")";

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More detail here: Generated File Names [Directory Opus Manual]

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11

i reverted the changes made in File Types>All Files and Folders, and applied your template and it works perfectly in all use cases! i think this is a much cleaner solution to the original post :slight_smile: thank you so much!

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