When I highlight a file in a directory lister, focus jumps to the viewer pane almost instantly, so that if I then hit the down arrow key I am navigating within the viewed document, rather than moving within the original lister directory window down to the next file name in that window.
Hope that's somewhat clear. In any event, how do I prevent that behavior, so that pressing the down arrow moves to the next file rather than navigating in the viewer pane?
What type of file does it?
Shouldn't happen with PDF these days.
Which PDF viewer do you have installed? (Usually Adobe Reader. Some people use other things like FoxIT.)
Which version of Opus?
Acrobat 8 Pro
DOpus 9.1.3.0.3449.x86
I don't have Acrobat Pro to test with but I suspect the problem is that Acrobat itself is being used to view PDF files, rather than a lighter weight PDF viewer such as Adobe Reader or FoxIt.
(If the program which views PDFs takes the focus when it is loaded Opus tries to take it back, but only if it happens within a reasonable amount of time, and it's possible for some programs to take the focus in a way which Opus can't undo.)
First thing to try is Opus 9.1.3.4 as that will use the Adobe PDF Preview Handler if it is installed. I don't know if Acrobat 8 includes the preview handler (which is a lightweight viewer intended for Outlook 2007 and Windows Explorer in Vista/Win7) but if it does include it then updating to 9.1.3.4 should fix the focus problem.
(Note that if you scroll the PDF using the mousewheel you'll give the focus to it. That's due to a bug in the Adobe's PDF Preview Handler where it doesn't draw the pages properly if you scroll it without giving it the focus.)
If 9.1.3.4 still gives the same results, you'll need to install a PDF viewer so that Opus can use that instead of Acrobat.
If you want to go with Adobe Reader, note that Adobe advise against installing newer versions of Reader if you have older versions of Acrobat. They have a compatibility table here:
kb2.adobe.com/cps/333/333223.html
You could also install FoxIt reader as that works in Opus and should avoid any conflicts with Acrobat.
Thanks!
I installed Foxit and an (almost) happy now.
This happens to me all the time.
Usually, in order to rename a file, I have to click on it four times.
First time, to select the file. Second time, to give back the focus from the viewer pane to the file name. Third time, to put the file name into rename mode. Fourth time, to place the cursur and start typing.......... 
Further, it is not possible to rename multiple files by navigating with the up/down arrow keys between the files when the Viewer Pane is open at the same time. Almost every time you arrive at the next file, the viewer pane steals the focus and there you go again, clicking three or four times on your next renaming candidate.
Generally, I must say that I haven't been so happy with the Preview Pane for quite some time. It still feels and acts as if it's not a part of Dopus, but instead as if it were an add-on that is not very stable and seems to be responsible for most of the crashes and hangs of Dopus.
To my knowledge there are many apps that use a viewer pane, and in many cases that pane is simply based on Internet Explorer (similar to the ActiveX Viewer in Dopus). But I haven't seen the focus problem that Dopus has when viewing files in other apps. Therefore, to me it seems that it should be doable to have an ActiveX pre-viewer that is stable AND doesn't steal focus.
Thanks,
David.P
Again, what type of files are you talking about?
If Pdfs, read the above.
Thanks Jon,
actually, it's worst with PDF, and DOES improve when another PDF handler is used, e.g. PDFXchange's handler.
However, I've seen the problem with PPT and other files as well.
Generally however, as soon as the ActiveX Viewer jumps in, it gets impossible to do subsequent renames using the Up/Down arrow keys, due to focus loss.
As a solution, I think it would be great if files would get selected but NOT previewed as soon as Dopus realizes that you want to rename the file -- similar as when you right click on a file and then Esc the context menu. Voila, the file is selected (say, highlighted) but not pre-viewed.
This (not-) previewing behaviour should be made standard for renaming files in my opinion.
Regards David
If you don't want selected files to be previewed, close the preview pane. Works for me at least. Perhaps the preview pane should have a "lock" icon, similar to the folder tree, which stops it following the selection?
For PPT files, Office 2007 is the first version that comes with an actual viewer (Preview Handler), and one which should never take the focus. With earlier versions of Office the actual PowerPoint program is used and will take the focus by itself, so that Opus has to then take it back.
Similarly, for PDF files newer versions of Adobe Reader will install a Preview Handler which should never take the focus, but if you are using Acrobat, or the "full" Adobe Reader rather than the Preview Handler that comes with it, then it'll take the focus and Opus has to try and take it back.
Until Opus 9.1.3.4, the Adobe PDF Preview Handler was disabled in Opus by default because of several issues it has. I've now worked around those issues and Opus will now use that handler by default, if it's installed.
There's also the FoxIt preview handler, which is a separate install in addition to the main FoxIt program. That shouldn't take the focus either. (Not taking the focus is part of the preview handler specification.)
Edit: I just double-checked and, with the Adobe PDF Preview Handler installed and open in the preview panel, I can enter inline rename mode (F2) and then use the down arrow key to move through the other PDF files, renaming them, without the focus ever being lost.
How is Opus meant to know you want to rename the file?
No, I'm afraid closing the preview pane every time just for renaming files is too awkard.
I really think that as soon as you go into renaming files, the preview pane just should not do anything anymore, until you leave the renaming mode -- quite similar to the "suppress sorting while inline-renaming" feature already present!
Additionally, pressing the left mouse button for like half a second could go directly into renaming (again, without previewing the file first).
This would be such an incredible facilitation and improvement in my opinion,
Regards David
PS: [quote]Additionally, pressing the left mouse button for like half a second could go directly into renaming (again, without previewing the file first).[/quote]
... and pressing the mouse button for another half second more could directly activate the cursor at the very spot in the file name that you are pointing to.
Regards David
What if someone wants to see each file before renaming it? The files could have meaningless names which they want to fix based on the file contents.
Anyway, the bottom line is that you can install a PDF preview handler and the viewer will no longer mess with the focus for PDF files. There are at least two free PDF preview handlers (Adobe's and FoxIt's).
They could deselect the respective option in the option settings called "suppress pre-viewing files while inline-renaming".
Anyway, would it be possible to install an Office 2007 viewer/handler on top of an older Office installation in order to get around the present focus problem for all office files?
AFAIK the Office 2007 viewers are only available as part of Office 2007.
With the latest version of Dopus, I still have to click four to five times on a PDF file in the lister before it actually goes into renaming mode, unfortunately.
Changing between different PDF files in renaming mode by cursor up/down is also not possible because the IE ActiveX viewer in the viewer pane steals the focus every time and Dopus in turn falls out of the renaming mode.
Is there any workaround other than switching to Windows 7 (where this supposedly has been resolved) or not using the ActiveX viewer for PDF? (The porblem remains the same no matter if Adobe, Foxit or PDF-XChange Viewer is used as PDF-IE plugin).
Thanks already,
David.P
If an ActiveX control is taking focus and preventing us from taking it back, there's probably not much we can do about it.
It's possible that the FoxIt or PDF-XChange preview handlers might work on Windows XP, but I don't know and have not tried those combinations myself. The Adobe preview handler definitely doesn't work on anything before Vista and most preview handlers are written with the assumption of Vista or above, so I wouldn't count on them working on XP.
If I switch to Foxit or PDF-XChange:
...PDF is instead displayed with the MultiView plugin 
However I just installed the Acrobat X Professional Trial, and having this installed, the Adobe PDF for Vista viewer plugin DOES work (on XP, that is). It also doesn't steal the focus when renaming. I would however still prefer PDF-XChange Viewer for previewing because it is much more flexible (and faster) than anything from Adobe (including the Vista plugin).
Anyway, can someone confirm that the Adobe PDF for Vista preview plugin does work in XP (only) when Acrobat X is installed, but not when Adobe Reader X is installed?
Thanks
David.P
