I want an "empty folder" message as WinExplorer has?

Help & Support
1

I would like to get an 'This Folder Is Empty" message from DOPUS when a folder is... empty.

WinExplorer does this, so I imagine it must be possible?

The reason is perhaps not obvious - Often a folder is quite large or the computer is running slow or it's a network folder that takes a long time to access - during that time I CANNOT TELL whether a folder is empty or if it's just loading, it's very ambiguous and dangerous as I don't know if I can delete the folder safely!

As such, I actually need to check in Windows Explorer to see the 'This folder is empty' confirmation for my own peace of mind, but it's annoying.

Is there a way to get this?

2

There's no way to do that.

If a folder takes a long time, there is a message in the window while it loads, so you shouldn't end up being confused by this.

You can also use things like Edit - Calculate Folder Sizes (Ctrl-L) to find the size of folders, or the various columns which count how many items are below folders, to tell if they are empty at a glance.

3

Theres also the option of using a label filter: Suggestion: show info for empty dirs in thumbnail view

Not sure if that is exactly in line with the problem you're trying to solve.

4

[quote="steje"]Theres also the option of using a label filter: Suggestion: show info for empty dirs in thumbnail view

Not sure if that is exactly in line with the problem you're trying to solve.[/quote]

That kind of label filter will cause more problems. :slight_smile:

5

Really? Why so? Wouldn't it be ~less invasive than getting the full folder size calculated?

6

It causes every subfolder to be inspected every time you change folder, which can be a problem in some situations (e.g. FTP sites).

Better to only calculate that information when you actually need it, using Edit > Calculate Folder Sizes (Ctrl-L).

(The columns showing sub-item counts can also cause problems if you turn them on everywhere, so I wouldn't suggest that either. But turning them on & off as they're needed is good.)

That said, with Opus 11 you could set up the problematic label filter in a folder format, so that it's only applied in specific places or when you explicitly switch to the format. Using it there is fine. It's only really a problem if you use it globally.

7

Hmm... ok thanks for all the comments on this - I've tried using Control+L and that seems to be work ok - it tells me which are empty so I can safely delete.

Because my machine seems to lag with DOPUS though for some reason, perhaps the size of my folders, I don't always get that 'reading folder' message it seems...

8

Steje wrote a nice script to better manage folder size calculation.
I made a tweak that (IMHO work better as it does not call the calc method directly, but enables the calc folders option dynamicly) you can see it here Re: DO11: Script to toggle automatic folder size calculation.
This enables auto size folder calculation for a single tab, I added a button to the file display toolbar for this use, very handy indeed.