Now also the settings for find (above) are gone, i.e. again back to no-path results panel.... 
later..
Luckely had the settings saved (find panel show folder) which I started this thread with.
Restored that and the results panel is back including the path.
For how long I don't know.
Now the same for the results panel for dupl files ..
brgds=
Your screenshot shows the Options page not the Folder Formats page.
Many thanks for your patience.
It is there alright.
I'll quickly make a backup of the settings.
again, tks!
Bad luck..
I'll just shortly want to let you know that DO continues to return to its initial find results layout (i.e. without the path).
Even though... when I look at "Preferences->Folder-Folder formats" the coll:// find results and dupl results are as per above printscreen.
Restoring the cfg file solved this problem, until next time.
rgds
Is the collection name you're looking at (usually "Find Results" or "Duplicate Results") the same as the name in the list of folder formats?
If you double-click those formats in Preferences, do they have the Location column in their list?
I use this all the time and Opus has never reset the folder format I've defined for my find results.
Sorry for the delay. In most cases it is a find result, duplicates I donot use too often. However, in both cases the layout is the same:
name, size on disk, modified, location.
The standard view (so not the results view for either search or duplicates) is just name, size on disk, modified, so the location is only added in the results panel, so i know whére the file is located.
When the location field is gone, I import settings again and it is there for a while, but one way or the other at some point something is triggering DO to return to the my std. view, name/size/modified.
Just discovered and up front, if this is the problem, well, I did not know..
CTRL-F and Tools-Find have different listers, maybe one is in conflict with the other? I don't know ... 
If so, how to solve this?
thanks again.
==
The find panel always outputs to a collection-in-a-lister.
The find window can do that (and is set to in your screenshot) but can also output to a list that's attached to the find window as well as to the output window (Tools -> Output Window). Those two things will not use the Find Results collection's format (they're not collections in general and not the Find Results collection in particular).
Maybe what's happening is you've used the find window and set it to output to one of those two places?
(BTW, those non-collection destinations for results are really just left-overs from the days before Opus had file collections.)
I have spent a LOT of time to reproduce the error, each time writing down the steps I took but I admit DO hardly produced the error, while doing the simple find actions.
Also, as there are two Find menu's: one is a Find button in the button bar and one can be found under Tools->Find (which includes synch / duplicate tabs),
maybe the problem occurred using one of them only, i.e. I tried to reproduce the error using both find panels.
Anyway, I think I found it.
Go to any folder
Do whatever search
Location field is displayed sofar so good
Now..
In the results window (coll://find results) switch Explorer view to Image view (image view tab)
Then switch back
Location field is gone.
New searches are without location field now.
You may wonder why one should do that.
e.g. It might be that image files are having almost the same name and one might wish to identify what file represents what kind of image.
or in case of searching for duplicate .jpg's but before deleting any dups, one might wishto make sure that they are in fact dups,
or other reasons.
Anyway, apparently at regular times and for whatever reasons (that I donot recall anymore right now), during filehandlings, I apparently did this switch
causing to loose the layout that shows the location.
Don't know whether this can easily be solved by (un)tagging anything in the DO setup.
Or shd I report this to GPSoftware ?
[quote]In the results window (coll://find results) switch Explorer view to Image view (image view tab)
Then switch back [/quote]
You're not switching back to the original settings; you're applying the Explorer style (which presumably defines some columns and turns off the Location column).
Styles are never actually "active" and the tab control can be misleading since it looks like they are. In reality, styles just get applied and then that's it. Other things (such as folder formats) may then change the format but the style tab will still make it look like some style is active even though it's now overridden.
(Most of the time this makes sense as people usually use styles to set the display mode, viewer, dual panel etc. but don't use them for folder format changes very often.)
If you edit the Explorer style and then edit the folder format within it, is the Columns tab turned on?
Mine is as follows
Regretfully, at this point I am a bit lost what to do 
and will be glad with your recommendations.
=
Turn off that Columns checkbox (top-left of the lower window in your screenshot) so that when you apply the Explorer style it doesn't change the columns.
The reason you're losing the Location column is that you're applying a style that changes the columns to something else.
Feel bad to say, that seems not to be the solution. Did as you advised, but once I toggle from explorer to image view, the location field is again lost.
Seems you have a similar find results layout (with location)
What is happening with DO at yours using tools->find and switching from detail to images and back (in the find results window) and then go to any folder and do a find again using tools/find.
thanks
The location field stays there since none of my styles change the columns (or the display mode or folder-format at all, for that matter).
Is your Images style also setting the columns?
Yes, I just untagged that one as well.
what is your default layout (details mode)?
does it contain the location?
Normally, with me, it is not, it only shows filename/size/date.
I just added location (rmb on one of the column header, under More.. added location). Based on thát switching between details and images does not have any affect on the layout....
So I just wondered, maybe you have location as default layout?
You're confusing things here by talking about the "Details Mode layout".
Layouts and styles are two different things, but Details Mode is neither of them.
Details Mode is a view mode. (Thumbnails, List and Large Icons are some other examples of view modes.) Changing the view mode will never change which columns are present. If you want to just change the view mode you can do so via the View menu (and via several other places).
The view mode can also be changed by applying a style. One of the default styles is called "Explorer" and I think it's that style which you've been (incorrectly) calling "Details Mode."
Which columns are displayed is determined by the folder format. The folder format can be modified by styles.
However, by default, none of the styles touch the folder format or which columns are displayed.
If any of your styles are modifying the displayed columns then they must've been edited from the defaults. You can undo that by going to Settings ->Preferences / Listers / Styles and working down the list of styles, making sure that the Format checkbox near the bottom-left is turned off for all of them. (Do that for both the Left File Display and Right File Display tabs.)
Also, you can quickly see if any of your styles change the format because the description of them in the list will include "change format".
Many thanks for all the support sofar.
Indeed, under Preferences/Listers/Styles/Format ->Edit I have untagged 'Columns' for all 7 listers for both Left and Right Display.
Save/applied/closed DO and relaunched DO.
Regretfully this does not make any differences (when doing a search and then switching between image/details mode there)
Now ..
Only when I add the location-field (using RMB on the column header/more .. etc.) the location field will then indeed remain in place
when doing a find action. I mean, switching between images/details will not make any difference,
the location will be displayed, correctly.
Obviously, at that point, I think the location field has become default, which as not really my 'starting point'.
Well, anyway, guess I have to 'accept' it. 'Accept' may be overdone, it is not a really big issue of course.
But one starts to look for the reason why things simply donot work as it should, which is always timeconsuming.
I don't need that information to be displayed as in the left window panel it is already shown where I a am,
so it's a bit useless to show the location field in right window panel as well.
Often I working with these (very) long filenames of classical music-titles, so I then need all the space, so to say.
Thanks again.
Just adding the location field via the More... menu is only temporary. You have to save that folder format for the Find Results collection if you want it to be used again the next time you go to Find Results.
Go into Preferences - Folders - Folder Formats and make sure the coll://Find Results format actually has the Location column, and has the Columns tab turned on (as discussed in this thread before we started talking about Styles).
Thank you!
Yes, I have saved it and the coll find results and duplicate files are there alright.
Whilst using DO very often, bottomline I am just a 'simple end-user', so to say. Some small additional 'tweaks', thanks to you and other cracks here,
made DO work 'tailormade' and in fact, for me, there is hardly any reason to go into preferences/settings whatever. Why should I ?
DO does what it does and perfectly behaves the way I wish it to. It is an outstanding program!
That having said and with all the compliments to the developers and experts here, I think for users like me, who hardly go into preferences / settings
and stuff, those parts of the program are not always logical. Sometimes this results in endless 'searches' and 'tries' on how the program responds
on (un)tagging or (de)selecting things, at least, that's the case with me 
Just to give one example, to explain what I mean: when selecting Settings/preferences/Display->Fields, I would assume that at that point
I cud select the fields that I get displayed once I launch DO. But this seems not to be the case.
The Help file says that this refers to Listers. (If that is the case, personally, I would then move that section to the Listers section)
However, embarrassing enough, when going thru all the preferences I've come to discover a number 'features' I was not even aware of.
Like Logging. Yes, it is a shame I did not know it was there, whereas, in fact, on some instances, it would have been very helpful...
(Note: when clicking on the "View Log" button within preferences, I haven't found any other view log button but within preferences,
the window opens full screen and cannot be resized, it is either full screen or entirely closed. The small button left of the close window
button at the very top right of the window, reacts as minimized window).
Or..
like 'counting' when deleting files, I have it tagged, but when deleting many GB's (say 30-50, with 24000 files), well, it is taking a while before
anything is happening even with my RAID and Intel Q9550 PC.
Or...
Photosharing (Flickr, ImageShack) - maybe one time in future other services will be added, like Photobucket and or filehosting services
(IF.. at all that is technically possible). Filehosting like Mediafire.
Anyway..
DO great, the support thru this website is great and I am happy that I bought it a couple of years back.