Just some thoughts on Directory Opus

I’ve been using Directory Opus for a long time now – probably close on 20 years now – and do really like it. It’s one of the first pieces of s/w I install on a new machine. However, of late it does seem to me to be suffering from the same fate as a lot of popular software: as more and more features and settings get added, it becomes harder and harder to find, set and use what one wants. One practically needs a degree course in how to use it all now, fully and properly.

For example, I finally managed to track down how to get my Listers to remember the column settings I want, but honestly it was a struggle to do so. The help pages I found referred to menus that didn’t correspond to what I had (and I am running the latest stable version).

I don’t know what the solution is, but perhaps some way of first finding out what the most used and popular features are (and I would be surprised if remembering column settings isn’t one of them!) and ensuring that they are easily accessible and usable would be a good start.

On a personal level, I find few things more annoying than when a piece of software tries to second-guess what I want, and just does what it thinks that is. E.g. displaying columns based on what kind files it thinks a folder contains. Dammit, please just let me decide, and do what I say, not what you think I want! (MS Office is another prime example of software falling into his trap.)

Anyway, OK, rant over. I still love you, Directory Opus – you’re the best! :blush:

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Did you look at the FAQs? It's at the very top:

image

All we can do is put the info out there...

Yes, I did find the answer via this resource centre, but a) as I said, I still had a lot of work to do as what's written didn't correspond exactly to what I saw on my screen, and b) this was just one example of the issue I am talking about - there are countless others. I am sure the info is "out there" for all of them; that's not quite the point though, which is that there is so much info corresponding to so many options and features that navigating and digesting it all becomes a mammoth task, and this is a problem for users who want ease of use.

I am sure there is no easy answer - I was just venting, I guess. Maybe an AI assistant would help? I have seen such dedicated tools - I can't recall offhand where exactly; it was some API documentation help tool, and it worked very well. Rather than trawling through the documentation I just asked it "How can I do such-and-such?", and it told me.

Just a thought. Meanwhile, as mentioned, I really do like DOpus. It's a great piece of s/w.

Why not just ask on the forum in the first place? That's what it's for.

We're much less likely to give you misinformation than an AI.

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You can actually already do this via ChatGPT, GPT4o is a pretty big step up and is now available for free.

I ran your query through and this is the result:

I wouldn't expect it to be aware of DOPUS 13 changes though. Other AI models did a terrible job, Llama 3 for example just spat out nonsense.

Yeah, I suppose that's as good a way as any... of course, a number of sub-queries are also required, such as "Where in god's name do I find 'Folder options'?" ..! IDK, I guess such problems are an inevitable consequence of having such a feature-rich piece of software.

If you're having trouble finding commands referenced in the manual, you may be using very old or customised toolbars. Maybe it would be worth doing a full toolbar reset?

Yes, that may be a good idea... I did customise them years ago...
thanks

OK, so... I do have Opus now remembering my column settings :slight_smile: but now it won't remember the folders I was in between sessions. Previously, when I closed Opus (say at night) it would remember where I was (I have dual listers open) when I opened it again (in the morning) and open in these folders. Now it opens on the same folders I was in when I set the columns settings, always.

I have gone to Settings / Preferences / Launching Opus and (for example) on the "Launching from the Taskbar" options changed it from "Open the default lister" to "Bring the last active Lister to the front", but on closing Opus and re-opening it thus, it still opens the same two I had open when I fixed the columns.

What else do I need to change?

I can get it to always open on a different pair using the "Go" command, but this is of course rather rigid; I would prefer it to simply remember where I was and use those folders.

Sorry to harp on about this, but... we'll get there in the end! :slight_smile:

Check what you have set under Preferences / Launching Opus / Startup, you probably want to turn on Open the Listers that were open when the program was last closed.

I did have that - but I hadn't noticed that the "Don't open any listers (Otherwise the options below apply)"" box was also ticked (by default?)

All good now :slight_smile:
Many thanks

Oh... arrgh. Sorry, no this hasn't fixed it! I still had my "Go" command operational, and it was that opening the folders I (usually) want. I still can't get it to remember the last session.

Preferences / Layouts and Styles / Default Lister / Update Default Lister automatically when closing a Lister might be what you want.

Oohh :slight_smile: I think we might have it!

Like most things, easy once you know....
Many thanks, again.