Multiple filtering of column headings in DOpus like in WinExpl

Help & Support
1

I would like to take up a new thread from 2012, which said at the time: "Oooh, I never realized this feature existed in Explorer. Now that you mention it, I second your request to include something like that in a future version of Opus. It is a really neat feature. " (see ? Filter on Multiple Criteria in Multiple File Detail Fields). As far as I know, this is still not possible in Opus - right?

It's about something that works very easily in WinExplorer and is very practical if you use the file system to store your MSGs; e.g. I can filter in WinExplorer by filtering the column headers for all e-mails that Mister X to recipients A, D and F (or any other), e.g. also sent within a certain period of time or e.g. also whether the mails had an attachment or not. With a simple click in the Sender column I could e.g. also search for emails that Ms. Y sent to the same recipients.

In short, certain correspondence relationships and histories can be found very effectively in this way in order to examine them further, especially because of the very good file preview of Opus. Each column header has a pull-down menu in which I can click on one or more items that I am looking for in the respective column.

This Windows filter mechanism could only be improved if there was a button with which all filters in all columns could be reset at once.

Is there a chance to realize something like this in Opus? We need this several times a day in the area of ​​legal preparation of great amounts of documents.

It would also be nice if documents that are not e-mails, e.g. DOCX, PDFS and others could be edited individually in the columns for sender, recipient, date of sending, subject, attachment yes / no – like it is done in these columns automatically for MSGs.

In this way, different types of documents (MSG, DOXC, PDF, etc.) could be selected for further processing in other programms very quickly with the help of DOpus and we would no longer have to work in parallel in WinExplorer, which is annoying.

Can I expect that something will happen in this regard. Some time has passed since 2012. Or did I miss something? Then please explain to me. Many thanks.

2

Filtering by name and type can be done using the filter bar.

Using the Find Panel or Windows Search field would let you do filtering on multiple columns/properties.

Grouping by columns provides something quite similar to what's being discussed in Explorer, for a single column. You could narrow things down further by filtering/searching/sorting.

Not quite the same, but I'm not sure how often what Explorer does is that useful, or even known to many people.

3

Hi Leo,

the task that I have to solve cannot be solved with the means that you offer me. With imported MSGs I cannot filter out all those that were sent from X to Y within a certain period of time.

Hence my question once again: Are you planning to implement the actually really useful function from WinExplorer in Opus?

An honest answer, please, so I know if I have to look for an alternative. Thank you.

4

We aren't actively working on that right now, no. Maybe one day, but it's not something many people have asked for, and I think the Find panel handles what most people need better.

I would have thought that searching / filtering MSG files would be more suited to something like Outlook, although it's a while since I have used that.

5

It is true that Outlook is very good at searching and filtering. Our problem is that we need topic-centered file containers (Explorer directories) that contain files that we link to MindManager. MindManager is a great tool for extracting information from files and using that information to better understand complex issues. This works because MindManager has an internal browser in which various Windows programs run independently. We make the extracted information available to our customers in virtual conflict resolution rooms so that they can argue constructively.
It is possible to create subfolders (quasi containers) in Outlook, but they cannot be linked properly with MindManager or other programs outside of Outlook. We also need our Explorer Containers to provide those involved in a virtual conflict resolution room with the reference documents they need to be able to find out about the situation of a conflict.

6

These .msg files are saved Outlook messages, right?

How do you display their properties as columns in Opus?

I tried with a few but even ExifTool could not read any. Could of course be the samples' fault.

7

You're right. In contrast to WinExplorer, as far as I know there are no columns in DOPus to display MSG properties such as sender, recipient and attachments. What works, however, is that Opus imports the categories that are associated with e-mails in Outlook as tags.

8

Any Explorer column can be imported into Opus if you need it, FWIW. (It's done via scripting, but there's no real script code to write. Just needs the column name adding to an existing script.)