[EDIT: to be notified of updates to the toolbars, please subscribe to this thread.] [EDIT: For DO11, see this post.]
You could call this an "alternate guide to Opus 10". It takes a different approach, starting from an interface where the most powerful Opus features are big and loud, at your fingertips (two toolbars provided); then explaining all the buttons one by one; then moving on to customization and all sorts of tips.
For the six weeks that I was working on this on and off, reading the 714 pages of our beautiful manual and customizing my interface, Leo and others on the forum have been amazingly helpful. Thank you all for contributing.
Any page can always be improved, so if you see typos, inaccuracies or have suggestions, please send them my way and I'll try to stay on top of it.
The tut may have a few ideas that you don't share, but I really hope you'll like it in spite of that.
I always say that Opus should be as popular as Photoshop (or more!)
Hopefully this adds something new to the body of Opus literature and contributes in a small way to spreading our spectacular file manager.
In general: Install the new toolbar. It won't overwrite the old one as they have different version numbers. Activate it, Alt-click, drag whatever buttons you want to the new one.
For that particular button: click the Copy pull-down menu, Alt-click "Paste As", in the function box, paste:
Clipboard PASTE AS=ask
Have you already set up one or several FTP sites? That's the first step. If not, click the FTP button, Edit Address Book, New FTP Site.
Each of your sites in the address book will have a name you give them, e.g. "Tampa" or "Microsoft".
When you edit the "Your Site" item in the FTP menu, you have to replace "YourAlias" with "Tampa" or whatever.
More info here. www.asiteaboutnothing.net/c_dopus.html#customftp
Fix in place for the Paste Operation and the edit for the FTP mode is in too. I love how the trees auto-move in sync
The only thing I guess I need to solve is in a lot of ways due to the way I've always used DO. This is that usually I always had one lister open to my work directory and from there a number of LH side bar buttons which woudl open folders such as:
My Archive Directory
My Movies Directory
eBook library
Etc - and it was easy to drag and drop copy to those locations. You've now got me using Tabs for common folders but that sort of layout makes the the main 'My Lister' very large, having the two windows attached.
Ideally for me I guess I've prefer not to use a dual pane docked lister set but to have a smaller single Lister which could be popped out to twin lister mode when needed.
I've looked at doing that via turning off the split screen button, but when the dual mode is engaged again then one loses the tabs that were attached to that half of the Lister.
So I guess the solution would be to define two Listers, LH and RH and then when the Home Button (or A.N.Other) was called both listers need to be opened on screen?
Hi Daron,
Glad the "FTP sync function" is working for you. Not sure I understand the full details of your message (as your workflow differs from anything I have tried before). But you can edit "My Lister" in Prefs / Layouts / Layouts and make it single if you like. From there, maybe your existing buttons already work and can be added to the toolbars (or another toolbar, as we made space by removing one of the bars from the 3-bar default.
Or, to create new buttons, you can make copies of the Dual Vertical style in Prefs / Layout / Styles, and specify which folder(s) should open on the right when you open the style. (That's at the bottom, in the Right File Display tab, you can either specify one folder or multiple tabs).
Then you assign the style to a button with this command: Prefs STYLE=MyStyle (see the Pics button for an example).
Good luck with your customization!
Cheers for the tips. All working now. I've added a button the side of 'Home' which opens a RH lister (closing the current) and then opens a LH lister. With the Lister forms saved with the Tabs I want.
I guess in a way copying what can be done within Styles as I've never used that functionality at all. I may do in the future though as I can see it being useful.
If nothing else your tutorial has forced me into thinking very much on how little I was using some of the customisation within DO (even though I've been a tester for years) and you have again re-opened my eyes as to what is possible.
The only thing I want to do now which I don't think is possible is to turn off the file count indicators to the left hand side of the filter.
UPDATE: To celebrate the release of 10.0.4.0, added a Drive List button to the Operations toolbar (and explanation of this feature in the tut). The new toolbar is available for download on the tut.
UPDATE: In the Operations Toolbar 1.5, the Move menu now include a "Move Up" command (Ctrl + Shift + U) to move files up to their parent folder. The shortcut saves you a bit of time dragging files to the parent directory.
The "Other Opus Manual" is now a small website. Many people had suggested breaking up the one huge page, which was as long as a small book. Finally had time to listen to the voice of reason. Also edited the content, added to it, updated... It took a huge amount of time, and I'm pleased with the change, but there are bound to be typos and errors. If you have any feedback, I'm wide open! Typos, ommissions, suggestions... anything.
Updated both toolbars. Can't be sure I remember all the changes, but this should just about cover it:
--- In the "Select" menu, added a "Select by Base Name" item, taking advantage of the "Select SIMILARBASE" feature introduced in 10.0.4.1 beta. If you have already selected file_1.txt and file_2.doc, this feature will select other files starting with file_1 and file_2.
--- In the Folder and Properties menus, updated the "Label Color" sub-menu. The Ctrl + Shift + 0 shortcut to reset the color wasn't working on some computers, so I moved all the color shortcuts to Ctrl + Alt + 0 through 9. (Zero still being "reset".) Alt makes sense, actually, since we're ALTering the colors.
--- In the "Up" button, added a Drive menu, which is just an excuse to give ourselves shortcuts to all drive letters from A to L. The shortcuts: Win + Shift + F goes to drive F:, and so on.
--- New shortcuts to select a few special folders:
--------- Win + Alt + D = Desktop
--------- Win + Alt + C = Computer
--------- Win + Alt + R = Recycle
That's it for now!
Feedback always gratefully received, good or bad (if there is such a thing.)
If you'd like to be notified of updates, just subscribe to this thread.
Spot on, Leo! I had already mentioned it in a few places, but you're right that someone who is skimming or landing on a random page might miss that. Just for you, I added the two big blue boxes at the top of the "cool features" and "tips and tricks" pages. asiteaboutnothing.net/opus/o ... tures.html asiteaboutnothing.net/opus/o ... ricks.html
The other ones should be clear.
Hope this works. Please feel free to send any other ideas.
Many tut improvements, including additions to reflect cool new features from the legendary 10.2.0.1 release.
The menu toolbar has been updated to version 1.3. The Sync button now includes a "Slave Tabs" feature (Ctrl + Alt + Shift + K, similar to Ctrl + Shift + K for Navlock) and a "Link Tabs" feature (Ctrl + Shift + L). More details about usage in the tut's section about the Sync button. The toolbar is really easy to replace! Download the toolbar from the Interface Setup page, type "/buttons" in a lister, drop the new toolbar in that folder. Then right-click the toolbar, enable Menu_playful_1.3. Right-click again, disable the old version.
Also, minor update to the Operations toolbar (now version 1.7), available in the same place:
Shift + Left Arrow now focuses on the left or top lister
Shift + Right Arrow now focuses the right or bottom lister
Wow! It had been eight months since the last update to the toolbars.
Team Opus has been busy, so this update is packed with features.
You can download the new toolbars from the new website: dearOpus.com
Remember, updating your toolbars to the new version is super-easy. You download / copy them to your /buttons folder, then you right-click an empty space on the toolbar and select the two new toolbars from the submenu. You can then either turn off the old versions, or, if you've customized them, drag and drop buttons between the old and the new (first alt-click to enter customize mode).
As usual, please send feedback and ideas!
Peace,
Andy
Before we start: this release includes lots of keyboard shortcuts, so for the occasion I've fully rewritten the shortcuts page, organizing all the keyboard shortcuts into logical themes.
Zooming
Beautiful zooming functions were introduced in 10.2.0.1 beta.
To take advantage of zooming, the toolbars incorporate these shortcuts, consistent with programs such as Photoshop:
Zoom in and out with Ctrl-Plus and Ctrl-Minus
Restore default with Ctrl-0
Huge mode
You've got to try this: Ctrl + Alt + H
I use this when moving away from the screen to sit on the couch, and "remote controling" the computer from a wireless keyboard. Huge Mode makes everything huge so you can read the Opus screen from far away.
Explorer Mode
Pressing Ctrl + E now quickly toggles you between Dual mode and "Explorer mode" (single pane).
This is parallel to the existing Ctrl + H shortcut that toggles dual listers between horizontal and vertical modes.
Shell Command Library
Under the Tools menu, there is now a library for useful shell commands / batch scripts. I'm planning to beef it up as ideas arise—please send your thoughts on what would be useful! At the moment, we have:
Last Wake (Ctrl + Shift + W): tells you which process woke up the computer from its last sleep. Useful when your computer seems to wake up for no reason.
Troubleshoot connection (an ipconfig script)
Check System Files (sfc /scannow)
Rename button
It now opens in Find-and-Replace mode by default.
Its pull-down menu now includes a "Lower Case" option (Ctrl + Alt + L)—as well as Title, Sentence and Upper case.
"Rename Dots to Spaces" is now Ctrl + Alt + .
Copy button
It now includes a Make hyperlink" button (Ctrl + Shift + L) that takes a file name (such as myfile.txt) and places a fully formed hyperlinked to the clipboard:
It also has a new shortcut (Ctrl Shift 5) for "Copy MD5 Checksums".
"Go Up" Button
The menu now contains a "Shortcuts to Misc Locations" submenu. This is an excuse for keyboard shortcuts to locations used by most Windows users (it's easier to share these "super favorites" through that submenu than with favorites).
Alt + Home: Computer
Shift + Home: Desktop
Alt + Del: Trash
Alt + 6: Programs x86
Alt + 4: Programs (think 64 bits)
The shortcuts to drives A through Z (now Alt + A—Z) have also moved here.
That menu also now includes the new "Go to First Folder" feature (Alt + Page Up) to navigate to the tab's original folder.
The "Open File's Folder" item (Alt + Page Down) opens the selected file's folder, which is useful in flat view or collections.
Move button
The pull-down menu now includes "Move to Desktop" (Ctrl + Shift + D), complementing the existing "Move UP" (Ctrl + Shift + U)
Folder / Folder Tabs
Duplicate Tab on the other side = Ctrl + Alt + Shift + 1 (similar to Ctrl + 1 for Copy)
Move Tab to the other side = Ctrl + Alt + Shift + 2 (similar to Ctrl + 2 for Move)
Prefs button
It now has a group called "Custom Shortcut Repository". This allows us to store useful shortcuts (arranged by themes) without cluttering the interface.
For instance, this repository contains the "zoom level" shortcuts mentioned above.
It contains "Open With" shortcuts, such as "Open with Photoshop", to be customized according to what software you use.
FlatView button
When toggling out of Flat View, the quick filter is now cleared, enabling you to see the contents of the original folder, instead of the results of the previous quick-filter—usually empty once you're out of flat mode.
New Shortcuts
The "Pics" button now has a shortcut: F6 (six rhymes with pics)
The "Show" button now has a shortcut: F7. Press it repeatedly to cycle between List view, Details, Thumbnails, Tiles etc.
Format Lock: Ctrl + K (Navlock is still Ctrl + Shift + K)
The new website reflects these changes, plus heaps of edits and a major reorg.
Please share your ideas for further improvements!
For those who use my toolbars and want to try the DO11 Beta, I've thrown a quick page about the upgrade process. It's not scary! Including a new version of the toolbars.
It's very early days: at this stage, the goal of this page is to get us up and running on DO 11 in no time.
The page is a work in progress as I haven't had time to explore the new features, but will report as I do.
