If you have files named like this:
dd mm yyyy description
Is there any way of listing them in date order?
What kind of files? If it´s images, you could sort by shooting time.
They are PDF files. They do not have any usable internal metadata date. The question if whether the sorting mechanism for sorting on name can be modified to cope with dd mm yyyy dates.
Maybe with some scripting trick, transforming the file format into the reversed form & writing it to the "info" field, which you could use to sort the files.
I realise that I am not answering your question – an annoying habit of people who think the world should be the way they like it – but as someone who has 000,000s of PDF files, many of them filed by date, I can say that you are going to have a hard time sorting those files. Been there, done that.
The good news is that Opus has ways of easing the renaming process to create dates in this format 2012-11-25. This is the universally recognised date code (except in the US) that works fine.
So, if you can bring yourself to renaming the files, life will suddenly be a lot simpler for you.
This would be a nice case for custom sort keys/field separators. It is not always possible to rename files.
I have finally discovered a program which will do this - sort of.
It is Drop It - dropitproject.com/
Drop it can create folders from parts of the file name. If you set up an association of:
C:\Users\User Id\Desktop\Test1%FileName#-7,10%%FileName#-4,5%%FileName#-1,2%
it will create a hierarchy of folders such that files commencing dd-mm-yyy will appear (when sorted on Path) in date order. You can then use DOpus flat view to view all the files in date order.
Obviously it has its limitations - if you rename a file to change the date, it won't automatically move - but it is the nearest thing I have comes across.
What we really need - of course - is for DOpus to allow sorting on subfields.
If you want to move or rename the files to sort them differently then Opus can do that itself using the rename window fairly easily.
The thing about Drop it is that the original files can be anywhere is a folder hierarchy. You can just move the high level folder to Drop It and it does the rest. I don't think DOpus can do that.
But if DOpus could do substring sorts that would be the ideal solution.
Opus can rename all files below one or more starting folders. There is an option in the rename window.
You can also set file modification times based on details from the filename to then sort by those details.
Essentially you have files named e.g.
C:\Users\Userid\Anything1\Anything2\Anything3\25-12-2009 Letter from Smith to Jones.pdf
and you want that to end up as e.g.
C:\Users\Userid\Folder1\2009\12\25\25-12-2009 Letter from Smith to Jones
where Anything is literally anything - i.e. potentially different for every file
I don't think DOpus can do this, but I may be wrong
It can do it. Have a look around the rename scripts area for similar examples, and if you need detailed help please link your account.
I've discovered an even easier way to do this.
If you set up Drop It with two associations:
One selecting PDF files and creating shortcuts: C:\Users\Userid\Desktop/Testview%ParentDirName%%FileName#-7,10%%FileName#-4,5%%FileName#-1,2%
And one to list the shortcuts just created: C:\Users\Userid\Desktop\DropIt List.html
You then drag the parent folder (containing the PDFs named dd-mm-yyyy...) to Drop It, then drag the Testview folder to Drop It and, hey presto, you have a html file listing the PDFs in chronological order within parent folder.
The HTML file created by Drop It looks a bit like a DOpus lister - you can click to view each file etc.
So you don't need Dopus at all (for this - obviously DOpus is useful for other things!)
Equally, you don't need Drop It at all for this either. You could just use Opus and a rename using a very string to the one you're passing to Drop It to rename the files, without the need for another program.
Of course, you can use whatever works for you, but if you want a way to do this in Opus it is easily done. Just link your account and ask if you want to do that and can't find the answer in the rename scripts area.
The point is to enable the files to be listed chronologically without renaming them.
This is precisely what Opus does but simpler. DropIt is free I presume!!!
This is precisely what Opus does but simpler. DropIt is free I presume!!![/quote]
Well if you know a way of doing this with DOpus, I am all ears!
All the DOpus suggestions so far have involved renaming.
This is precisely what Opus does but simpler. DropIt is free I presume!!![/quote]
Well if you know a way of doing this with DOpus, I am all ears!
All the DOpus suggestions so far have involved renaming.[/quote]
I'm sure if you link your account Leo will help you out.
I'm sure Leo would have said if he knew a way to do this without renaming the files. He kindly offered to help with a way of renaming the files but that is what I want to avoid.
I've locked the thread since you won't link your account and we're going around in circles.