Source Menu for Directory Opus 13

[jinsight]

This is my effort to create a set of toolbars to make available for use by others many of the most common buttons for feature-rich Directory Opus. There are some 2000 buttons cross 2 major toolbars, 3 location bar toolbars and 12 special purpose toolbars.

I hope it allows a user to find functions more easily. Also, I hope it is useful as a source or primary toolbar to give one ideas about the breadth of options of Opus and ones that one might want to add to their own toolbars. My hope is you will review these toolbars and take buttons from it for your own toolbars. Take the ones that are useful to you and leave the rest.

It is also my version of how such a set of toolbars should be structured. As such, it is not based on, nor does it look like, the default Opus configuration which mimics File Explorer in the initial default Directory Opus settings. Instead, it has 22 categories of Opus features: File, Settings, Listers-Listers, Layout, Styles, Toolbars-Toolbars and Toolbar Sets, Views, Panes, Folders, Columns-Columns and Labels, Tabs, Duplicates, Clipboard-Copy, Cut, Paste, Copy, Move, Delete, Find-Find and Filter, Rename, Zip, Collections, Select, FTP, Tools, and Help.

My design philosophy is:

1. default dual vertical file displays with horizontal toolbars at the top for maximum buttons in minimal space. If you prefer dual horizontal file displays, then use both horizontal toolbars at the top and a centered toolbar between panes can be used for maximum buttons in minimal space.
2. minimum space used by toolbars
3. maximum visibility of the file displays
4. maximum visibility of all functions with very limited use of hidden buttons to encourage seeing new possibilities
5. maximum access to functions used often. Some 50 items are accessible on a single click. See What Features Do You Prioritize By Accessing Them in Single Clicks
6. a source toolbar at the top horizontally
7. a user menu toolbar at the top horizontally created with a user's frequently used Opus buttons selected over time from the source menu
8. a programs menu button on the user menu toolbar for opening programs. Tune it to your workflow
9. a button on the user menu toolbar that only appears when the Recycle Bin needs to be emptied by clicking on it
10. the most screen efficient horizontal toolbar is using only icons
11. the most screen efficient vertical toolbar is using only icons
12. optimized visibility and accessing files without the distraction of lots of variation in colors and sizes of toolbar elements

A JEG suffix is used for file names to separate them from the default toolbar names used by Opus.

The purpose of a file manager is twofold:

1. Navigate - access folders and files, going there
2. Act - perform actions on accessed folders and files, getting it done

For the frequently used action processes, two toolbars may be displayed in a dual lister horizontally at the top:

-Source Menu Icons JEG may be displayed horizontally at the top when access to many Opus features is needed. This is the source or primary toolbar containing many of the features of Opus.

-User Menu JEG toolbar is always displayed at the top horizontally. This is a user's frequently used buttons to access Opus features consistent with a user's workflow. As such, a user tunes it to her workflow over time though learning the features most often used. You can alter the User Menu toolbar to make it your own by removing buttons you don't use and copying buttons from the Source Menu toolbar. It is not contained in the Source Menu for Directory Opus 13 JEG.7z but as a separate file so you can use it once and then develop your own User Menu toolbar. The resulting toolbar will likely be the only toolbar you need to display thus meeting the twin goals of minimum space used by toolbars and maximum visibility of the file displays. The User Menu has a programs menu button for opening programs. Modify it to open your programs. It also has a button that only appears when the Recycle Bin needs to be emptied. When needed, the Source Menu Icons toolbar can be accessed with a toggle button on the User Menu toolbar.

A screen shot is included of my standard and alternate listers.

A number of special purpose toolbars can be called up and displayed when needed, 11 are included. They provide the common activities all in one place for these features in Opus:
-Alt Tree JEG
-Collections JEG
-Favorites Format JEG
-Flat View, Columns, Group and Sort JEG
-Linked Tabs-Paired Folders JEG
-Move or Jump Past Items JEG
-Pane Options JEG
-Rename Presets JEG
-Scrap Collection JEG
-Styles Tab Bar JEG
-Thumbnails Options JEG
-View Modes JEG

For the navigation processes, five methods are used:

Preset Locations

1. Toolbars in the Location Bar for frequently accessed items
2. Opus aliases for frequently accessed partitions or folders
3. Tab groups for various workflows

Search for Less Frequently Accessed Files and Folders
4. For files, voidtools Everything search, third party tool, which Opus is designed to use
5. For folders, Listary 7.0.0.7 beta, a free 3rd party tool

1. Toolbars in the Location Bar for frequently accessed items
   Two toolbars bars make up the Location Bar setup found under Preferences - Location Bar - Toolbars - Display as a toolbar.
   -LB File Display JEG.dop, a modified location bar
   -LB Locations JEG.dop and -LB Locations Wide.dop which displays my most often visited drives and folders. Substitute your own drives and folders. This toolbar can hold all the drives, folders and files accessible all in a compact space and specific for each file display in a dual lister. The drive buttons are three button buttons which let you go to an item, or copy or move a selected item to any subfolder in the path. This cuts down on tab proliferation and maintenance.

2. Opus aliases for frequently accessed partitions or folders
   One letter aliases to a partition or folder can be defined in Preferences / Frequently Used Paths / Folder Aliases. They can be quickly accessed from the keyboard through Find-As-You-Type (FAYT). Set the default FAYT filter as "Find" in Preferences / Filtering and Sorting / Quick Keys. To access a defined alias, type "/", the single letter and "Enter" to jump to the partition or folder using the current tab.

3. Tab groups for various workflows
   See Preferences / Folder Tabs / Groups

4. Voidtools Everything search, a third party tool, which Opus is designed to use
   voidtools Everything search is used with partial searches with filters to, eg., find, chiefly files. For this reason, tags or extensive item color coding are not used; finding files or folders can be done quickly without the extra work of maintaining these features.

5. For folders, Listary 7.0.0.9 beta, a free 3rd party tool

To get the most out of this setup, with the least time, look at two toolbars, -Menu Icons JEG.dop with some 1,000 buttons and -LB Locations JEG.dop with some 230 buttons.

A compiled AHK script turns off Customize with the Shift+F1 hot key. To use it, set a shortcut to it in your Start Menu folder. It is included. Set an Opus hotkey to Customize as Shift+F1. Then Shift+F1 will act as a toggle for Customize.

Some thirty scripts are used so a text file with their names and URLs to them is included, should you wish to use them.
List of Active Scripts.txt (11.0 KB)

Also included are screen shots of the context menus.

Also included is a .dis file, JEG Icons (32px & 24px).dis, containing all the personal icons I use in the toolbars. Add this to /dopusdata\icons to access those icons.

Also included are context menus files, rename presets, 25 themes and user commands.

Comments, questions or suggestions willingly accepted.

Version August 19, 2026 Requires Opus 13.24.12 or higher
Silent updates also occur frequently. Check this date for the most recent version.

Since May, 2026
NEW: Additional Advanced Rename Option
NEW: File Templates under Files - New Files
NEW: Static Location Bar Toggle
NEW: Reorganized Folders
NEW: Reorganized Tabs
NEW: Cleaned Up Themes
NEW: Reworked Views - Relative Graphs, Folder & Files Coloring, Vertical Gridlines
NEW: Reworked Favorites Bar to show multiple favorite bars or branches
NEW: Reworked Create New Folders and Create Folders of the Selected File Types
NEW: Reworked the favorites bar in the panes menu and the location bar
NEW: Labels Show Real Time Paths
NEW: Reworked Rename
NEW: Reworked Zips
NEW: Reworked Collections
Since June, 2026
NEW: Reworked Create Folders
NEW: Reworked Tabs
NEW: Reworked Delete
Since July, 2026
NEW: Drop Zones and Access Any Folder in Location Bar
NEW: Reworked All Files & Folders
NEW: Reworked Any Folder Access Options
NEW: Reworked Copy
NEW: Substituted Listary 7.0.0.9 beta for the Opus script EchoFolders
NEW: Reworked Rename
Since August, 2026
NEW: Reworked New Folders and Lister Title
NEW: Image Files toolbar
NEW: Reworked the Alt Tree toolbar
NEW: Reworked the Pane Options toolbar for the Viewer Pane
NEW: Reworked Views
Reworked Flat View

Source Menu for Directory Opus 13 JEG.7z (7.1 MB)

-User Menu JEG.dop (144.6 KB)

Turn Off Opus Customize Shift+F.7z (469.3 KB)

List of Active Scripts.txt (11.3 KB)

Second level menus of the standard lister

Context Menus

[xavierarmand]

WOW!

i thought my toolbars where getting fancy.haha

youve a lot of awesome functions across these i would have thought of.

well done!

thanks for sharing will use some of your buttons as inspration

[jinsight]

New version as of 9/10/2024. Silent updates also occur periodically.

[ciscoa0017]

i might of missed it, but where can i get those icons you used? i don't seem to see them on my sets.

[jinsight]

@ciscoa0017

I added an image of the icon sets I use. All are available in Opus except for my custom .dis file icon set, JEG Icons. I added that file.

[jinsight]

New version as of January 1, 2025. Silent updates also occur periodically.

[lxp]

@jinsight

over a 1,100 buttons across 7 toolbars

How do you memorize the functionality and location of so many buttons?

[jinsight]

This is a source for many feature options. I don't use all the features but in order to learn what features I could take advantage of, I learned about many of the options. For example, I rarely use collections, ftp, select or styles but I know they exist and a little about them so if and when I do want to use their features, I have a menu button that contains many of their options as a refresher course. I could then move them up more to the surface of Opus rather than being several clicks down.

The features I use often in my work flow I try to keep one or two clicks away in the two toolbars that are visible at all times. Someone else could do the same with their workflow moving through this source menu as a learning tool.

I'm surprised folks don't take advantage of this resource.

Apropos of "many buttons" I "only" use 27 scripts. For me they are set and forget. How many scripts do you have, and do you load and unload them? Maybe there is something I could learn here!

[Leo]

Don't the manual's command/arguments pages provide the same information (and a lot more, since these menus will still be missing a huge number of possible commands)?

[jinsight]

Reading how chess works is not the same thing as playing chess.

[khalidhosain]

WOW
absolutely brilliant Job. Thanks for share with us

[brimwats]

this is fantastic!! thank you so much!

[jinsight]

New version as of July 10, 2025. Silent updates also occur periodically.

It's better organized with two main toolbars, Menu and Operations.

The Menu toolbar has 23 categories of Opus features: File, Settings, Listers, Toolbars, Views, Panes, Folders, Columns, Tabs, Clipboard, Duplicates, Copy, Paste, Move, Delete, Find, Rename, Zip, Collections, Select, FTP, Tools, and Help. Move through the categories with some 800 buttons to get a sense of the breadth of Opus features and ones you might want to use.

[Exidus]

Thank you for your work and for sharing it with us!
Is it me or LB File Display JEG toolbar is missing from the archive?
Paste menu is also missing from the toolbars.

[jinsight]

The LB File Display JEG toolbar is now back into the archive as it should have been.

The Paste menu options is now part of the Clipboard-Copy, Cut, Paste button, There were so few paste options I decided it didn't need a separate button taking up space on the menu. Rather than cut and past files, I tend to use a single mouse click to move a file from one file display to another.

[Renaldostheold]

@jinsight Thanks for this. I am finding it useful and a good learning tool. I agree that providing working examples of the growing number of programming commands and options in DOPUS progresses us further than the essential reference manual. Organising functions and buttons to our workflow increases productivity.

I have two questions/suggestions:

1. General Purpose toolbars: where is the General Purpose
   -Operations JEG as suggested in the text file containing the scripts and programs you use?
2. I notice that the same "thumbs down" icon is used repeatedly. Is there are reason for this? I replaced them but realised that if you updated a toolbar then it would overwrite my changes. Perhaps new versions could be named with revision numbers. Also, there is no way to see what has changed.

[jinsight]

Please look at the latest version of Source Menu for Directory Opus 13 daTED 5/11/2026..

1. I used to have a toolbar, -Operations JEG, that mimicked the Opus toolbar, Operations. I changed my conception of this toolbar. It is now called -User Menu JEG toolbar running at the top of Opus horizontally. This is a user's frequently used buttons to access Opus features. As such, what you see is tuned to my workflow and might not be of use to many other users. You can alter the User Menu toolbar to make it your own by removing buttons you don't use and copying buttons from the Source Menu toolbar. I'll no longer include -User Menu JEG in Source Menu for Directory Opus 13 JEG.7z so it won't overwrite your changes to User Menu. The resulting toolbar may be the only toolbar you need to display thus meeting my twin goals of minimum space used by toolbars and maximum visibility of the file displays. The User Menu has a programs menu button for opening programs. Modify it to open your programs.

Both or either one alone of the toolbars can be displayed.

2. Also included is a .dis file, JEG Icons (32px & 24px).dis, containing all the personal icons I use in the toolbars. Add this to /dopusdata\icons to access those icons. You will then no longer see the "thumbs down" icon which is a default icon used when the icon in the button is not found.

3. You are right there is no change log. This is too much for me to keep up. What I can say is that after three plus years big changes are unlikely. Toolbars won't disappear. A few buttons might be added or moved around within a toolbar and code made more efficient as new features are added by the devs. Going forward, I'll try to flag "big" changes.

[Renaldostheold]

Thanks for the reply. Your explanation is clear. I did place the dis icons file into the icons folder (via the import method in Preferences) and moved it to the top of the list.