Using "Flat View" for File Collection

Help & Support
1

Hi,

When I copy files (even if I copy them--select them in flat view mode) to send to File Collection, the "Flat View" (grouped) mode is inactivated.

What I seem to get is a kind of (frustrating) Windows Explorer (i.e. non flat view) arrangement.

So I have the Folder and then have to click to see the files--but cannot see all the files and folders "as a whole"--which is what Flat View does.

Any suggestions?

Thank you.

Melissa

2

Flat View doesn't work within collections.

You can have the equivalent of Flat View Non-Grouped by simply putting all the files (not folders but the individual files) into a collection. (Easy way to do that is using the Find tool).

There's no way to have the equivalent of Flat View Grouped in a collection, though.

Flat View itself can be filtered if that helps. i.e. If all the stuff you're interested in has a common base as a starting point.

3

Thanks, Leo.

I guess its use will be as a gathering place for a grouped subject (ideas which go into a chapter, perhaps)

If there is writing from several folders etc. over several years--it provides a kind of resource in that way--to be able to put it in one place without messing up the original folder organization.

Melissa

4

I'd probably use folders of shortcuts for that. That'll work with Flat View Grouped and means the folders work everywhere, not just in Opus.

5

Hi Leo,
I've never done shortcuts or a "folder of shortcuts" before. That sounds like a good suggestion. I'm going to go experiment with this. Thank you.

Melissa

6

I have a folder which receives new audio files regularly (.wav files). There are subfolders within the main folder which contain the different groups of .wav files in them (one subfolder for each musical instrument type). I tried to create a collection for when I quickly want to see all the .wav files within all the subfolders, in a flat view. As noted above (as of 2009), flat view does not work with collections. Has there been any change to this? If not, what is the most efficient way for me to view the full set of .wav files within all the subfolders? Do I have to go through the steps of selecting the main folder, selecting flat view and then filtering file type for .wav?
Thanks.

7

A stored query might work in this case.

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8

Thanks, will look it up and give it a go.

9

Put the three commands into a button, and you are just one click away from your goal.

Go PATH=D:\test
Set FLATVIEW=on,mixednofolders
Set QUICKFILTER=*.wav
1 Like
10

The command in Lxp's reply above is a great solution if you liked everything about the Flat View approach other than having to click more than one button to get to it.

Assuming you want to use that, here are a couple of small changes to improve a couple of things I ran into while checking it out myself:

  • If there are lots of non-wav files in your folders, then you can speed things up slightly by applying the filter before switching on Flat View, so all the non-wav files never get added instead of being added and then removed. (I think this requires a fairly recent version of Opus 12 and didn't work older verisons.)

  • The Set QUICKFILTER=*.wav command acts as a toggle if the pattern is already *.wav, but we can prevent that with a couple of @if:... lines.

This has both:

Go PATH=D:\test
@if:!Set QUICKFILTER=*.wav
Set QUICKFILTER=*.wav
@if:common
Set FLATVIEW=on,mixednofolders

For the next version of Opus, we've also made a change so the two @if:... lines can be replaced by notoggle: at the start of the pattern, to make life easier, and make the command consistent with similar ones.

This command doesn't work yet, but will in the next Opus version:

Go PATH=D:\test
Set QUICKFILTER=notoggle:*.wav
Set FLATVIEW=on,mixednofolders

Finally, if you want a button to return things to normal with a single click:

Set FLATVIEW=off
Set QUICKFILTER=!clear
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