I got in c:\ a lot of folders named, say, folder_aaa, folder_bbb, folder_ccc and so on (the name is only indicative).
When I want to find occurences of a file that I know to exist only in those folders, I specify c:\folder_* as start folder for the search.
This seems to work (in Opus 9), but not entirely. I mean, the search is performed but stops after the first folder. Not all folder matching the wildcard expression are examined.
It would be really nice to extend this functionality in such a way.
You can select the folders and then drag them to the list of find locations to search in all of them.
You could also make a button which selects folders via a wildcard and then opens the standalone find window with the selected folders in the find list, for a similar result.
Along the same idea, I'd love to see wildcards in the 'find as you type' feature when you start typing in a lister.
i.e., I know I have a file with the word 'work' in it somewhere in the current directory (maybe it's called "iwishthiswouldwork.txt"). I'd like to type "*work" and have the find routine find the first file with the word "work" in it. Subsequent presses of F3 would then find next matches of files with the word "work" somewhere in the name.
As silly as this might sound, i can often remember only the fragment of a filename (particularly a file I've just downloaded, etc), and while I know I can open up other tools that will do wildcard selecting / finding etc, my natural work process is to click on the list and start typing.
Actually, a more practical example that just occurred to me is that I often deal in directories where I want to narrow down to a particular file amongst thousands with the same filename followed by a sequential counter. Since some of those filenames are quite long (e.g., "NO_FORM_OR_LETTER_RECEIVED_BACKUP_0113.PDF") it would be great to narrow down just by the unique value in the filename, as opposed to having to type in the entire preceding part of the name.
I don't disagree with adding wildcard support to the Find Field, but if you have a filter control in your toolbar you can assign a hotkey to it. I've used Ctrl-Q which is very convenient and allows me to press the hotkey and continue typing the pattern to quickly filter what I'm seeing with wildcards.