Folder Options

The Folder Options dialog is used to change the appearance and presentation of the files currently displayed in the file display (this is known as the folder format). It includes things like the view mode (icons, thumbnails, details, etc), the columns shown (in details and power mode), the sort and grouping options, filters that can hide or show files and folders based on wildcard patterns and other options that affect the display of the file list.

 

There are a number of other ways that the display can be modified that don't require using the Folder Options dialog, which are worth mentioning at this point:

When you make a change to the file display with the Folder Options dialog, the changes you make will persist in that file display until something else changes them (either you making another manual change, or an automatic change triggered by the Folder Formats system.

 


The Folder Options dialog can be accessed using the command in the Folder Options menu (toolbar - folder opts.png), by right-clicking the column header and choosing More, or by right-clicking the file display background and choosing the Folder Options command from the context menu.

folder options - top bit.png 

The Save Format section at the top of the Folder Options dialog is a quick way to manage the stored folder format for the current folder. If you want to change an aspect of the display for a folder permanently there are two ways to do it; you can go into Preferences, to the Folder Formats page, and define a folder format for that folder. Or, using the Folder Options dialog, you can make the changes in real time and then save them to create a folder format automatically.

 

Below the Save Format section are four tabs which give you access to the various options that can be configured as part of the folder format.

 


folder options - tabs - columns.png 

The Columns tab lets you configure which information fields (columns) are displayed for the folder when the file display is in Details or Power mode. The selection of columns also has an impact on other display modes like Thumbnails - even if the columns aren't displayed, you can only sort or group by columns that have been enabled. The drop-down list at the top-right lets you select from a number of different categories of fields (if you select All you'll see there are actually quite a lot of fields, so dividing them into categories makes it a lot easier to find the one you're looking for). The fields in the chosen category that aren't currently enabled appear in the list on the left, and the enabled fields are shown on the right. To move a field from one list to another you can double-click it, drag and drop it, or use the left and right arrow buttons between the two lists.

In the list on the right, you can change the order the columns will appear in the file display by drag and drop or using the up and down arrow buttons. You can also re-order columns in the file display itself by dragging the column headers around.

The Width column in the fields list lets you specify the width for individual fields - move the mouse cursor over the column and click to edit the width setting (which is given in pixels). If no width is specified, a default width (or automatic width) is used.

The Sort column indicates which field the list will be sorted by. If a single checkmark is shown, there is only one sort field (in the screenshot above, we're sorting by Date modified). If a number with an arrow symbol is shown it indicates multiple sort fields. To change the sort field, single click in column on the desired field. To assign multiple sort fields, click on the first field as normal, then hold either the Control or Shift keys and click on the second field, then the third, and so on. If you Control/Shift-click a field that is already sorted, the direction of the sort for that field only is changed - so you can for example sort by size in one direction and date in the other.

The Group column lets you choose which field (if any) the list is grouped by. To group by a particular field, click on it in this column - click again to reverse the group direction, and click a third time to turn the grouping off. In the above screenshot, the file list will be grouped by Type.

 

 


folder options - tabs - display 1.png

On the Display tab, the View section contains options relating to the view mode of the file display.

 Sorting Options (New).png

Also on the Display tab, the Sorting Options section contains options that affect the sorting of the file list (other than the actual field or fields the list is sorted by - this is specified on the Columns tab).

 


folder options - tabs - filters.png

On the Filters tab are two similar sections; Show Filter and Hide Filter. They can be used to control which files and folders are shown and which are hidden when the format is applied to a folder. The Show Filter causes files to be hidden if they don't match the filter, and the Hide Filter causes files to be hidden if they do match.

The Filename and Folders field both take a wildcard string expressed using standard pattern matching. The Attributes field lets you filter files and folders based on their attributes - if any of the checked attributes are set on the item, it will match the filter and be shown or hidden as applicable. The attributes checkboxes correspond to Read-only, Archived, Hidden, System, Encrypted and Compressed.

In the screenshot above you can see that nothing has been defined for the Show Filter, but the Hide Filter is set to hide any files that end in .ini or .bak, any folder called .svn (no wildcards were used so the folder name must match exactly), and for no reason in particular, any files with the E (encrypted) attribute set.

 


folder options - tabs - options.png

 

The first section on the Options tab lets you define a background image that the format will apply whenever it is active. This can be nice to use with the Content Types system; for example, you could have a background image of a music note that appears whenever the Music Content Type format is in use, as a visual cue that you are in a music folder. The Image drop-down lets you define the image to use - the images in this list are added to Opus using the Display / Images Preferences page. You can control the position of the image in the file display with the Type drop-down. The Color field lets you assign a background color for the file display that will override the color set in the Display / Colors and Fonts section. In the above screenshot, no color has been specified - this is indicated by the "transparent" checkerboard pattern.

The final section contains general Options for the format.