Column customization questions

ForbiddenDonuts · Post by **ForbiddenDonuts** » 2007 Jul 08, 04:43

If this is a repeat question, I apologize. I did an extensive search of the forums, but was not able to find the answers. I have 2 questions concerning the column sets when using the details view.

1. Is there a way to change the default column set that is displayed every time you choose details view? Every time I browse a folder that doesn't have saved custom folder settings, the attributes column shows up. I have created a custom column set that I use, but it seems like there should be a way to change the default set so that I don't have to apply that custom column set for every folder I browse.

2. Once you have selected a view for a folder, is there an easy way to apply those same settings to all of that folder's subfolders?

Any help or enlightenment would be greatly appreciated.

ForbiddenDonuts

Post by **nikos** » 2007 Jul 08, 08:11

whichever column set shows up before you close xplorer2 is the "default". From what you describe you may have save settings on exit switched off (?) so select the columns you want and do a "save settings now" from Actions menu

to copy the settings to all subfolders do the following

1. drag the "root" subfolder to a scrap window (or the mini-scrap) using right mouse button drag. When dropping pick "extract subfolders"

2. after you save your settings to this root folder, select a file called desktop.ini which stores your settings. Copy it to the clipboard with <ctrl+C>

3. back to the list of subfolders you created in step 1. Select all and use Edit | Paste special | multi paste. This will copy desktop.ini to all the subfolders so you'll have the same settings to all of them

JRz · Post by **JRz** » 2007 Jul 10, 06:49

I think it is simpler than what Nikos tries to describe. If I understand it correctly you simply want to remove the 'attributes' column from your detail view. Correct? Then you don't need to cutomize each folder using desktop.ini!
Just simply hit Alt-K and remove the column from the view by selecting it in the left part of the dialog and hit the 'remove' button.

Be sure you save these settings either by choosing 'Save settings now' from the Actions menu or having the 'Save program state on exit' option turned on (Options menu).

It is best to do this with only one tab in each pane (yes, settings are per pane, so you have to do this for the right pane too!). New tabs will then pick up these settings automagically.

Enjoy!

ForbiddenDonuts · Post by **ForbiddenDonuts** » 2007 Jul 12, 01:30

Thanks for the help.

The method that Nikos explained worked. It is a bit tedious, but not hard. I had already tried alt+k, but that didn't affect the subfolders. Perhaps being able to apply a folder's settings to its subfolders could be an option in future versions?

Appreciate all your hard work. xplorer² is one of the best products around and definitely worth the money. Thanks.

JRz · Post by **JRz** » 2007 Jul 12, 08:55

ForbiddenDonuts wrote:[...] I had already tried alt+k, but that didn't affect the subfolders. [...]

?? It should affect all folders you browse using that same tab! Is that not happening?
e.g. a tab in the left pane shows a folder(containing several subfolders). You remove the 'Attributes' column using Alt-K as described above and then drill down in that same tab to any of the subfolders.
Surely those folders will also show the same layout without the 'Attributes' column?
If not, please explain what you are doing so we can help to solve this, because that could be a bug (I doubt it though).

ForbiddenDonuts · Post by **ForbiddenDonuts** » 2007 Sep 19, 06:24

Didn't realize I hadn't responded to your question. Sorry for the delay.

After checking how I had things set up & changing a couple of options, each subfolder opened in the same tab has the appropriate settings. However, when you open a new tab the column settings are not maintained.

TracyB · Post by **TracyB** » 2007 Sep 19, 07:41

nikos wrote:3. back to the list of subfolders you created in step 1. Select all and use Edit | Paste special | multi paste. This will copy desktop.ini to all the subfolders so you'll have the same settings to all of them

I tried this on my system, I'd color coded come folders previously using another app, so they already has a desktop.ini in them. When I multi-pasted I got several overwrite prompts, one for each folder, answering "yes to all" on these prompts didn't make any difference and it overwrote just the file in that one folder each time. Since the multi-paste is a single operation could there be just one prompt (if I click 'yes to all' on it?)

PS: I'm aware that I'll lose the color coding if I overwrite, I've edited a desktop.ini to contain the code for both color coding and xplorer2 for now. I'll migrate to X2 color coding once I get a bit more familiar with the app.

Post by **nikos** » 2007 Sep 19, 07:49

sorry about that. multipaste is not implemented in the most intelligent way right now, better overwrite confirmations in the future!

TracyB · Post by **TracyB** » 2007 Sep 20, 18:35

There's no point starting a new thread so I'll just mention this here.
Don't know if I'm missing something here but if I...

Select just one file in a folder(A) - save selection with Ctrl-F11
Open another folder(B) in the 2nd pane which has the same file along with many others, run the following commands here (in B):
Ctrl-A
Shift-F11
The program correctly selects this single file and brings it into view.
Ctrl-Alt-J (with this single file still selected) - a filtered pane that shows zero files.

Edit: Tried this again and it seems to work fine. I'm pretty sure I was doing what I described the first time round, even repeated the procedure a few times and got the same results. :roll: