Mini scrap, scraps and aliases feature requests

[raptor|3D]

Hi, I would like to share some of my thoughts and feature requests regarding x2.
I have tried several well known file managers and I have to say x2 is one of the best and one of the most intuitive and straightforward. My workflow is very fast with it. However it could be even better :).

Mini scrap, scraps

I use the Mini scrap as a place for my most used folders. The content of the Mini scrap does not change.
When I am working on some project I temporarily need to quickly access another several folders. I cannot load them into mini scrap because I would lost quick access to my " fixed bookmarks".
So it would be great to have more mini scraps - one for "fixed bookmarks" and second (or 3rd, …) for everything else - e.g. for  temporary storage of folders regarding some project.

I have edited a screenshot of x2 to illustrate what I mean and how it could look like.





I "fake" this funcionality using "floating" scrap pane for other folders (window set as topmost).
But I have to click two times on taskbar in order to bring x2 to the front and then bring scrap window to the front which is not quick at all.

So my vision is:
The scrap window would behave as child window of the x2´s main window. Something like palette in Photoshop or one of the open documents  in text editor. So it woudn´t appear in taskbar. This behavior could be turned on and off in the preferences.

Another limitation I ran into is that doubleclick on the folder in scrap launches  windows explorer.
I have to use Ctrl+Enter to open the folder in x2 which is again far from quick. So scrap could work like miniscrap.





Aliases

It would be great to have something like aliases for certain folders. Something like browser Opera makes possible for bookmarks. You type the alias and hit enter.
I know it can be "faked" in x2 by typing the part of the bookmark name and hitting up arrow key and then enter. But sometimes it offers several unwanted paths.

Say I have this folder hierarchy D:\01\02\03
Folder named 01 is bookmarked and therefore it has "alias".
But if I accessed folders 02 and 03 sometimes before it offers both child folders of the bookmarked 01 folder first.

So if I type alias 01 and hit the up arrow key I get:
D:\01\02\03
D:\01\02
D:\01

It takes 3 hits in this case to get to the 01 alias. With more child folders it would be even slower.
I think true definable aliases which are recognized immediately and have priority before child folders would be excellent.

Another problem  is that  the number of the bookmarks I can store and use as aliases is limited.




Summary

Scraps:
A,
- to have more mini scraps (two might be enough)

and/or

B,
- scrap window behaving like palette (not appearing in taskbar)
- doubleclick on the folder in the scrap opens the folder  in x2 (not in win explorer)

True aliases

[nikos]

do you know that mini scraps have a recent document history list? Right click and see. From there you can quickly swap to different CIDA files and so different items shown in the mini scrap. I'm sure you can assign shortcut keys for these too

for aliases since you don't like the "bookmark name as part alias" feature, you can always make your own aliases. Open autoexec.bat and add your folder names as:

set ALIAS1=c:\windows

then use the environmental variable in the addressbar as %ALIAS1%

alternatively you can add environmental variables from My computer > Properties > Advanced > environmental variables button

[longfellow]

Say I have this folder hierarchy D:\01\02\03
Folder named 01 is bookmarked and therefore it has "alias".
But if I accessed folders 02 and 03 sometimes before it offers both child folders of the bookmarked 01 folder first.

So if I type alias 01 and hit the up arrow key I get:
D:\01\02\03
D:\01\02
D:\01

It takes 3 hits in this case to get to the 01 alias. With more child folders it would be even slower.

This is correct: as long as the alias name is the same as part of the folder path, x2 will show child folders as possible results. The trick here is to create a unique alias name; then x2 will go directly to the desired folder, and not show you unwanted paths.

For example, if you set "D:\01" to alias "myfav", typing "myfav" will always go to "D:\01" (assuming you don't have a path containing "myfav" somewhere on your system). An easy way to set this up is simply to prefix the folder with an underscore (or any other character you like), e.g., alias "_01" to go to "D:\01".

Another problem  is that  the number of the bookmarks I can store and use as aliases is limited.

An old work-around to this problem is to create a folder of shortcuts, and then bookmark that folder.

[pj]

Longfellow,

Have you tried creating folder groups for the different projects?  They can't be used in scrap but I use them to access the (many) different folders across multiple servers that apply to the current project.  

To quickly switch between projects, I assigned ctrl-G to the Folder Group -> More command.

(sniffly) PJ in (sunny and warming) FLA

[snakebyte]

I have been using Autohotkey hotstring feature for aliases. These are much easier to set than environment variables and do not need stupid % symbols.
http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/Hotstrings.htm

some of my ahk hotstrings are:
::prog::C:\Program Files{ENTER}
::wind::%windir%{ENTER}

All I have to do is type 'prog' and press space bar it gets expanded to 'C:\Program Files' and also sends enter key at the end.

These aliases are global and you can use them anywhere from Open/Save dialogs to Windows run dialog. You can also make them X2 specific by using #IfWinActive directive.

[raptor|3D]

nikos: Thanks for reply.

do you know that mini scraps have a recent document history list? Right click and see. From there you can quickly swap to different CIDA files and so different items shown in the mini scrap. I'm sure you can assign shortcut keys for these too

Shortcut keys sounds a little bit faster but nothing can beat direct access to both "bookmark places" and ability to view them at once and perform operations like drag and drop without constantly switching content of the mini scrap.
But thanks anyway fot the tip. I am going to try it.

I also experimented with folder groups. They are great for my "temporary bookmarks" regarding some project. But they are not flexible enough. If I add or take away some folder I cannot quickly edit the folder group. I have to make a new folder group and delete the old one. Than I have to setup folder group as a button etc. This is very slow especially for quick simple change like addition of folder. So I stoped to use folder groups.

I thought about some workarounds:

I could always move x2 main window and floating scrap pane into dedicated virtual desktop using something like AltDesk ( http://www.astonshell.com/altdesk/ ) and assign hotkey to this desktop for quick access or something like that. I will have to try it.
Nevertheless one major limitation remains. I have to use Ctrl+Enter. It slows me down considerably. I wish I could just doubleclick to open the folder in x2. I am sorry to say this but I don´t understand why windows explorer launches instead. It would make sense to stay in x2 as much as possible since it´s replacement for windows explorer.
Maybe it is somehow possible to map Ctrl+Enter combination to single key (or some quicker hotkey) so it would be quicker.

nikos, longfellow,snakebyte: Thanks to everyone for advices regarding aliases. Using some unique prefix is a good idea. Autokey looks interesting too.

Nice workaround I thought of could be Dash Command ( http://trydash.com/home/ ). I use something similar now (Launchy). But this seems to be more advanced beast. It can search for folders/files while you are typing their name and you can also set aliases for various items. But the most interesting thing is that it can be linked with x2.

This is quoted from http://trydash.com/home/ :

Alternative file manager support

You can now enter the command line for your alternative file manager so that when you browse for a folder in Dash, it will open in your preferred file manager. For example if you are using xplorer2 your command line would be something like this:

c:\Program Files\xplorer2\xplorer2_UC.exe *Path*

The *Path* variable tells Dash where to insert the path to browse for.

This sound very promising indeed. I could not test it yet because trial version of Dash is very limited but after I will have purchased it I will try it and let you know if and how it works.

[nikos]

I have to make a new folder group and delete the old one

not quite, you just save the modified folder group with the same name ("overwrite")

[raptor|3D]

not quite, you just save the modified folder group with the same name ("overwrite")

Thanks. It sounds better.

This is correct: as long as the alias name is the same as part of the folder path, x2 will show child folders as possible results. The trick here is to create a unique alias name; then x2 will go directly to the desired folder, and not show you unwanted paths.

For example, if you set "D:\01" to alias "myfav", typing "myfav" will always go to "D:\01" (assuming you don't have a path containing "myfav" somewhere on your system). An easy way to set this up is simply to prefix the folder with an underscore (or any other character you like), e.g., alias "_01" to go to "D:\01".

Another problem  is that  the number of the bookmarks I can store and use as aliases is limited.

An old work-around to this problem is to create a folder of shortcuts, and then bookmark that folder.

I set up names of the favorites folders in this form: ..01
It works great and it´s quick as well.
When I run out of a space dedicated for favorite folders I can try your suggestion to create a folder of shortcuts and bookmark it but I will lost the opportunity to assign an unique name to them (..folder). However I could try the work around with autoexec.bat suggested by nikos for the remaining folders.
The problem with these workarounds is that it is sometimes counterproductive and tedious when you have to rely on them too much.
Direct and fast access (or unlimited number of favorites in this case) to various options from the program is allways better.