Beginner's experience with xplorer2

[gruch_s]

Beginner's experience with xplorer2
http://netez.com/xplorer2/


SUMMARY
As a beginner on this program, these are my observations. Perhaps what I have found so far can help other users or the developers. This seems to be a terrific program and company.

This program makes file management so much easier than the standard explorer, particularly when you have lots of files on multiple drives and network drives. These are the overriding benefits of using this program far outweighing everything else. If it only had these four features, it would be worth buying if it were stable:
(1) Dual pane exploring - this is fantastic for diging through many folders and reorganizing them
(2) Ability to click on part of a path at the top of each pane and get to that folder instantly - what I always wanted
(3) Scrap bins (but see my caution later on) - great for viewing files from multiple folders all in one folder
(4) Preview panel - love it

It would be better if this program were more rock solid so it wouldn't crash. Then again, maybe it is just my system that is in need of a clean install. I will try xplorer2 again after reinstalling my system. It seems to crash every 30 minutes or so on my Win XP SP1, giving this error:
AppName: xplorer2_uc.exe AppVer: 1.0.0.3 ModName: ntdll.dll
ModVer: 5.1.2600.1217 Offset: 00033aed
More details on this error are at the bottom of this note.

The pdf manual is mind boggling in it's detail, yet I am having trouble finding out how some simple operations work - like printing, or what is 'Jump' or what does 'Sticky' do or how do I use 'Mark'? The description of 'Sticky' is very confusing - can't figure out what this does. It needs a simplified guide under 'Help > Contents' that tells what each button does and an example of how to use it rather than opening up that huge manual where the "Search" function finds you 12 items that have no relevance to what you need to know to use the program. I couldn't find the answers in the Quick Start either.

The above four benefits, however, make it worth using inspite of the crashes and interface complications, as long as the crashes don't increase with every update. It seems every program starts out well giving you desired benefits, then bloatware is added until they become unusable. That is a general frustration and worry and not a critisim of this specific program. No matter how wonderful a program, if it crashes too much, I throw it in the trash bin. Again, my system does need reinstallation, so maybe it is my system and not this program.


DETAILS
Perhaps over time my inital frustation with this program will go away as I learn how to use it, however, I feel it needs to be more intuitive so the learning curve is not as steep, particulaly for basic stuff everyone needs to do.

1) Well I finally figured how how to print a directory - what a complicated mess!
- Ctrl-A to select all the items in a window
- Go to Edit > Copy Columns (or 'Copy Names' if you want the path)
- open notepad.exe and paste
Dont' click the 'edit' button or it will ask you 'Are you sure you want to open all these files?' If you deselect these files first, then click the edit button, the error sound beeps - evidently something must be selected to edit, it will not just open a blank window that your can paste into, so use notepad.exe instead.
- now you can print
It would be better if this was setup like all other programs - it you want to print, you go to File >Print, instead of the complication above.

2) While on standardization, The 'Edit' menu should be next to the 'File' menu like on all other programs - this is an unnecessary complication to using the program.

3) There is a 'Filter on' button but no 'Filter off' or 'Show all' button. This makes it frustrating to use. To turn a filter off, one has to find this note and look up that to turn a filter off do this:
View > Visual Filter > on/off -or- View > Show all
I say look it up, because two weeks from now, I will forget that 'View > Visual Filter > on/off' turns off the filter and I'll spend another 10 minutes trying to figure out how to do that. PS I am also not going to remember that ctrl-j turns off the filter.
It would be so much betterf if there were a 'Filter off' or 'Show all' button to complement the 'Filter on' Button.

4) There is an issue with the scrap container. It is described as way of looking at or pointing to your files (which is great and very usable) without actually changing their location. Sounds good. But if you 'right-click Delete' one of the files in the scrap bin - guess what - you just lost your file. However, if you press the delete key, it is only removed from the scrap bin but your original is okay. What is this about? How am I going to remember that? This is very dangerous and can lead to inadvertent file loss. I am very hesitant now to use this scrap bin feature - I don't want to lose my files.

5) The text editor offers these 'Save as' options: OEM.text, UTF8 Text, Unicode Text, Wnic Text LF. While notepad.exe offers these: ANSI, Unicode, Unicode big endian, UTF-8. Wordpad.exe offers these: rtf, text, text MS-DOS format, unicode.
All I know is if I want to change an ini file I need to use notepad.exe and not wordpad.exe or the ini file will get extra formatting in it that will cause it to malfunction. It would be nice if there were a simple explaination of what these file types each do and which one was equivalent to notepad.exe for editing ini files.

6) It is confusing how to save a layout I like. When I save a layout, then reopen it and click on the new button for the new layout, it is different from how I set it up - not the same folders. These are the save commands I found but don't understand what they each do or why they are not combined in just one:
Action > Save Settings Now
Action > Folder Settings > Save
Window > Save Layout.
I need to keep saving layouts 'as' then deleting the orginals until they finally mostly - but not fully - stay the way I want them.

7) However, I still can't figure out how to get my layout to be the default layout, so it opens in that layout when I open xplorer2. Xplorer2 keeps opening in a previously saved layout that I have long since deleted. Ooops, just found it. Modify a shortcut to read :
"C:\Program Files\zabkat\xplorer2\xplorer2_UC.exe" /s:NewLayoutName
It would be better and more user friendly if a custom layout could be used as the defulat under 'Window > Organize...'

8 ) These seem to do the same thing on my set up. Why are there two menus instead of one:
Window > Organize...
Window > More layouts...

9) Where is the layout information saved to? I did a search and can not find it. Normally programs save to the user profile under 'Application data' and I have that setup to be automatically backed up. Is the registry the only placed it is saved? I'd hate to need to do a manual reg export to do a backup of my settings.

10) CONCLUSION. This is a great program, but use the free version until these features are fixed or a substitute application is found:
(1) made more solid so doesn't crash as frequently (unlerss it is just my system which needs reinstallation)
(2) scrap bin fixed, so don't inadvertantly lose files
(3) availability of 'show all' or filter-off' button
(4) More reliable way of saving layout and backing it up.



xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Crash Details:
AppName: xplorer2_uc.exe AppVer: 1.0.0.3 ModName: ntdll.dll
ModVer: 5.1.2600.1217 Offset: 00033aed

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?>
<DATABASE>
<EXE NAME="xplorer2_UC.exe" FILTER="GRABMI_FILTER_PRIVACY">
<MATCHING_FILE NAME="editor2_UC.exe" SIZE="104960" CHECKSUM="0x7C15C22E" BIN_FILE_VERSION="2.6.0.5" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="2.6.0.5" PRODUCT_VERSION="2, 6, 0, 5" FILE_DESCRIPTION="Lightweight notepad replacement" COMPANY_NAME="ZabaraKatranemia Plc" PRODUCT_NAME="editor²" FILE_VERSION="2, 6, 0, 5" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="ed3.exe" INTERNAL_NAME="ed3" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="© 2000-4" VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x4" VERFILETYPE="0x2" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0x0" LINKER_VERSION="0x0" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="2.6.0.5" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="2.6.0.5" LINK_DATE="07/11/2004 17:12:26" UPTO_LINK_DATE="07/11/2004 17:12:26" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United Kingdom) [0x809]" />
<MATCHING_FILE NAME="Uninstall.exe" SIZE="66909" CHECKSUM="0x672E3F0C" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0x0" LINKER_VERSION="0x0" LINK_DATE="02/07/2004 17:26:28" UPTO_LINK_DATE="02/07/2004 17:26:28" />
<MATCHING_FILE NAME="xplorer2_UC.exe" SIZE="563712" CHECKSUM="0x60684A9" BIN_FILE_VERSION="1.0.0.3" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="1.0.0.3" PRODUCT_VERSION="1, 0, 0, 3" FILE_DESCRIPTION="Dual pane explorer replacement" COMPANY_NAME="" PRODUCT_NAME="x2" FILE_VERSION="1, 0, 0, 3" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="xplorer2.exe" INTERNAL_NAME="xplorer²" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="Copyright 2002-2004 ZabKat" VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x4" VERFILETYPE="0x2" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0x0" LINKER_VERSION="0x0" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="1.0.0.3" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="1.0.0.3" LINK_DATE="08/06/2004 15:10:44" UPTO_LINK_DATE="08/06/2004 15:10:44" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" />
</EXE>
<EXE NAME="ntdll.dll" FILTER="GRABMI_FILTER_THISFILEONLY">
<MATCHING_FILE NAME="ntdll.dll" SIZE="654336" CHECKSUM="0xC568C00F" BIN_FILE_VERSION="5.1.2600.1217" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="5.1.2600.1217" PRODUCT_VERSION="5.1.2600.1217" FILE_DESCRIPTION="NT Layer DLL" COMPANY_NAME="Microsoft Corporation" PRODUCT_NAME="Microsoft® Windows® Operating System" FILE_VERSION="5.1.2600.1217 (xpsp2.030429-2131)" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="ntdll.dll" INTERNAL_NAME="ntdll.dll" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved." VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x40004" VERFILETYPE="0x2" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0xA5841" LINKER_VERSION="0x50001" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="5.1.2600.1217" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="5.1.2600.1217" LINK_DATE="05/01/2003 23:56:10" UPTO_LINK_DATE="05/01/2003 23:56:10" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" />
</EXE>
<EXE NAME="kernel32.dll" FILTER="GRABMI_FILTER_THISFILEONLY">
<MATCHING_FILE NAME="kernel32.dll" SIZE="930304" CHECKSUM="0xCBCCF8A9" BIN_FILE_VERSION="5.1.2600.1106" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="5.1.2600.1106" PRODUCT_VERSION="5.1.2600.1106" FILE_DESCRIPTION="Windows NT BASE API Client DLL" COMPANY_NAME="Microsoft Corporation" PRODUCT_NAME="Microsoft® Windows® Operating System" FILE_VERSION="5.1.2600.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920)" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="kernel32" INTERNAL_NAME="kernel32" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved." VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x40004" VERFILETYPE="0x2" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0xE7ED3" LINKER_VERSION="0x50001" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="5.1.2600.1106" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="5.1.2600.1106" LINK_DATE="08/29/2002 10:40:40" UPTO_LINK_DATE="08/29/2002 10:40:40" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" />
</EXE>
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cheers - Steve

[fgagnon]

Steve,

Thank you for taking time to post your experiences with x2 in such detail. It is uncommon to have such excellent constructive criticism.

I would like to say at the outset that the developer (nikos) claims to be on vacation until October (although he does check in randomly); so an "official" response to all your points may take a week or more.
{& all other responders, including myself do so as free volunteers, not associated with x2 except as interested users}

As far as program stability goes -- there have been very few** reports of crashes lately, so I suspect there is something unusual about your setup. Thanks for the detail crash report [DrWatson, I presume?]
Hopefully it will help nikos to identify the problem.
And the fact that you are reporting regular, frequent crashes gives hope that the cause can be quickly identified so that mitigation can be achieved.
{** actually only one report in over a month -- & that was a crash-on-exit, not during normal operation. Also, FYI, I have not been able to make it crash myself in a couple of months -- & I have tried. }

[now, to your list]...
@1. -- I agree. (& this has been pointed out before, but I don't know how long it will be before nikos adds this desirable feature as a one-step function)

@2. -- a small point, but true.

@3. -- point well taken. I had the same trouble at first; but have become familiar enough with filters to remember where to look. You probably will, too -- yet I agree that the interface can be improved.

@4. -- I agree that the distinction between Delete file and Remove from scrap list is not well presented. I remain cautious, myself - so I use the "Recycle Bin" and its option to Display delete confirmation. This reduces the likelihood of accidentally deleted files.

@5. -- Yes, the nomenclature is a bit inconsistent with other common apps. The editor (Editor²) has been largely taken "as-is" from its prior stand-alone life as freeware, and has not had much attention given to standardizing its menus.

@6. -- Yes, it's confusing. but glad you figured out the default @7

@7. -- Point well-taken ... but will nikos address it any time soon?

@8. --

@9. -- Layout info is only saved to the registry.

----------------------------
Again, thanks for your post.

-Fred-

PS - I forgot to mention that the pdf manual is a volunteer user contribution. And the principal volunteer is actively working on improving clarity and adding tutorial examples. Please post any specific suggestions for that, too.

[JRz]

In addition to what fgagnon has replied:

@8
Window > Organize...

Will let you 'organize' your layouts. Change names, add shortcut keys and so on.

Window > More layouts...

Merely show you all the layouts available and lets you choose one of them to open a X² clone from. The menu can hold only 10 layouts to present, so if you have defined more than that, you'll have to use this menu option to choose the one you want.

[narayan]

Steve-

Thanks for taking the trouble to send such a detailed report.

Continuing further (we did say in the manual that these forums are very active).

I am having trouble finding out how some simple operations work - like printing, or what is 'Jump' or what does 'Sticky' do or how do I use 'Mark'?

@printing You are right-- This is one thing we have touched only lightly (for the ALT+D command, on p.89 of User Manual). But then almost all analytical needs are served within x2, and there is really no need to take a print or even transfer the list to an outside application. So printing is available only through saving on clipboard and pasting it in any other application, and then using the print command of that external application. Otherwise all operations are completely paperless.

But the next version User Manual will have a section on that.

The description of 'Sticky' is very confusing - can't figure out what this does

The sticky selection is explained on p49. Do you think a more elaborate example is required (with figures) to make that clearer?

@Jump- Could you elaborate how you did not get this term? This is only a colloquial term to mean "Go to". In other words, load the active pane with that path, which displays the folder there. The user manual repeats this term at 18 places, with this very meaning.

It needs a simplified guide under 'Help > Contents' that tells what each button does and an example of how to use it rather than opening up that huge manual

This need is taken care of: please see Appendix 9D of the user manual.

Since the toolbars are customizable, explaining each toolbar with a figure is not possible: your toolbar may look different. So making a table was the only way left. The tables are arranged menu-wise (starting with the File menu and ending with the Help menu). If you are interested in any of these functions/menus, just search for that keyboard combination.)

***
Just a suggestion: when you find that the unfamiliar terms used in documentation has grown to an uncomfortably large number, perhaps you should switch to reading the manual from start to end, rather than searching for terms and reading the part. The text in the manual builds on the terms explained earlier, so random reading is recommended only for those who are already familiar with terms used in a dual-pane manager like 2x (or x2) and want to use the manual only to brush up their knowledge.

Since the Quick Help file has to cover all major functions of x2, it has to necessarily be brief about each topic; and also leave some functions exclusively to the User Manual. The user can use these documents as needed.

[danielrod]

Hi Gruch,

Just want to say thank you for contributing to making xplorer2 even better. If developers take your comments to heart, you may actually bring about concrete changes in future versions.

I second many of your comments, but particularly the User Guide one. Do you know how hard it is to find answers to simple questions?! On the one hand, I always find myself learning very valuable new things while reading the manual (this app is so full of awesome features), and on the other hand, I can never quickly find the answers to my most immediate questions.

Daniel

[narayan]

...on the other hand, I can never quickly find the answers to my most immediate questions.

If you open the bookmarks tab of the pdf file, you will see all the usual file-management tasks listed under chapters 5 and 6. You can directly open the topic of your choice and read it. (The first four chapters are devoted to familiarization of x2, so you must read them)

The User Manual is designed for an in-depth treatment of the subject, and hence may not be suited for a quickie answer.

The Quick Start (Help menu) provides the light answers needed by a new user.

It will be appreciated if you can list the specific issues that are not covered in both these docs.

Also, can you list some specific suggestions for User Manual or the Quick Start?
* Change in layout
* Addition of chapters/topics

Thanks!

P.S. we have not added index in the manual because the user can find his answers by using CTRL+F. An index would be necessary only in a printed book, because searching is not possible there. But do you think an index would help you?

[J44xm]

@9. -- Layout info is only saved to the registry.

I'm curious why saving to the Registry is preferred to saving in an .INI file (or even a binary .DAT) file. Thanks!

[nikos]

ini files were win3.1
registry is win95+

as for the manual and ease of use of x2, well it does a lot of things, it is a big manual and all in all some clever use of keyword (text) searching will do the trick

don't forget the tips and tricks file, that's a gem too

[J44xm]

ini files were win3.1
registry is win95+

Yes, but my actual question is why using an easily-accessible and backup-able .INI is not preferred. Is the Registry quicker or something?

[nikos]

not really but it is hard to combine the 2, so i picked the registry

[J44xm]

Thanks for clarifying that for me. I'm just lovin' x2L.

[gruch_s]

Thank you all for your many suggestions in response to my beginners 'review' and suggestions for future revisions.

As a follow up, as soon as I did a fresh installation of my Win XP (F-Disk etc), the crashing issues with xplorer2 stopped. This verifies my initial guess that my OS had problems and needed reinstalation. So this was not a problem with xplorer2, but with my system.

I absolutely love xplorer2. My 2 favorite features are being able to click on any part of path at the top of the pane and get directly to that folder and the double horizontal panes. These 2 features comprise 98% of my use of the program. It helps me find and organize files better than I have ever been able to do on multiple local and network drives.

Many of my initial observations are still issues, but I admit I have not be able to take the time to read the huge manual. I am more of a click and see what happens type of learner. Maybe as time moves on I will learn more of the advanced features of the progam or future revisions will improve some of the issues I summarized. It would be great if the scrap book could be made a little more idiot proof so one doesn't loose files.

This is a great explorer supplement and well worth the modest price.

Steve

[gruch_s]

Well, I am no longer a new user. Xplorer2 has become my favorite utility - I use it all the time. It is FANTASTIC.

With my reinstallation of Win XP, initally the "crashing" issue went away, but then it came back. However, I found the solution.

Technically it is not a "crash" - if you wait long enough - several minutes - it will recover. Of course, who wants to wait two minutes after a right-click?

The issue arose whenever attempting to right-click "Firefox setup 1.0PR.exe" or "Firefox setup 1.0.exe" This issue does not occur on all exe files, but does occur on some of them, as in the case of Firefox.

The solution is to use ShellExView freeware (www.nirsoft.net) to disable the WinZip context menu. It is the WinZip context menu that was causing the problem with some files in both Xplorer2 and Windows Explorer. Once this WinZip shell extension is disabled, the issue goes away. Note that WinZip will still work without this context menu.

As a technical note, yes "zipfldr.dll" is disabled - that was not the issue.

As a further note, the freeware from www.nirsoft.net is wonderful - check it out.

[JDN]

Gruch_s,  I hope my experience may be of some value to you.

But the one thing that really changed my experience with X2 was the discovery that there is a "bookmarks" tab on Adobe Acrobat so when you click on Help - Contents and see the large User manual, you can click on Bookmarks and see the document's table of contents and instantly click on any topic that interests you.

This may seem silly to many people. But I just never had much experience with Acrobat and never used this "Bookmark" feature before (it's not the same concept as "bookmarks" in X2).

Specifically, finding section 9D - Menus, Hotkeys & Buttons - made a huge difference for me. Previous to that I was fighting confusion trying to list all the features and making a lists of what keys invoked what features and how they worked. It was a tough go because X2 has so many features.

But as soon as I discovered this section, I found that I could answer many of my old questions that I previously had and now I use that section often to answer most of my new questions. It was a huge help.

I don't know how likely it is that my experience will be similar to anyone else's but I'd be interested to hear whether these two things make the kind of impact on you that they did on me.

[Gandolf]

There is no doubt that Narayan has done an excellent job on the documentation. Don't forget that you can also click on an entry in the index to go directly to the topic.