Feature Request: Switch to existing tab

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snakebyte
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Feature Request: Switch to existing tab

Post by snakebyte »

I often end up with multiple instances of duplicate tabs pointing to same folder in X2, which increases the tab clutter.

Can we have a feature where when I invoke X2 with a special command line switch and a path, it switches to the first instance of that tab instead of creating a new one? If there is no tab pointing to that folder, Its okay to create a tab with the new path.

As an alternative option, can we have a toggle mode toolbar button, which when enabled, does not allows duplicate tabs to be created from the address bar? If a tab with entered path already exists, X2 switches to the existing tab instead of changing path of the active tab.

Secondary Request (low priority): When you are at it, can we have a X2 command which closes all instances of the duplicate tabs?
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nikos
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Post by nikos »

i think this all can be solved with a command that closes all duplicate tabs
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snakebyte
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Post by snakebyte »

Well it’s not the same.

Consider you have 5 folders open across both the panes A,B,C,D,E. Let’s say folders D and E are currently visible in left and right panes.

If the pane with folder D is active and I enter address for folder A in the address bar, it will change the folder D path to folder A and I would have folders tabs A,B,C,A,E open X2.

Now after performing some set of actions, if I want to navigate back to folder D, I can't just switch to that tab as it is lost and I have to enter its path again or navigate to it from the tree. This can be a real pain if D was a deeply nested folder as I would have to spend time navigating to it. Moreover, I have to execute the (yet to be implemented) command to close all the duplicate tabs from time to time to keep the tab clutter to minimum.

If X2 automatically switches to the existing open tab with the same address, this two step of closing duplicate tabs and reopening closed tab can be avoided.

The example that I gave was very simple. If you are daily working with 20+ open tabs, actively switching, opening and closing them, the problem I am taking about here about gets more evident.
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RightPaddock
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Post by RightPaddock »

I'd use Alt/Left (GoTo->Back) to get back to D in the fourth tab.  The tab would of course, have to have focus.  Unlike backspace, Alt/Left navigates the current tab's address history, whereas backspace walks you up the tab's current path.

Not sure if there's any limit on the depth of the tab history stack, but if there is then I never ran into it.

Sorry if I misunderstood the question.

rp
Windows 10 Pro (64 bit) version 1809 - Xplorer2 version: Pro 2.5.0.4 [Unicode] x64 2014-06-21
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snakebyte
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Post by snakebyte »

I'm aware of these hotkeys.

My request is different. I have multiple folders on same drive with different paths with the same name. Just by looking at the open tab names it is difficult to identify the correct folder. I don't want to spend time in switching tabs looking for a particular folder and I often open up multiple tabs pointing to the same folder. Over time this tab clutter just gets worse.

I'm looking for a tab manager/switcher or any other solution that can prevent the tab clutter problem. Auto switching to an existing tab was one of the solutions I thought of which could prevent this.
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RightPaddock
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Post by RightPaddock »

@snakebyte

Gotcha - I also have subfolders with the same names in different paths, 1000's of them.  But my Tabs (8 in each pane) have short fixed labels that indicates their purpose/context/zone, so I eyeball the breadcrumb bar to determine exactly what I'm looking at rather than the tab title.

I use folder symlinks a lot, so I can look at the same data in different contexts - location, manufacturer, equipment type etc.

In part at least I adopted this approach (more tabs with fixed labels) to overcome what you refer to as 'tab clutter'.  Now I rarely need to open a new tab in X2, if I need a temporary file browser I open a WE window :evil:

rp
Windows 10 Pro (64 bit) version 1809 - Xplorer2 version: Pro 2.5.0.4 [Unicode] x64 2014-06-21
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