"Title" column problem

[chrisk]

Hi all,
I have, after months of trying to solve the following problem, come upon Xplorer2 (of which I am presently -still- using the Lite version).
Symptoms:
I have sometimes in the past (probably in the course of some install/uninstall+registry cleanup) "lost" the Title column (=Summary tab/property sheet) in WindowsExplorer...no way to "turn it on"...but: all and any entries are *always* present when in SafeMode!! (any entries made in normal mode -*if* such entries can be made!- always disappear in normal mode with the next close of WExplorer, but also always stay accessible in SafeMode).
After much searching, I hoped to recover the Title column in an alternative Explorer program...and as Xplorer2Lite offered the widest "column" selections, including "Title", I started to familiarize myself with it.
However, even Xplorer2 "suffers" from the same symptoms on my machine (XPHome) as WExplorer (ie everything is "there"in SafeMode, but nothing is accessible in NormalMode).
My question to the experts now is:
would anybody among you please know how to "switch on" the Title column so that entries are, and stay, accesible in NormalMode??
and, if that is not possible, would it be possible to copy all "title" entries into the "comments" column (of Xplorer2), maybe with a batchfile (instead of tedious manual copying in SafeMode)?
I hope that somebody will have the expertise which will permit me to solve this darn problem, and that, once solved, this will allow me to fully delve into the functions offered by XPlorer2, a truly wonderful program (from the little I have until now explored)!
thanks for any help,
chrisk

[fgagnon]

I'm no expert in XPhome but it sounds like you broke a column handler (add-in?)

If you know when it happened you might be able to use the built-in XP restore tool to restore your configuration to a point before the incident.

If that was too long ago, or you have installed too many things that you don't want to re-install, you might try to repair the problem by reinstalling the offending .dll? (or other file) from your Windoze distribution disk set.

[nikos]

even if explorer's title column got somehow lost, surely x2's name column can be used in its place?

[chrisk]

Thank you both for your kind attention!

fgagnon: yes, i agree that it may well be a matter of a corrupted column handler, but i have, to date, been unable to find out which one it is, where it "sits", how/whether it can be repaired etc.

nikos: well, the "use" you refer to is simply that i add a comment to certain files by entering keywords in the property sheet "Summary"..which then, in WExplorer, shows up when one enables the column named "Title". Now, as I said in my opening post, I can access this information (eg keywords for obscure downloaded file names) in SafeMode, but nothing shows up in NormalMode...and THAT is the issue I hoped x2 would solve....well: the Title column in x2 stays as empty as in WExplorer..now what? (which is why i was wondering whether i could "copy" the said info over into the "comments" column of x2).

any ideas?
thanks for your help!!
chrisk

[nikos]

i am referring to the stock columns in xplorer2, those with [S] after their name. There are quite a few name-related: Name, Full name, 8.3 Name... I'm sure at least one of them will work! Use Alt+K in detailed mode to select them

[chrisk]

thank you nikos for offering your help!!

yes, the S (stock) columns work (name, date modified etc)..but: none of the entries in the (non-S) "Title" column shows up in xplorer2 in NormalMode (and all entries in Titel DO show up, in xplorer2, as in WExplorer, in SafeMode)
[i hope i am making myself clear so as not to waste your time!]

thank you,
chrisk

[nikos]

sorry i can't help you there
looks like you need a windows reinstall
or simply use the stock columns which already work and they are faster too!

[chrisk]

pity!, but thank you so much, nikos, for your attention.

however, as i said in my opening post, even though xplorer2 doesn't seem to be able to get around this problem directly, i think that using the "Comment" function of xplorer2 might well allow me to not have to go through the rigamarole of reinstalling Windows...so:
would anybody maybe see a possibility to transfer the "title" (=Summary tab) entries (which are all available to me in SafeMode!) into the xplorer2 column "comment" in a procedure other than a piece-by-piece manual copying?? (from the user manual i gather that a CSV ex/import wouldn't work). if there were such a "trick", it would save me a considerable amount of time as i have approx. 2500 files to which this applies!

thank you all for your help,
chrisk

[JRz]

[...]if there were such a "trick", it would save me a considerable amount of time as i have approx. 2500 files to which this applies!
[...]

Seems to me reinstalling Windows is much faster than the weird thingy you are contemplating  :roll: That title column may not be the only thing broken in your Windows installation...

Maybe even repairing Windows could be enough. Just boot from the Windows CD and choose repair existing installation from the menu that appears. Might do the trick.

If that doesn't work, your second option is to reinstall windows over the existing installation. It will try to 'upgrade', but will in effect just reinstall all system files and such, without loosing already installed aplications (so you don't have to reinstall those).

Finally, if all else fails, you have no option than to install a fresh copy of Windows I'm afraid

Good luck  :)

[nikos]

"title" (=Summary tab) entries

now i get it, you are talking about the summary info title!
ok so what you want is probably impossible
you'd have to find a command line tool that automatically reads a text and sets comments, and use safemode to extract the text using x2's ctrl+P command

which if you have a lot of files could be a full time job!