Multiple folders in a single pane

[rnfolsom]

On Windows 2000 Sp4, I am running Xplorer² version 1.6.5.3, with PDF manual 1.6.5.1-1.

Although I have used Xplorer² for several years, I've used it only for simple tasks that mostly involved dragging files or folders from one pane (should I call it a "folder pane," when it's really a "folders and files" pane?) to another.  The millions of other features swamped my ability to understand any of them.

But now I need to start using more features, starting with the following:

The QuickStart includes the following statement:
"Folder tabs [3]. Each pane can show more than one folder at a time."

But in Quick Start, I cannot find how to do that.  The PDF manual, page 153,  in discussing file re-organizing, rather casually mentions in passing "Open multiple tabs (CTRL+INS) in the active folder pane."  I can't find any more than that.

But for one as grossly inexperienced as I am, that's not nearly enough information --- especially since I can't find Ctrl+INS anywhere in the menus, although it must be there somewhere.

I think that opening Multiple Tabs means that one has previously put Multiple Folders into a single pane.  But how does one do that?  Where should one be when doing the Ctrl-INS?  From where should the multiple folders have been selected?

I ask because until today I had never actually seen Xplorer² multiple tabs except in the PDF manual, so I think I've never had multiple folders located in (open in?) a single pane.  I have had panes that held multiple subfolders (i.e. the icons looked identical to a Windows Explorer window that had a mix of folders and files, folders at the top), but apparently that doesn't count as multiple folders in a single pane because there were no tabs.  (My default display is details.)

However, today I was about to do a simple drag between panes operation, but in the left pane, when I opened a folder by selecting it from the tree, I did get a bunch of multiple tabs --- the first and last ones apparently being identical, and the five in the middle being different from the first and last but identical to each other (based on a casual look).  So apparently I somehow had managed to open multiple folders in a single folder pane without intending to do so.

This result is so mysterious that I have had to temporarily abandon that project.  I could, of course, open two Windows Explorer windows, but I'd like to learn how to use Xplorer² instead.

I need to know not only how to open (I need to learn the correct verb) multiple folders into a single pane, but also how not to do that.

I suspect that I am missing something very simple, even though it's very different from how Windows Explorer works.

So to whomever answers this, thanks for your patience with someone (me) who is missing something that apparently is obvious to the rest of the world, else it would be explained in one or both manuals.  (Maybe it is in one or both manuals, but I searched and couldn't find it.  I also searched this forum, but could find nothing directly relevant to answering my question.)

Roger Folsom

[fgagnon]

Please see the "Tab Bar" topic in Chapter 4 - Basic Operations with x² in the  User Manual.
You should find it around page 62.

If that does not explain things clearly, please tell us what is missing for you that may be too 'obvious' for us.   (It wouldn't be the first time we are guilty of "ommision by assumption".)

HTH

[narayan]

Hi!

The main screen is shown on p.24, where the tab bar is marked as 15. If you look up no. 15 ("Tab Bar") in the table that follows (on p.27), you will see the basic definition of Tab Bar.
This entry is hyperlinked to p. 62, where all tab bar functions are explained.

(All hyperlinks in the manual are in brown, not the usual underlined blue).

Oh and by the way, if you search for CTRL+INS in the pdf manual, you will first land on page 62 (p.153 is actually the second hit). In fact, your fourth hit is on p. 244, which is the lookup table for all keyboard shortcuts and menus. This has a hyperlink back to p.62.

Even the index at the end of the manual should have shown all these numbers correctly, but because of a problem in OpenOffice (the editor), the page numbers in index was not getting updated. Fortunately I have been able to manage this, and the next version  will have correct index.

HTH.

[Cosmo]

Hm, I did not understand, what Roger wrote, especially the paragraph starting with ...

However, today I was about to do a simple drag between panes operation

but I have the idea, that there might be a general misunderstanding, that must be eliminated at first, here:

I think that opening Multiple Tabs means that one has previously put Multiple Folders into a single pane.  But how does one do that?  Where should one be when doing the Ctrl-INS?  From where should the multiple folders have been selected?

Your description, Roger,  sounds to me, as if there would be mix-up between multiple tabs in one pane and scrap-containers. If such a misunderstanding is in somebody's head it is sometimes difficult to find the right way. Narayan and fgagnon told you some hints, where to learn about the multiple tabs feature. [1] I will add a direct info about the very basic because of this ...

especially since I can't find Ctrl+INS anywhere in the menus, although it must be there somewhere.

It is. Open the file-menu, and you will find the command New tab and the hotkey (keyboard shortcut) behind in the 2nd or 3rd position. (This depends, whether you have activated Plain Menus in the options.) Now watch the active pane. You will see the tab bar opening above or below of this pane (again this a question of settings, below is default) [2].

Hope this helps a little bit.

[1] The Quick start guide shows the tab bar, referenced with number 3, in the first picture, but the explanations are very short. As the title says, it is the quick start guide, not the manual. But for references, how to identify something, it has the advantage, that it is quicker.

[2] BTW: I would prefer, if the default position would be at the top of the pane; at least, this is the place, I expect it to appear (just as in multi-tab browsers).

[rnfolsom]

Please see the "Tab Bar" topic in Chapter 4 - Basic Operations with x² in the  User Manual.  You should find it around page 62.

fgagnon:

Thanks.  However, that you referred me to the Page 62 Tab Bar discussion puzzled me, because it opens with the statement:  "The tab bar allows you easy access to all Folder Sheets in the Folder pane."

But to me, that statement implies that one already has multiple Folder Sheets in a Folder Pane, but nowhere earlier in the manual can I find an explanation of how the multiple folder sheets got into the folder pane.

Moreover, I could not see how to use Tab Bar to load multiple Folder Sheets, given that "When there is only a single tab in a folder pane, x² hides the tab bar."  Unfortunately, I'd seen that somewhere else rather than on page 62 (toward the bottom), so I didn't read that far on page 62 because I "knew" that the tab bar wouldn't help me open a new folder sheet in a pane if the tab bar wouldn't show until I had already somehow opened a second folder sheet in the pane.

And I was (and still am) somewhat confused by the language:  folder (apparently a plain Windows Explorer folder), Folder Pane (I don't know why it isn't called simply a Pane, since it can include files as well as folders), and Folder Sheet (which I guess could be defined as a list of folders and files within a Windows Explorer folder).

However, the good news is that --- thanks to all of the responses in this thread --- I think I finally understand how to get multiple Folder Sheets within a single Pane.

The basic "obvious" <grin> concept, apparently is that for any previously focused folder, File | New Tab (Ctrl+Ins) opens (in the active pane) a new folder sheet (represented by a new tab) that lists the content of the originally focused folder.

Toward the bottom of Page 62, and elsewhere where Ctrl+Ins is mentioned, are statements that Ctrl+Ins opens additional folder sheets within a pane.  But I had to do quite a bit of experimenting before I figured out how Ctrl+Ins works.  My expectation was that Ctrl+Ins would then ask me what folders to select (or focus on) for each new tab.  Instead, I have discovered that Ctrl+Ins acts on whatever folder already is focused.

Before posting my initial message here, I hadn't read far enough (e.g. on page 62) to understand that.  So my judgment is that a new section on "How to open multiple folder sheets within a single pane" ought to precede the Tab Bar discussion, because the Tab Bar does not appear (and hence is useless) until after one has already opened an additional folder sheet in the pane.

That new section could include Page 62 beginning with "To launch a new folder sheet [(into a pane)]..." down to and including Page 61 "current folder sheet."

Perhaps a useful addition to the new section would be to make clear that since we are talking about something happening in a single pane, it makes no difference whether Xplorer² is displaying one or two panes, or is or is not displaying the tree.  The File | New Tab (which probably should be File | New Folder Sheet In Pane, except that's too long to fit easily on a menu), or Ctrl+Ins, affects the active pane.  (As already noted in the manual, Ctrl+Alt+Ins affects the inactive pane, if there is one.)

At least for me, an example also would be useful, particularly because Windows Explorer doesn't have (as far as I know) any operation analogous to opening multiple folder sheets within a single pane (which in Windows Explorer would be within a single window).  So I suggest the following example, not as a finished product but to stimulate thought about what a "How to open multiple folder sheets within a single pane" section perhaps should include.  My example likely will be worthless to anyone else, but writing it helped me understand the File | New Tab (Ctrl+Ins) command.

Imagine a hierarchy of folders.  The top folder is Level-0, L0 for short;  successively lower levels are indicated by L1, L2, etc.  L0's subfolders are L1a, L1b, L1c, etc.  Using L1b as an example, its subfolders (i.e. some sub-subfolders of L0) are L1bL2a, L1bL2b, L1bL2c, and so forth.

Then the steps to get multiple folders into a single pane are as follows --- where steps 3), 4), 5) and any additional analogous steps, are alternatives, all or some of which can be ignored, or done in any order.

1) Select and double-click some folder, L0.  Its subfolders L1a, L1b, L1c etc., and also any files located in L0 itself (rather than in subfolders), appear in the active pane.

2) In the active pane, focus on a folder, say L1b, and from the Menu bar select File | New Tab, or else press Ctrl+Ins.  In the newly opened tab bar, now you will see two tabs, one for folder L0, and one for folder L1b.  Clicking the L0 tab will display folder L0's contents (folders L1a, L1b, L1c etc., plus files --- i.e. the L0 folder contents with which this example began).  Clicking the L1b tab will display folder L1b's contents in the pane.

3) To display the contents of another L0 subfolder, click the L0 tab to display its contents, and focus on another folder, say L1c.  Then Ctrl+Ins will display the contents of L1c in a third tab.  Repeat for as many L0 subfolders as is useful to you.

4) To display the contents of a second level folder, for example L1bL2a, click on the parent L1b tab, and focus on L1bL2a.  Then Ctrl+Ins will display the contents of L1bL2a another tab.  This can be continued for even lower level folders.

5) To eliminate a Folder Sheet for which you have no further use, double click its tab.

Perhaps some of this will be of some use.  But in any case, it was useful to me to write it.  Thanks to anyone who reads it.

Of course I welcome any corrections, comments, or suggestions.

Roger Folsom

[rnfolsom]

narayan

Thanks for inviting my attention to all the cross-links (which were quite useful to me), and for explaining why I had trouble using the index.

As I explained in my message to fgagnon, my problem was not how to use the Tab Bar, but how to open a second folder sheet so that the Tab Bar would show up!  And also, I needed to know what determined what folders and files would be in a particular folder sheet.

But I think I now understand that, at least at a basic level.

Thanks again.

Roger Folsom

[rnfolsom]

. . . Your description, Roger,  sounds to me, as if there would be mix-up between multiple tabs in one pane and scrap-containers.

I don't think that was my problem, because I did understand the general concept of scrap containers (although I don't yet know all the ways they can be used).  The start of my problem was that to see the tab bar, one needed to first add a second folder sheet to the pane, and I didn't see how to do that.
Now I know that how to open the first additional folder sheet in the pane is explained in the Manual at the bottom of page 62, although I think in a not ideal place --- see my message to fgagnon.

especially since I can't find Ctrl+INS anywhere in the menus, although it must be there somewhere.

Open the file-menu, and you will find the command New tab and the hotkey (keyboard shortcut) behind in the 2nd or 3rd position. (This depends, whether you have activated Plain Menus in the options.)

Thank you for that crucial bit of information.  I should have seen the File menu's Ctrl+Ins;  it's in plain sight.  My only excuse for missing it is its New Tab label;  I was looking for something that dealt with adding a Folder Sheet, before the Tab Bar becomes available.

Hope this helps a little bit.

Actually, it helped a lot.

BTW: I would prefer, if the default position would be at the top of the pane; at least, this is the place, I expect it to appear (just as in multi-tab browsers).

But since you can easily select "Folder tabs on top" in the Options Advanced tab, why do you care if it is the default?

Be that as it may be, thanks for the help.

Roger Folsom

[narayan]

Thanks, Roger, for that detailed insight from a user's point of view. I will change the UM based on your feedback.

[FrizzleFry]

Another feature related to folder tabs is folder groups which allow you to save a pane's tab and associated folders so you can return to this configuration later.

Folder groups are available from the Customize menu.

[rnfolsom]

Thanks, Roger, for that detailed insight from a user's point of view. I will change the UM based on your feedback.

Thanks very much for the thanks!  It's great to know that what I wrote might be of some use.

One small additional item:  My first draft (which you haven't seen, and never will <grin>) used "select" where the posted version uses "focus" --- --- in gross violation of Xplorer²'s careful distinction between selecting and focusing.  When I started, apparently I temporarily forgot the distinction (which, to the best of my knowledge, doesn't exist, or even have an analogy, in Windows Explorer).  I was so "focused" (sorry) on my immediate problem that I misread your statements (page 63 top) that clearly said that focus (rather than select) determined what Ctrl+Ins did.

So in my proposed new section, the first use of the word "focus" might (or might not) deserve an underline or italics or boldface or more than one of the above, and perhaps even wording such as "focus (not select)"

Just a thought.

Again, thanks:  not merely for helping me here, but also for your work on the manual (in which I don't find an authorship claim anywhere, so I'm guessing it's you, or you and others).

Roger Folsom

[rnfolsom]

Another feature related to folder tabs is folder groups which allow you to save a pane's tab and associated folders so you can return to this configuration later.
Folder groups are available from the Customize menu.

I had seen the phrase "folder groups" (which, maybe, could be described more completely as "folder sheet groups?" --- that's a guess) --- but I hadn't yet figured out what to do with them.

In my earlier post to fgagnon, I wrote

I was (and still am) somewhat confused by the language: folder (apparently a plain Windows Explorer folder), Folder Pane (I don't know why it isn't called simply a Pane, since it can include files as well as folders), and Folder Sheet (which I guess could be defined as a list of folders and files within a Windows Explorer folder).

So thanks very much for your succinct description of a folder group's purpose.

Roger Folsom

[fgagnon]

You're welcome
...
and thanks for taking the time to explain/expand on your issues.

[narayan]

Hi Roger,

yes, guilty of writing that UM. But this is a return gift to Nikos's free gift of x2 Lite (and 2x before that) to the community. So I don't proclaim the authorship.

Still, if you would like to thank me, please pay it forward: Help someone who cannot pay you back!

**
I will keep that "focus" vs "select" in mind. BTW the concept is so vital in x2 that UM has a whole section on selection and focus (p.69). That's because x2 has 16 different ways to select/focus on things!

BTW as mentioned in "how to use this manual", it is best to read the first four chapters in the given sequence. x2 has so many new features that new users can get overwhelmed if they do not read these chapters first.

It is just like using a high-end SLR camera for the first time, when you are used to a point-and-shoot camera! But once you read through these four chapters, all will look very natural. And then you will start exploiting the power features in no time!

***
The best use of a folder (sheet) group is to save them as a bookmark.
I open all my professional and hobby subjects at once using a folder
group. You can even assign a keyboard shortcut, rather than using the menu.

HTH.

[Cosmo]

JFTR:

and focusing.  When I started, apparently I temporarily forgot the distinction (which, to the best of my knowledge, doesn't exist, or even have an analogy, in Windows Explorer).

There is the same in Explorer. Set the view to Details (in any Explorer windows) for easy viewing, then click an item (it get's marked), click it a second time by holding the ctrl-key, and now you see the focus rectangle. You can also move the focus by holding the ctrl-key and using the cursor-keys. The point is, that in Explorer the focus (without marking) does not have much usability, so it is rather unknown.

[rnfolsom]

If you would like to thank me, please pay it forward: Help someone who cannot pay you back!

Thank you, and I'll think of you the next time I post a Compuserve or MozillaZine or WordPerfectUniverse message to someone who asks a question about Windows 2000, SeaMonkey, or WordPerfect.

BTW as mentioned in "how to use this manual", it is best to read the first four chapters in the given sequence. x2 has so many new features that new users can get overwhelmed if they do not read these chapters first.

I do read manuals, sometimes even in sequence (as I did with a printout of your version 1.3.0.0-1, but not all of it stuck in my brain, particularly how to use focus vice selection), but I don't mention doing so here in California (Monterey, very near to "Silicon Valley"), because some consider reading manuals to be immoral --- software should be self explanatory, so to admit to reading manuals only encourages "bad" software production! <grin>

In my opinion, the unfortunate result is that most manuals are badly organized and often incomplete, which encourages others --- even though they are not described in my preceding paragraph --- not to read them, on the grounds that doing so is a waste of time.  Much of that viewpoint may be due to Microsoft's so-called "documentation"....

Thanks for the folder (sheet) group bookmark tip.

Cordially, and with appreciation, Roger Folsom

P.S.:  Cosmo's pointing out that Windows Explorer has focusing as well as selection might be worth including in the Manual, possibly on page 70 bottom or 80 top.