\b Welcome\b0 to xplorer\'b2 !! We've got some great tips and tricks for you, so please leave this option on for a while. You'll learn about many small details with big impact on your daily productivity.
You can try all the recommended tips & tricks as you read them. Just put this dialog to the side and follow the instructions, selecting menu commands etc from the main program window. Menu command instructions are in \cf2\f1 blue text\cf0\f0 .
If you prefer a more engaging way to learn about xplorer\'b2 tricks, checkout the short demo videos in the various tour pages found at \cf2 www.zabkat.com/tour1.htm\cf0 . Each page has a \b Play Demo\b0 button near the top right.
All menu commands show a descriptive line of text on the \b status bar\b0 as you are traversing the menu system. They help you understand commands and see the effects of slight variants when keyboard modifiers like \f1 <Shift>\f0 or \f1 <Ctrl>\f0 are pressed.
The status bar also shows short messages about command outcomes and errors. These messages go away after a while automatically.
You can move toolbars around, dragging them from their handles on their left side. \cf2\f1 View| Toolbars\cf0\f0 allows you to show or hide any toolbar separately.
You can \b customize\b0 a toolbar by right-clicking on it and selecting which command buttons you want, text labels etc. You can reorder buttons by dragging them while holding the \f1 <Shift>\f0 key.
Bored with your toolbar icons? Get a new \b skin\b0 ! There are a few available to download from this page: \cf2 http://zabkat.com/x2skin.htm\cf0 . Or even better, grab the skin designer pack and create your own icons.
If you find xplorer\'b2 menus too taxing, you can switch to a simpler set with fewer commands, checking \cf2 Plain menus\cf0 in the Window property page (\cf2\f1 Tools| Options\cf0\f0 ). Even in this plain mode you can use commands you can't see pressing their shortcut keys or placing their buttons on the toolbar.
\cf1 [PRO version]\cf0 If you are used to windows explorer and prefer <F5> key to refresh folders instead of xplorer\'b2 default command, use \cf2\f1 Customize| Keyboard\cf0\f0 to change the key mapping for View| Refresh command. You can change all other keyboard shortcuts to your taste too!
Some input fields in dialogs may be hard to understand. Just hover the mouse over them and a balloon help tip will pop-up with a brief description. You can turn off this dialog help from \cf2\f1 Tools| Options\cf0\f0 .
The user interface has been translated to a number of locales (check the website for availability). You select your language as part of the installation process. If you missed the language drop-down box in the first place, you can run the installer again at any time.
You can see the contents of up to two folders in a single window (\cf2\f1 View| dual pane\cf0\f0 mode) but you can work with only one at a time. The active panel has a lighter background color. You can swap the active/inactive folders hitting \f1 <Tab>\f0 or just clicking on the folder you want to work with.
You can have the dual view panes stacked one below the other instead of the default left-right arrangement. For changing this and many other options please use \cf2\f1 Tools| Options\cf0\f0 menu.
To see more folders in a single pane use \cf2\f1 File| New tab\cf0\f0 . This is an alternative to dual pane file management. You can still see only one folder at a time but switching folders is as easy as clicking on a tab. Using the keyboard you can cycle with \f1 <Ctrl+Alt+arrows>\f0 .
Tabs can be rearranged if you right-click on one and pick a move command from the context menu. To remove a tab click on the \b X\b0 to the right of the tab-strip.
Double-click on a tab to close it; double-click on an empty spot within the tab strip to create a new tab.
If you have many tabs with similar names you can often improve clarity by \b renaming\b0 some of them \emdash using the right click menu. Forced names will stick even when you change folders.
To copy the path names of all tabs in a comma separated list, right click on the tab strip and pick \cf2\f1 Copy all paths\cf0\f0 . Have you tried pasting the result in a scrap container?
Filenames and other column text may be cropped if wider than the available space. If you hover the mouse over such clipped names a \b tooltip\b0 is shown revealing the obscured text. If you enable infotips from \cf2\f1 Tools| Options\cf0\f0 then the tooltip will additionally include information like size and modification date.
You can use the arrow keys to change the active item (\i focus\i0 ) of the active view. You can also use \f1 <PageUp>\f0 and \f1 <PageDown>\f0 to move a page at a time and \f1 <Home>\f0 & \f1 <End>\f0 to quickly go to the start or end of long listings.
To arrange items while in detailed view mode just click on the column header of interest. This is the only way to sort items by extended columns like \b Comment\b0 etc. Clicking on the same column again will flip the ascending/descending order.
\cf1 [PRO version]\cf0 You can sort by more than one attribute using \f1 <Shift+click>\f0 on a column header. The first column you click will be the major one; items identical with respect to this column will be ordered according to the second column, and so on. To cancel this multi-way sort mode just click without holding \f1 <Shift>\f0 .
\cf1 [PRO version]\cf0 In large folders you can use item \i grouping\i0 to view and manage your content. \cf2\f1 View| Arrange by| Show in groups\cf0\f0 uses the primary sort column to bunch similar items together. For example a date column will group together items changed today, yesterday, last week and so on. Within each group items are sorted alphabetically; if you need a different in-group sorting order just \f1 <Shift+click>\f0 on a column header, even the same one that generated the grouping.\par
When you type letters or digits the focus moves to the first matching filename; e.g. typing \cf1\b sa\cf0\b0 will take you to the first file whose name matches this substring (e.g. \cf1\b sa\cf0\b0 mple.txt). This feature is called \i incremental search\i0 .
You can use incremental search to locate files with particular \i extensions\i0 , too. Typing e.g. \cf1\b tx\cf0\b0 \i while holding down\i0 \f1 <Shift>\f0 will take you to the first filename that matches this extension (e.g. readme.\cf1\b tx\cf0\b0 t). This comes handy when you sort items \b by type\b0 .
Incremental search is not limited to filenames. Just bring any column in the leftmost (first) position and \i its\i0 contents will be used to match the partial strings you type.
Press \f1 <Space>\f0 to toggle the selection status of the focused item on/off. Pressing \f1 <Insert>\f0 does the same but moves the focus to the next item at the same time. This way you can select a lot of items using just one key.
If you want to move the focus without affecting the existing selection, keep the \f1 <Ctrl>\f0 key pressed while using the keyboard or mouse. Or you can turn the \b sticky mode\b0 on from \cf2\f1 Mark\cf0\f0 menu to avoid pressing \f1 <Ctrl>\f0 . Thus you can roam large lists hand-selecting items safely.
You have several ways to select files using the \b mouse\b0 . To grab many consecutive items, click on the first and then \f1 <Shift>\f0 -click on the last. \f1 <Ctrl>\f0 -click to select/unselect individual items. Finally you may \i click and hold\i0 the left button to draw a rectangle around the items you want selected. This is called "lasso" selection.
Before you execute a command you must \b select\b0 the items you want to be affected. There is an abundance of methods to select items, using the keyboard, selection filters, synchronization, etc (see \cf2\f1 Mark\cf0\f0 menu for commands comprising the \b selection engine\b0 ). Using a combination of selection and unselection elementary procedures you can build up a set of files that perfectly match your criteria. Vivid imagination is all tha