Directory Opus 9

After a considerable time using (and praising) XYplorer, I have now moved on to using Directory Opus (DOpus) - Version 9 was released at the end of April.

I had previously played with version 8 of DOpus - I could see it was a powerful product then, the number of options was simply mind boggling, but the interface was too crowded and unproffesional looking.

Version 9 is a revelation - the Preferences Dialog now has a handy filter function (that actually works- take note Toad) making it much easier to find the options you are looking for. It is also possible to set it up to actually look like a proffesional file explorer (although you can still use images for toolbar backgrounds etc. if that is your taste ?). The new icon set (whilst not 100% perfect is much better looking anf functional).

Don't get me wrong it's still a powerful and complex product - almost 3 weeks in I am still finding new functionality - and not just little things - things that make you go 'aaaahhh' why has nobody done that before ! Some of the functionality is available in other file explorers, but none of it seems to gel as well as it does in DOpus.

Rather than do a full review here I am just going to list some of the functionality I find extremely useful (and also a couple of niggles - mainly things that don't quite match my previous favourite -and still excellent file manager of choice - XYplorer) - these are in no particular order but they are ranked from 1-5 as to how useful they are.

• File Filter - This is a godsend, it's not exactly ground breaking, but it works extremely well in DOpus - Basically if you have a long list of files in a folder (some of mine run into hundreds of files) you can type into the filter box and as you type the files are reduced to match your selection e.g. typing .doc allows you to just show all the documents in a particular folder (very quickly). Rank - 4
• Thumbnail and Tile Views - DOpus has extremely powerful thumbnail and tile views - you can set what info is shown in File Info tips and the thumbnail size slider is very useful (and extremely slick in operation - you can see it in the screenshot above). Rank - 4
• Folder Groups - As with an increasing number of file managers DOpus uses a tabbed interface (although you are not obliged to use tabs - this is one of the main reasons I choose alternative File Managers to Explorer). DOpus allows you to setup groups of tabs for different uses and slecting the groups is a simple right click on the tab header bar - very slick. Rank 5
• Content Type - This is one of DOpus unique and very clever features (in my view). DOpus bascially scans the file types in a particular folder (there is no perceptable delay in this - see multi-threading below) and then sets the relevant view based on the file types - e.g. If I have a folder full of .jpg images - chances are I would want to see those as thumbnails - DOpus automatically does this for you when you open the folder. There are a number of standard Content Types (which can be turned off if you don't like them), but you can also create your own (the screenshot above is abased on a new 'Icon' content type that I created. Very useful, and as with everything in DOpus 9 - very slick. Rank 5
• To be continued...