Copyright: Help Copyright © 2004 by Donald Lessau   Monday, February 07, 2005 18:25:02


Introduction
TrackerV3    The Power User's Alternative To Windows Explorer

Win98, WinNT4, WinME, Win2000, WinXP

Help for TrackerV3 ver 3.60.0043 onwards

Copyright © 2000-04 Donald Lessau. All rights reserved.

What is it good for?

TrackerV3 is an Advanced File System Explorer. It comes with an Windows Explorer-like interface but a far broader scope: you get much more information and you get it all on the fly, plus variously enhanced functionality and ease of use, extended file find, reporting features, multimedia preview, and ASCII/binary file view.

The program design follows a Keep It Simple philosophy: the interface is kept as plain and intuitive as possible, and does not confront you with an overload of buttons, toolbars, or menus. Since it closely adheres to the look and feel standards known from Explorer, you'll need no time at all to start working, and only a few minutes to get familiarized with the additional features. Contrary to other Explorer replacements, TrackerV3 is very small, very fast, and uses very little memory resources. But there's a lot of power under the hood...

Where the program goes beyond Explorer is File Information more than file manipulation. TrackerV3's strong point is showing, collecting, and storing file information. And in this department, the program is unrivaled in quality, quantity and speed.

But wait a minute, TrackerV3 has a lot to offer in File Manipulation, too. If you're looking for an Explorer replacement that enhances your productivity in copying, moving, renaming, or backing up files, TrackerV3 is certainly worth a try.

On The Fly File Information

TrackerV3 shows you the Created Date, the Last Accessed Date, and the Attributes for each file,  in separate columns immediately within the file list.

File Date and File Size columns can be set to Different Display Formats, eg. 4-digit year, or exact byte count (contrary to those "1KB" files you know from Explorer). Particularly mind-blowing is the date format Age, which simply tells you what you want to know, the age of your files, in a blink instead of letting your eyes and brain work through columns of 12 digit date numbers. You'll never want to miss this feature again.

On a tabbed panel at the bottom of the window you get immediate information on all File Properties including Version Information by just selecting a file, no more need to open the properties dialog for each file, it's all just there. And you get more than what Explorer reveals, for example: for each file and folder, the Space used is immediately displayed (if you ever heard about clusters you know what this feature is worth).

The standard context menu for files is extended to include various useful options, like Copy Filename with Path, Copy File Properties, Copy Large/Small Icon options, and more.

You can get extensive information on all your logical Drives in one view, including the Volume Serial Numbers, FAT Types, and Cluster Sizes.

Interested in Icons? Every icon existing on your computer (incl. those embedded in EXE, DLL, ICL, OCX etc. files) is just one click away from the clipboard, and that's large and small icon.

You can define Favorite Folders and thus browse anywhere you want by just one click.

You get History Functionality (jumping back and forward between recent folders by mouse-click or cursor keys).

File Manipulation

Of course, TrackerV3 offers full Drag&Drop support, and, in sharp contrast to Explorer, its folder tree will never collapse in panic and jump to Desktop.

The standard context menu for files is extended to include various useful options, like customizable Copy To..., Move To..., Backup To..., Extended Multiple File Rename commands, and more. A unique feature to mention is the Create Branch(es) Here command, which creates a copy of all nested folders of the source location in the target location without copying any contained files. May save you hundreds of key strokes.

Further, you can do Time-Stamping of all 3 kinds of file times (also works simultaneously for multiple files), and you can Change File Attributes (also works for multiple files).

Extended file find

You can Find Files by any criteria you can think of, for example you can scan your disks for all files created in the last 5 minutes and such get an exact fingerprint of what was installed where when you clicked OK. Or you can scan your computer for all files that were never accessed in the last 2 years and probably could be deleted. File find includes Boolean Logic, Regular Expressions, Multiple Disk Search, Multiple Location Search, and extended filters like String Search, File Size, and File Attributes (incl. NT only attributes). Specific folders/drives can be excluded from search.

File system reports

You can generate detailed Reports of various formats of your file system or file search results and print them, save them to file, or copy them to the clipboard -- all just with one click. This includes, of course, the possibility to Print Directories.

TrackerV3 has been repeatedly recognized as the best file documentation tool available.

Multimedia preview

On-the-fly Preview for image and audio/video files, for installed or uninstalled font files and HTML files, packed with detailed information, zooming and snapshot functionality. Images can be previewed in Full Screen Mode including PageUp/Down browsing.

ASCII/binary file view

Instant display of ASCII and binary files. Includes text extraction from binary files, copy selections to clipboard, and save to file options.

Who needs it?

TrackerV3 targets power users and computer professionals (system administrators, web masters ...), whose daily life is files, files, files, and for whom the standard Explorer's few features are just too limiting to keep them happy.

The image preview (which includes PNG, GIF and JPEG formats) and the HTML preview are powerful features especially directed to web designers, while the audio preview (which includes WAV and MP3 formats) should please musicians and general music freaks.

TrackerV3 is also a highly useful tool for those folks haunted by file pollution paranoia (the fear that there is any file on your system that you don't need).

What does it look like?

This is TrackerV3 with the Info Panel visible (you can also hide it):

Freeware

TrackerV3 is freeware: You have the choice between the home license or the professional license. Both of these licenses provide you with all features, without any restrictions or time limits. The home license, which is free of charge, is reserved for private use, educational use, and non-profit use only. A professional license, however, is needed for commercial use in the corporate, government or business environment. It is illegal to use TrackerV3 in the corporate, government or business environment with just a home license. See registration for details on purchasing a professional license.

Any questions?

In case you're still in the dark about any feature feel free to contact me by email (support2@trackerv3.com), and I will try help you on.

Have fun!

Donald Lessau, Cologne 2004


Installing TrackerV3

System Requirements

Platform: Win98, WinNT4, WinME, Win2000, WinXP

Minimal Hardware: 100 MHz Pentium, 32MB RAM

Monitor: the program is designed work alright on small monitors (640x480 pixels) and 256 colors. However, a monitor resolution of at least 800x600 pixels is recommended to reduce horizontal scrolling (the file list has many columns).

Installation

Extract TRKV360.ZIP to some temporary directory and run TrackerV3_3.60_Install.exe. The following files will be installed to the directory you selected/created during the install procedure:

TrackerV3.exe	Application

TrackerV3.ini	Configuration file (no overwrite if existing)

TrackerV3.hlp	Help File

TrackerV3.cnt	Help Contents File

TrackerV3.url	Link to www.trackerv3.com

License.txt	Trackerv3 License Agreement

Readme.txt	Readme file (this file)

Uninstall.exe	Uninstall program

A program group "TrackerV3" will be created under "Programs" in your Start menu, containing four icons. No further files are added anywhere to your system, and nothing will be put into the registry but uninstall information.

Dependencies

VB5 runtime files

TRKV360.ZIP does NOT contain the VB5 runtime files needed to run TrackerV3. This is to keep download times short, and because they are present on almost every computer. If you're not sure whether you got those files, it's easy to find out: if you can start TrackerV3.exe you got them, if not you gotta get them.

ONLY IF THE PROGRAM DOES NOT START: The VB5 runtime files needed can be found at this URL: http://www.simtel.net/simtel.net/win95/dll.html (download vb500a.zip, 1.3MB, VB5 Runtime Modules. Self-installing). See here for a listing of the needed VB5 runtime files.

GdiPlus.dll  (Only for operating systems older than Windows XP)
From ver 3.30 onwards TrackerV3 needs GdiPlus.dll (GDI+) to be installed. GdiPlus.dll is installed with the .NET framework and included with Windows XP. For Windows 2000, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 98, and only if TrackerV3 does not run at all because GdiPlus.dll is not present on your system, you can download the file from this site:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=6A63AB9C-DF12-4D41-933C-BE590FEAA05A&displaylang=en

Installation instructions: run the self-extracting executable file gdiplus_dnld.exe, which you have downloaded from the above site. When prompted for an unzip folder, click the "Browse..." button and browse to the directory of TrackerV3.exe (probably C:\Program Files\TrackerV3\), then click the "Unzip" button and you are done. (Do not copy GdiPlus.dll into the system directory.)

 Related Topics


Further Notes on Installation

Additional Files created by TrackerV3

If you have opened and used the TrackerV3 Help files your system may contain the following two files. These files are created by the standard Windows Help program WinHlp32.exe.

TrackerV3.gid	Windows Help settings file. This file contains the TrackerV3 Help window size and desktop location as well as any bookmarks you may have created.

TrackerV3.fts	Windows Help word database. This file is created when you build a custom word list for TrackerV3 Help files. This file is used to search for words and phrases in the TrackerV3 Help files.

Integrating TrackerV3 with Explorer

To integrate TrackerV3 with the Windows shell check the "Track..." in shell context menu (configuration window) checkbox while TrackerV3 is running. The new item "Track..." will then appear in Explorer's context menu for drives and folders.

To accomplish this, the following keys are added to the Windows registry:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shell\Track...

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shell\Track...\Command

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\Shell\Track...

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\Shell\Track...\Command

To remove TrackerV3 from the shell context menu and these keys from the registry simply uncheck the "Track..." in shell context menu checkbox.

Needed VB5 Runtime Files

Here's the complete listing of the files required to run a program written in VB5 (like TrackerV3). If you got newer versions, there should be no problem.

If you get an Unexpected Error on program startup, it's most probably because any of those files has not the right version (later versions are OK), is not correctly registered, or is missing.

==========================================================================

Visual Basic 5.0 (SP3) dependency files

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Asycfilt.dll, 118,544 bytes, 19.05.1997 08:08:10, ver 2.20.4118

* Comcat.dll, 22,288 bytes, 31.10.1996 12:47:16, ver 4.71

  Ctl3d32.dll, 26,624 bytes, 18.10.1996 02:07:00, ver 2.31.000

* Msvbvm50.dll, 1,347,344 bytes, 19.07.1997 15:55:40, ver 05.00.4319 (SP2)

* Oleaut32.dll, 492,304 bytes, 19.05.1997 08:08:12, ver 2.20.4118

* Olepro32.dll, 114,960 bytes, 19.05.1997 08:08:12, ver 5.0.4118

* Stdole2.tlb, 16,896 bytes, 19.05.1997 08:08:12, ver 2.20.4118

==========================================================================

Files marked with '*' require registration.

 Related Topics


Removing TrackerV3

If you find that TrackerV3 does not meet your needs you can easily remove it from your computer.

Cleaning the registry

If you checked the "Track..." in shell context menu checkbox (configuration window): before you remove the program run it one last time, and uncheck this checkbox. This will remove the corresponding keys from the registry, and the registry will be totally cleaned from TrackerV3.

Uninstall

If you installed TrackerV3 via Install.exe, you'll find an icon "Uninstall" in the program group created during installation. Click this icon to run the uninstall interface.

 Related Topics


A note on common cases of evil file time falsification

Many AntiVirus programs access files (which they have to do) and do *not* reset the Accessed date of the files to the value before the scan (which they should). Which means that once you run such a virus scanner, you can forget about searching your computer for files not accessed for such and such a long time, because *all* scanned files will have the Accessed date of the last virus scan.

Many installation routines that change system files like Win.ini do this the old 16-bit way: they copy the file to a temporary file, make changes on the copy, and, if all goes well, close the temporary, delete the old version, and rename the temporary to the old name. With the effect that definitely old files like Win.ini will have a Created date of the very moment they were last modified. So you (or your maintenance equipment) are lead to think the file is new ... could be a bad mistake.


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Frequently Asked Questions* (FAQ)

Question	TrackerV3 does not list files accessed in the previous 5 min (or any other time range smaller than a day), although i'm sure they have been accessed in that time!

Answer	You're probably running Win98/ME: those OSs do not provide the time part of the Accessed date, whereas WinNT/2K/XP do. In order to find any files accessed recently you have to select "Previous Day" from the time range menu (menu button on Date tab).

* well, it's only one up to now and nobody ever asked it...


Editing the INI-File
Advanced Settings

Editing the INI-File

Here are some further configuration options for power users who know how to deal with INI-files. There is no more user-friendly interface for these settings to keep the program small and simple, ie power-user-friendly. The file we are talking about is TrackerV3.ini, located in the same folder as TrackerV3.exe.

Alternative Color for Find Results

If you don't like the color TrackerV3 brings up for find results, you can change it to any color of your liking, supposed you know about color coding. Legal values are between 0 and 16777215 inclusive. If you enter a larger value the program might crash. You've been warned.

This example will bring up the color you know from version 3.02:

[General]

FindBackColor=12237488

History Order

The default setting corresponds to IE5's back-button history order: newest at the top of the menu. If you want it the other way set the following key to 1:

[General]

HistNewestLast=1

Setting the startup path

TrackerV3 remembers its last location between sessions. If you want TrackerV3 to always start at the same location, eg at "C:\", create a shortcut to TrackerV3 and place it on your desktop for example. Now right-click the shortcut's icon and open the properties dialog. Add the path you want to set up as start folder into the target field on the shortcut tab in like this (a blank after TrackerV3.exe and then your start path):

C:\Program Files\TrackerV3\TrackerV3.exe C:\

When you start TrackerV3 via this shortcut it will start opening the start path you defined.


File Information

General File Info Tab

The first tab on the Info Panel. Gives you various file infos and icons of the selected file:

Various File Infos

Pretty self-explaining: you know this stuff from the Explorer Properties dialog.

Space used Files use up disk space by clusters, not by file bytes. Check out the IE Favorites folder to see that this information is pretty interesting. (Hint: small files suck, disk-space-wise)

Contents If a folder is selected Size shows the total bytes of all contained files (subfolders included), and Contents tells you the number of files and folders found below this folder. This feature has to be explicitly activated in configuration since for large deeply nested folders it takes some time to gather this info.

Tip	You can copy virtually any information on this tab by double-clicking it. Double-clicking the key copies key and value, double-clicking the value copies just the value.

Tip	To read a value that is too long to be fully displayed, position the mouse over this values to see the complete string in a tooltip.

Icons

Any embedded icons are extracted from a selected file and displayed (embedded icons are typically found in EXE and DLL files).

Tip	You can copy the displayed icons by double-clicking them.

Copy File Info buttons

Copy the file information onto the clipboard. The left button copies just a basic one-liner, eg:

TrackerV3.exe, 710,656 bytes, 06.04.2000 12:50:38, ver 3.10.0042

The right button copies every info available:

Example

Time-stamping

Right-clicking any of the 3 file times on General File Info tab will activate the interface to actually set those times to the currently selected file(s).

Time-stamping interface

Press ENTER or click the green icon to set the new time-stamp (the changed time-stamps are applied to all currently selected files), or press ESC or click the red icon to cancel and reset the display to the original state.

Note	You cannot change the time-stamp of directories.

Note	Under VFAT (Win95a) dates before 1980 and after 2107 cannot be set, and dates 28.02.2106 - 31.12.2107 set filetime to "unknown".

Changing file attributes

The file attributes of the currently focused file are displayed as (un)checked boxes. You can change the settings of three attributes (Read-Only, Hidden, and Archive).

Click the green icon to set the new attributes (applied to all currently selected files), or click the red icon to cancel and reset the display to the original state.

Version Tab

The second tab on the Info Panel. Displays any version infos contained in the selected file.

Pretty self-explaining: you know this stuff from the Explorer Properties dialog.

Tip	You can copy virtually any information on this tab by double-clicking it. Double-clicking the key copies key and value, double-clicking the value copies just the value.

Note	If the version tab is empty, the selected file has no version info. Version information is typically contained in EXE, DLL, DRV, OCX etc. files.

Fixed File Version

Here's some advanced version information that is not revealed to you by Explorer. Explorer only shows you the String File Version info of files. Usually files that contain any version information have each.


Find Files tab
Finding Files

Find Files Tab

The third tab on the Info Panel.

Find Now / Stop

Start a file find by clicking the Find Now button, or by pressing F3. You can abort a running find process by clicking the Stop button or by pressing Esc (Escape Key).

But, before you start, you want to set your search parameters/filters:

Apply these filters (individually activating search filters)

On the Find Files tab there are 6 sub-tabs, representing different search parameters/filters. These filters can be individually activated (ie, minded by the current search process) by checking the corresponding checkbox below the Find Now button. The tab of a filter that is currently not active (ie, ignored by the current search process) has a grayed caption.

If you activate several filters simultaneously, a file must pass each active filter to be found. In other words, the logical relationship between the filters is AND.

Note	On the first tab (Name & Location), the Location parameter is always active. Thus, deactivating this tab means you don't care how the file is named (equivalent to leaving the Name field empty or to entering just an asterisk).

There's a bit of "smart" automation built in: if you change any setting on a given tab, it is assumed that you're interested in that filter, and it will be automatically activated.

Search Parameters

Name & Location

The Name combobox provides a space where you can state the name or a pattern that the file to be found shall match. You may use various Wildcards, Boolean Logic Operators, and Regular Expressions. For an extensive and up-to-date description of the rules and possibilities, see TrackerV3 Evolution Department: Find Files.

Wildcards (Pattern Matching Special Characters)

Characters in pattern	Matches in string

?	Any single character

*	Zero or more characters

#	Any single digit (0-9)

[charlist]	Any single character in charlist

[!charlist]	Any single character not in charlist

Boolean Logic Operators and Syntax

Logical function	 Symbols (alternatives)	 Comments

OR 	| (or, OR) 	Must have a space on both ends.

AND	 & (and, AND) 	Must have a space on both ends.

NOT	 ! (not, NOT) 	Prefixed to the negated term,

no space after "!", one space after "not/NOT".

Default operator precedence NOT > AND > OR

Nesting terms with parentheses

You can overwrite the default operator precedence by using parentheses (up to 256 nesting levels). Also complex terms can be negated, for example "!(cat | dog)" is equivalent to "!cat & !dog".

Escape character	 \ 	!\!cat = NOT "!cat"

cat \& dog = "cat & dog"

cat \and dog = "cat and dog"

!(\(1\) or 2) = NOT ("(1)" OR "2")

Regular Expressions

From version 3.60 onwards, TrackerV3's Find Files gives you the power of Regular Expressions (RegExp). To activate the regular expressions mode simply prefix the search term with the character ">". If Regular Expressions mode is active, all rules described here above do not apply. For information on RegExp syntax see Introduction to Regular Expressions.

Match Case Check to do a case-sensitive search. Note that Windows Explorer can do only case-insensitive searches.

Check Full Path If checked, the search term is not only compared with the file name but with the full path/name.

Exact match If unchecked, behavior is like Windows Explorer: if you state a pattern without wildcards, all files are found whose name contains this pattern as a substring (equivalent to "*pattern*"). If checked, only files are found, whose name exactly matches the pattern (a thing Windows Explorer cannot do). If any wildcards are contained in a pattern, this checkbox is ignored.

Fuzzy Fuzzy searches are searches that tolerate typographical errors and misspellings (either in the search pattern or in the found file names).  The similarity measurement of TrackerV3's fuzzy search is based on the Ratcliff/Obershelp pattern recognition algorithm (Ratcliff 1988), also known as "gestalt pattern matching".

Fuzziness is configurable (Configuration/General). The higher the fuzziness (default 25%), the more items will be found:

         0% fuzziness = 100% minimum similarity (= non-fuzzy)

        25% fuzziness =  75% minimum similarity

       100% fuzziness =   0% minimum similarity (all items match)

Note that actually useful values might lie between 10% and 35% of fuzziness. Also bear in mind that with the Ratcliff/Obershelp algorithm the correct order of any submatches is relevant, and the similarity decreases with the mean length of the compared strings, eg:

        "mahatma ghandi","mahatma gandhi" = 93% similarity

        "gandhi mahatma","mahatma gandhi" = 50% similarity !

        "gandhi"        ,"mahatma gandhi" = 60% similarity !

Invert If checked the search will return everything that does not match your search term. Does not work with RegExp.

The Location combobox edit field is automatically set to the current location in TreeView. You may also enter a path manually or select a path from the combobox list. When you do a find, this location is stored in the combobox list and preserved between sessions (max. 16).

Multiple Disk Search To perform a search covering several drives at once, simply enter MyComputer (or whatever you called it on your system) into the Location combobox, or more simple: select the topmost node of the TreeView and you're set. Removable drives (Floppies, CD-ROM, ZIP) are not included in the search.To exclude specific non-removable drives ("Local Disks"), add their name to the Exclude Folders list. For example, to exclude drive D, add D:\ to the list.

Multiple Location Search (via selection in List View) If any folders (or  folder links!) are selected in ListView, the find operation will search these folders (thus ignoring what's currently entered into the Location combo). If no folders are selected, things work as before: Find searches the currently selected folder in TreeView, or the selection in the Location combo (if different from TreeView selection).

Note that multiple location search also works for find results. Here it is possible to select folders for a further search where one is a subfolder of the other. In this case, of course, you will probably get doublettes in the result list.

Multiple location search works also for drives, so if you want to search for example drives C:, E:, and Z:, simply browse to MyComputer, select these drives in the list, and click Find (F3).

Multiple Location Search (via Location combo) Another way to do a search over a bunch of different directories is to simply type a list of directories, separated by " | " (space-pipe-space), into the location combo, for instance: C:\John\Letters\ | C:\Contracts\ | D:\Work\.

Include Subfolders Check this box to include in the search all folders below the Location location.

Follow folder links Similar to "Include subfolders", the search will treat folder links (aka "Shell Links to Folders") as if they were subfolders and search the links' target directory as well (again recursing it if necessary). This is a very nice feature. For example, you now can cultivate folder link farms, ie collections of links to various folders in the wildest locations, which you then can search all at once by just running a search on their parent folder.

How to create a folder link: have the folder in the file list, then choose the Create Shortcut command from the folder's context menu, then move the newly created *.lnk file where you want to have it.

Notes:

•	"Follow folder links" is independent of "Include subfolders" and both can be freely combined at your choice.

•	be aware of the possibility to end up in a loop by having links target to each other or to themselves. If this appears to happen, press ESC and check your link logic.

0	To activate the Name parameter the corresponding checkbox below the Find button must be checked. Location and Include Folders are, of course, always active.

Size

Search files of a certain size, defined by a lower and an upper limit (both limits are inclusive). Leave field empty to ignore a limit, eg to find all files bigger than 1MB select the MB option, enter a 1 in the at least field and leave the at most field empty.

0	The highest allowed number is 2GB (= 2,024MB = 2,097,152KB = 2,147,483,648 bytes) minus 1 (that's the largest possible file size under Windows OSs for the time being).

1	To apply this filter the corresponding checkbox below the Find button must be checked.

Date

Search files of a certain date/time. There are three types of dates associated with Windows files and folders:

0	Created The date when the file has been created at this location, where location is the path of the file (this date is only set once).

1	Modified The date when the file has been last modified (set at each write operation).

2	Accessed The date when the file has been last accessed (set at each open operation). See also FAQ TrackerV3 does not list files accessed in the previous 5 min.

3	Created or Modified Select this option to find all files that pass either of these filters.

4	Between ... and Here you can enter a date range manually. When you omit the time part of the date, 00:00:00 is assumed.

5	Date Range Popup Menu For the lazy ones, there are some preset date ranges available to save you some typing. Click the menu button to enter a date range by selecting an option of the date range popup menu. The Unknown option allows you to search for files with the time-stamp "unknown" (that is, no date set on this file, which is sometimes the case with certain system files and folders). The Like option sets the date range to the date of the last selected file or folder plus/minus 10 minutes.

6	Check Not if you want to find files whose specified date is outside the given range.

7	To apply this filter the corresponding checkbox below the Find button must be checked.

Attributes

Search files with or without certain attributes. For example, if you don't want to find any folders, check Directory and the corresponding Not. If you want to find only hidden files, check Hidden.

0	Note that Normal, Temporary, and Compressed are supported only by Windows NT/2K/XP.

1	To apply this filter the corresponding checkbox below the Find button must be checked.

Contained Text

Search files containing a specific text string (no wildcards).

0	Match Case If checked string search is case-sensitive, else case is ignored.

1	[ASCII mode] The text to look for may contain any pastable characters incl. linefeeds, tabs etc., that is any character apart from the null char. Note that low ASCII characters  (< 32)  are displayed in a non-readable fashion. Try hex mode, if you're looking for such characters.

2	It's a Hex String Activates Hex mode. Check this option to look for any binary sequence contained in a file, including the null char. Binary sequences are to be represented in hexadecimal code. Hex strings must have 2 valid hex characters per byte and each pair may be separated from another by spaces or line feeds. Example: 00C0FF or 00 C0 FF (lower case letters are also ok: 00 c0 ff ). In hex string mode the coloring and font of the text is changed to make it dramatically clear that you are in a special mode.

Note	In either mode, the text entered cannot be be longer than 32,533 chars; of multi-line texts only the first line and a maximum of 1,024 characters is remembered between sessions.

0	Note	The string search routine takes care that the Accessed date of the scanned files is reset to its original value when scanning is done.

To apply this filter the corresponding checkbox below the Find button must be checked.

Exclude Folders

Here you can exclude specific folders or drives from file search.

0	The input field is by default always filled with the current path but it is editable.

1	Any subfolders of excluded folders are automatically also excluded.

Note	It's possible to exclude paths also by stating substrings of them, eg to exclude the Recycle Bins on all drives, enter :\Recycled\ (no drive letter!) into the text field and press Add. Or adding "~" would exclude all folders containing the "~"-character anywhere in their path specification.

0	Note	When you start your search from an excluded folder, this folder is automatically not excluded.

To apply this filter the corresponding checkbox below the Find button must be checked.

Tip	You can abort a running file find process by pressing Esc (Escape Key).

0	Tip	Press Ctrl+left arrow to jump to the currently focused file in the folder where it was found (this trick works for find results only, and obviously it does only make sense when file find included subfolders)


ListView

Things you can (not) do with ListView

Note that TrackerV3's ListView is a hand-coded thing, and as such totally independent of Windows's common controls.

0	It has some features that might be new to you:

Sort Order Icon

Contrary to Explorer, the currently sorted column is revealed to you by an icon which also shows you the current sort order (ascending or descending).

Sort Order is remembered between sessions

Well, yeah!

Columns can be reordered by dragging

ListView columns can be mouse-dragged to the position you prefer: hold the mouse down on a column header and drag to the new position.

Columns can be hidden

ListView columns can be individually hidden: menu View|Show Columns

Display line numbers

ListView row numbers are displayed when you check the corresponding entry in View|Style List

Display thumbnails

By pressing Ctrl+F12 you can display thumbnails of all previewed image files in the special column "Thumbs". The thumbnails have the "Mouse Down Blow Up" functionality you already know and love from the Image Preview. Further details see Configuration/Thumbs.

Special Folders look different from Explorer

Special Folders like Recycle Bin do not have the look you know from Explorer. Reason: what you see in TrackerV3 is the raw files that are actually there. It is not recommended to delete any files out of special folders, unless you really know what you are doing!

"desktop.ini" and other invisible files

What you see in TrackerV3 is the raw files that are actually there (special folders like Recycle Bin are not interpreted as is done by Explorer). So, in some folders TrackerV3 shows files that are not visible in the standard Explorer, for example files called desktop.ini: DO NOT DELETE THEM! You could destroy the functionality of a special folder. Remember: not knowing what a file is good for is the worst reason for destroying it.

Shortcut files

Shortcut files are displayed with their extensions (*.lnk, *.pif, *.url), whereas Explorer does not show those extensions.

Tip	You can slightly speed up the program's performance in listing files by unchecking the Explorer option "No MS-DOS extensions for registered files" (found in Explorer's menu View|Options|Display), which by the way, is generally advisable IMHO.

Drag & Drop within file list

You can easily make a safety copy of a file (or more files) by drag&dropping it from the file list into the file list: select the file(s) and then hold down the Ctrl-key and drag. The copy will be automatically renamed, eg.: the copy of Myfile.txt is named Copy of Myfile.txt.

0	You can as well drag&drop items onto a folder displayed within the same list. However, TrackerV3 does not support dropping items on executables or zip-archives.

There's only one view mode

ListView can show its contents only in what Explorer calls "Details View". You don't get large icons in this list. From version 3.60 onwards you do get Thumbnails, however.

Everything else just like Explorer

Isn't it?

Context menus

A right-mouse-click on ListView will popup one of three context menus depending on the mouse position:

Mouse on file	File context menu (incl. Explorer's standard context menu for folders)

0	Mouse on columns	Show Columns context menu

1	Mouse elsewhere	Edit context menu

 Related Topics


TreeView

Things you can (not) do with TreeView

Note that TrackerV3's TreeView is a hand-coded thing, and as such totally independent of Windows's common controls.

0	It has some features that might be new to you:

Last folder location is remembered between sessions

Well, yeah!

Desktop is located under MyComputer

Other than in Windows Explorer, the Desktop node is located under MyComputer instead of vice versa. This seems more logical and spares 16 pixels of horizontal space in the tree view.

Tree nodes unfold on DragOver

There's extended drag&drop functionality to the TreeView (a trick which at least Win95's Explorer cannot do): when dragging an object over a folded node, the node will automatically expand after 0.8 seconds. When the object leaves the tree area or Drag&Drop is canceled by ESC, the previous state of the tree is restored.

0	By the way, moving folders within TreeView, is much more robust in TrackerV3 than it is in Explorer, which every other time throws the towel and jumps onto Desktop.

You can rename folders from within the TreeView, but only by pressing F2

Clicking an already selected folder again will not enter rename mode in TreeView (it does in ListView). Why not? Because i don't like it. Use F2 instead, it's cooler.

Everything else just like Explorer

Isn't it?

Context menus

A right-mouse-click on TreeView will popup one of two context menus depending on the mouse position:

Mouse on folder	Explorer's standard context menu for folders, plus some commands from the Edit context menu

0	Mouse elsewhere	Favorites context menu

 Related Topics


Status Bar

Sections of the Status Bar

Objects/Files Found

Displays the number of objects currently listed in ListView. In Browse mode this is the number of objects within the current folder, in Find mode the number of objects found.

Bytes

Displays the bytes sum of all currently selected items in ListView. If nothing is selected, the bytes sum of all items is shown.

Name/Progress

Displays the icon and name (and, if applicable, version) of the currently focused item (file or folder). By double-clicking these items you can copy them to the clipboard.

0	If nothing is selected, the used and free bytes of the current drive are shown.

1	During File Find the same section gives you feedback on the progress of the search by displaying the name of the currently searched location. When the find is finished, the used time is shown, and the number of files scanned (this is the number of all files that match at least the Name filter of the search).

Mode

Displays the current mode of ListView (Browse, Find, or Drives).

 Related Topics


Info Panel

Showing/Hiding the Info Panel

The Info Panel is located at the bottom of the main window. You can toggle its visibility by pressing F12.

Tabs on the Info Panel

On the left of the Info Panel you get five tabs:

0	General File Info Tab

1	Version Tab

2	Find FIles Tab

3	Report Tab

4	Preview Tab

5	File View Tab

 Related Topics


Display Modes
Modes

Display Modes

The ListView supports 3 different modes: Browse, Find, or Drives. Each mode has its own column headers and type of entries. Each mode can be configurated individually regarding column size, column position, background color, sort order and sorted column.

Browse

The standard browse mode (as known from Explorer). Lists all objects contained in the currently selected folder.

Find

Invoked by a File Find and lists the search results of a find. By default the background color of this mode is green to make it easily distinguishable from the other modes.

0	Once you selected any folders in TreeView, the mode is set back to Browse (or Drives, when you select the MyComputer Icon in TreeView).

Drives

When you select the MyComputer Icon in TreeView,. the Drives mode is invoked. The ListView now displays various information on your local logical hard drives.


Keyboard Shortcuts
Keyboard Shortcuts and Mouse Tricks

0	Menu Command Shortcuts

Shortcut keys allow you to quickly invoke menu commands without first displaying the menu and then selecting an item from it. The most commonly used commands can be invoked using the following shortcut keys.

File Menu

Ctrl+Q	Exit: exit program, and return to the desktop

0	Ctrl+P	File Path/Name: Copy Filename with Path to Clipboard (of the focused item in ListView)

1	Ctrl+Shift+P	File Path/Name: Copy Path to Clipboard (of the focused item in ListView)

Edit Menu

Ctrl+A	Select All Files: select all files currently listed

0	Ctrl+F	Find Files: open find files tab if not visible anyway

Ctrl+N	Create New Folder

0	Ctrl+T	Create new Text file

F3	Find Now: start File Find with the current parameter setting, starting in the current folder

0	F4	Refresh Folder: update the currently selected folder in TreeView

Ctrl+F4	Rebuild Tree: rebuilds the whole folder tree and then carries you back to the location where you were before, while closing all other open branches

F5	Refresh File List: update the currently selected folder in ListView

0	Ctrl+F5	Refresh Thumbs Cache: (when thumbs caching is enabled and thumbs mode is active) recreate the thumbs cache of the current folder.

1	Shift+F5	Show Folder Sizes: Refresh File List with folder sizes shown

Go Menu

F7	Previous Path: jump to the previous location (useful to zap back and fore between two locations)

Ctrl+G	Go to Path...: enter/paste a location to jump to

Ctrl+L	Go to Line...: enter/paste a line number to jump to

View Menu

F12	Show Panel: toggle the Info Panel's visibility

Shift+F12	Maximize/Minimize Panel

F8	Toggle Age (date display format)

0	Crtl+F12	Show Columns/Thumbnails: Show/Hide Thumbnails

Favorites Menu

Ctrl+B	Toggle Favorite status of current folder

Ctrl+H	Toggle Hilite status of current folder

Ctrl+O	Toggle Boxed Branch status of current folder

Ctrl+R	Toggle Favorite File

Tools Menu

F9	Show configuration window

Help Menu

F1	Help Topics: display this help file

Other Shortcuts

History

Alt+left arrow	Go back

0	Alt+right arrow	Go forward

1	Alt+up arrow	Go to first (= start folder)

2	Alt+down arrow	Go to last

3	F7	Zap back and forward between current and previous folder

Tree View

[alphanum. key]	Select the next visible folder whose name starts with that letter or number

0	Numpad - (minus)	Collapse selected node

1	Numpad + (plus)	Expand selected node

2	Numpad / (divide)	Fully collapse selected node

3	Numpad * (multiply)	Fully expand selected node

4	Return	Toggle collapse/expand

5	Backspace key	Browse to parent folder

6	[arrow keys etc.]	All common navigation keys just like Explorer

Alt+Return	Show Properties dialog of the focused item (AltGr+Return  to avoid beep sound)

List View

[alphanum. key]	Select the next file whose name starts with that letter or number

0	Backspace key	Browse to parent folder

1	Del	Delete all currently selected files (Recycle Bin)

2	Shift+Del	Delete all currently selected files (NO Recycle Bin, ie. they are nuked!)

3	F2	Start File Rename procedure for the currently focused file in ListView

4	Ctrl+left arrow	(find results only) jump to currently focused file in its folder

5	Alt+Return	Show Properties dialog of the focused item (AltGr+Return  to avoid beep sound)

Tabbed Info Panel

Ctrl+Tab	Cycle thru Info Panel tabs (forward)

0	Ctrl+Shift+Tab	Cycle thru Info Panel tabs (backward)

File Find

Return	Start File Find when any control on the find files tab is focused (except the textbox on the Contained Text tab, where this key just creates a new paragraph).

0	Esc	Abort a running File Find or Folder Report process

Audio/Video Preview

Space bar	Start/Stop playing.

0	Shift+Space bar	Restart from beginning

Full Screen Preview

PageUp/Down	Previous/Next image

0	Home/End	First/Last image

1	Numpad * (multiply)	Toggle show/hide filename

2	Numpad - (minus)	Toggle background color

3	Numpad + (plus)	Toggle zoom/original size

4	Print	Screen shot

5	Any other key/button	Close full screen mode

Drag&Drop

Hold Ctrl	Force copying dragged objects

0	Hold Shift	Force moving dragged objects

Other

Ctrl+H	Toggle Hex View / ASCII view in File View

F11	Open focused HTML-file in browser window

0	Shift+F11	Open focused HTML-file in new browser window

Mouse Tricks

Tree View

Right mouse click	On non-folder area: pops up the Favorites context menu.

List View

Dbl-click	On the line numbers column header ("#"), or on the area to the right of all column headers: adjust all column widths to their contents.

0	Right mouse click	On the column headers: pops up the Show Columns context menu.

List View in Thumbnails mode

Left-click on thumb	Mouse Down Blow Up, while mouse button is down.

0	Right-click on thumb	Mouse Down Blow Up, stay up until you hit any key or click it again.

Tabbed Info Panel

Double Click on Splitter	Toggle Info Panel min/max size

0	Ctrl+1, Ctrl+2, etc.	Select Tab 1, 2 etc.

Copying Infos to Clipboard

As rule of thumb, any text or icon you see anywhere on the info panel or the status bar can be copied to the clipboard by double-clicking it. Some special cases are extensions to this rule:

0	DblClick on the Objects-section on the status bar (the left-most section) copies summary information on the current folder, eg:

1	D:\Download\, 145 object(s), Total: 13.29MB (13,935,798 bytes)

2	DblClick on a Key label on the General File Info and Version tabs copies the key and the value. eg:

3	Created: Wednesday, January 12, 2000 20:57:21

4	DblClick on a Value label on the General File Info and Version tabs copies just the value. eg:

5	Wednesday, January 12, 2000 20:57:21

Image Preview

Mouse actions directly on the preview image:

0	Left mouse down	Popup image in original size (aligned to the bottom-left). If image is larger than the main window move the mouse while holding it down to scroll the image in any direction.

1	Ctrl+Mouse down	Toggle zoom/original size

2	Right mouse click	Enter full screen mode. To exit full screen mode press any button or key.

Audio/Video Preview

Mouse actions directly on the  progress bar:

0	Left mouse down	Toggle pause/play

1	Right mouse down	Play from mouse position

2	Shift+mouse	Restart from beginning


Backup

0	Where to find the command

You find the backup command only in right-click context menus:

0	Backup Here in the drag&drop context menu (popped up when dropping files dragged with the right-mouse button). The Backup Here [create Backup.log] command does the same as above, but creates a log-file (see below).

1	Backup To in the file context menu (which as well available in the main window menu when any files are selected).

2	All those commands offer exactly the same operation and differ only in the way you choose your target. And, when you do it via drag&drop, you additionally have the choice not to create a log-file.

The laws of backup

First, copy only those files that need to be copied.

If a file does not exist in the target location, it will be copied.

0	If a file does exist in the target location, the target file will be overwritten only if it is older than the source file.

Second, recreate the folder structure of the source.

The folder structure of the backup will be an exact image of the source's folder structure.

Third, have a documentation of the backup.

A log-file is created for every backup operation triggered via the Backup To or Backup Here [create Backup.log] commands, where every single file operation is exactly documented. You are prompted for the log-file's name in the statdard Save As dialog. The preset default name is automatically generated from the date/time the operation started (eg Backup_2000-03-25_18-23-44.txt) ans the default location is the current directory.

Example of a backup log-file:

0	Backup from 25.03.00 18:21:12

1	Source: E:\VB-Don\TestFiles\

2	Target: E:\VB-Don\TestFiles\Api\

3	   26 copied

4	    0 overwritten

5	    0 not overwritten

6	    0 failed

7	   26 total

8

9	Copy E:\VB-Don\TestFiles\Drag&Drop\Roma.ico

10	  -> E:\VB-Don\TestFiles\Api\Drag&Drop\Roma.ico

11	Copy E:\VB-Don\TestFiles\Drag&Drop\Dos.txt

12	  -> E:\VB-Don\TestFiles\Api\Drag&Drop\Dos.txt

13	[etc.]


Rich Copy/Move
Rich copy: copy/move find results keeping the folder structure

0	"Rich copy" ...

... hm, I'm still in need of a handy term for the feature described on this page. A free copy of TrackerV3 for the first user who comes up with it!

Copy/move find results keeping the folder structure

"Rich copy" is a highly useful feature for archiving file find results: by this command you can copy/move files to a destination along with the folder structure that the files are in, ie whatever directories are needed are automatically created under the destination path. Thereby you get a perfect image of the files in their original location.

0	You find the "Rich copy" commands only in the drag&drop context menu. To do a "Rich copy", drag the selected files from the find results list to the destination in TreeView using the right mouse button: on drop, a popup menu will give you the choice between normal and rich operations.

1	 "Rich copy" only works with files, not with folders. And, it's only meaningful when your File Find includes subfolders, else there is no folder structure present in the find results.

Target folder structure

The target folder created by "Rich copy" structure is defined by the path where you started the File Find and the target path of your copy/move operation. Example: let's say you do an "Rich Copy" of just one file, which you have found by doing a find starting in J:\Test\MyStuff\, and you drag&drop this file to E:\MyStuffArchive\, the new folder Dir1\ is created under the destination folder and the file is copied there.

Source: J:\Test\MyStuff\Dir1\Bvb.ico

0	Target: E:\MyStuffArchive\Dir1\Bvb.ico

As you see, for every file in the find results, the File Find start path is replaced by the target path of the operation.

0	If the File Find started in MyComputer, the drive letter of the found files is converted into a folder, eg:

Source: [MyComputer]J:\Test\MyStuff\Dir1\Bvb.ico

0	Target: E:\MyStuffArchive\J\Test\MyStuff\Dir1\Bvb.ico

Tip

If you're short of time and expect very large numbers of found files (> 10,000), it is recommended to exclude Directories from the search (by setting the attribute checkboxes on the Attribute Tab to Directory/Not) to fasten up the operation slightly. (The reason is, that Windows copies/moves directories with their contents, but you don't want that in this situation, since those contents probably do not match your find filters. Therefore "Rich Copy" scans the list of your selected files and removes all directories from it before starting the actual operation, and this takes a little time).


Copying files: comparative overview
Copying files with TrackerV3

There are 3 different file copy commands in TrackerV3, so here's a quick comparative overview.

Copy

The standard Windows file copy operation (the only copy Explorer can do).

0	Source: all currently selected files/folders in ListView (normal browse or find results), or the currently selected folder in TreeView.

1	Target: all files contained in the source are copied to one and the same target folder. Any folders contained in the source are created below the target folder including all their contents.

2	Prompts: when a file or folder with the same name already exists in the target location, you are asked whether you want to overwrite the existing item. Your choices are Yes, Yes to All, No, or Cancel. If you answer Yes or No, you will be asked again every time this happens.

3	Issue 1: since there is no No to all button you'll have a hard time clicking Yes or No when doing a large synchronize job. This issue is one of the reasons why there's the Backup command (see below).

4	Issue 2: when using this command on find results of a recursive file find (subfolders included), the operation might lead to unwanted results: first, if the copy cargo contains files of the same name (eg. you might have found a lot of "index.htm" files in various locations), you'll face the overwrite prompt for every non-first file of the same name, since Copy puts all files to one and the same location; second, if the copy cargo contains folders, all their contents will be copied, too, although they probably do not all match your find criteria. This issue is one of the reasons why there's the Rich copy command (see below).

Backup

Details of this command are described here.

0	Source: same as Copy above.

1	Target: all files contained in the source are copied to their relative path below the target folder (any needed subfolders are automatically created along the way).

2	Prompts: no prompts. If a file of the same name is found in the target location, it is only overwritten when it is older than the source file.

3	Issues: this command avoids Issue 1 (above).

Rich copy

A special command only available in TrackerV3: copy find results along with their original folder structure. Details are described here.

0	Source: all currently selected files/folders in ListView, but only when find results are displayed.

1	Target: all files contained in the source are copied to their relative path below the target folder (any needed subfolders are automatically created along the way). Any folders contained in the source are automatically removed from the copy cargo, assuming that you don't want to copy their contents, too, because they probably do not all match your find criteria (and if they do, they are listed as files in the result listing anyway).

2	Prompts: same as Copy above.

3	Issues: this command avoids Issue 2 (above).


File Menu

0	File Menu Commands

Info To Clipboard

Copy various file informations to the clipboard.

Details

Rename Special

Some rename routines applying to all currently selected files. Be aware, that there is no undo to automatically reverse any of the following renamings.

0	The first three entries let you change the case of file names:

1	Aaaa.aaa Proper case (capitalize each word in filename, where a blank separates words).

2	aaaa.aaa All lower case

3	AAAA.AAA All upper case

Note	This is not a real file rename since Windows treats file names case-insensitive – it just concerns name display.

0	Note	Windows displays file names which are set to all caps (AAAA.AAA) invariably in "proper case" (ie Aaaa.aaa) if they conform to the DOS 8.3 name standard (8 chars-dot-3 chars), ie if they are short file names.

1	Note	Some system files and files in system folders cannot be renamed (you'll get an error message if you try).

*.html,*.shtml,*.shtm to *.htm Standardize HTML doc extensions.

0	Spaces to _ replaces spaces in long file names by underscore.

1	Replace Umlauts ä to ae, Ö to Oe, ß to ss, etc. (greetings to Germany)

2	Convert to DOS Name: converts a (long or short) filename to it's Windows DOS name (8.3 name standard, as shown for each focused file on the General File Info tab).

Move To

Move currently selected files to a predefined destination folder. You can target folders not listed by selecting the Browse... command; they'll be added to the top of the list.

Copy To

Copy currently selected files to a predefined destination folder. The list of folders is the same as in the Backup To command. Browse... see Move To.

Backup To

Backup currently selected files to a predefined destination folder. The list of folders is the same as in the Copy To command. Browse... see Move To.

Exit

Exit program, and return to the desktop.


Info to Clipboard Menu

Info to Clipboard Menu Commands

0	Section 1:

1	The following 3 commands are applied to all selected files. If more than one file is selected, each item iin the copy string is terminated by a line feed (thus generating a vertical list). If only one item is selected, no line feed is appended to it.

Name

Copy file name (no path), eg:

0	TrackerV3.exe

Name, bytes, modified[, version]

Copy file name (no path) and basic info, eg:

0	TrackerV3.exe, 543,232 bytes, 19.01.00 15:20:10, ver 3.01.0017

Name, bytes, modified[, version], path

Copy file name and basic info incl. path, eg:

0	TrackerV3.exe, 543,232 bytes, 19.01.00 15:20:10, ver 3.01.0017, E:\VB-Don\TrackerV3\

0	Section 2:

1	The following 5 commands are applied to only the focused file (the file marked by the dotted focus line).

Filename with path

Copy file name with path, eg:

0	E:\VB-Don\TrackerV3\TrackerV3.exe

Compact File Info

Eg: TrackerV3.exe, 543,232 bytes, 19.01.00 15:20:10, ver 3.01.0017

0	This is equivalent to Name, bytes, modified[, version] (see above)

Extended File Info

Example

Large Icon

Copy bitmap of the large icon (32x32) of the focused file. Transparent areas are set to window background color (typically white).

Small Icon

Copy bitmap of the small icon (16x16) of the focused file. Transparent areas are set to window background color (typically white).

0	Section 3:

Selected Rows

Copy all selected rows of the ListView as currently shown in the list

All Rows

Copy all rows of the ListView as currently shown in the list


Drag&Drop Context Menu

0	Drag&Drop Context Menu Commands

Move Here

Move dragged stuff to drop location.

Copy Here

Copy dragged stuff to drop location.

Copy/Move Here As...

Allows you to create a renamed copy of the dragged file. The command is available only if exactly one file is drag-dropped, resp., when triggered by keyboard, applies only to the focused file. If source and target path/file are identical, the copy is auto-renamed to "Copy of OriginalName" (auto-rename scheme varies depending on OS locale).

0	Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+S (think "Save As...")

Copy/Move Here With Suffix Number

Creates an auto-serial-numbererd duplicate of the dragged file. The command is available only if exactly one file is drag-dropped, resp., when triggered by keyboard, applies only to the focused file. Examples:

0	  My.txt => My-01.txt

1	  My.txt => My-02.txt (if My-01.txt already exists)

2	  My.txt => My-03.txt (if My-01.txt and My-02.txt already exist)

3	  etc.

4	Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+D (think "Duplicate")

Copy/Move Here to New Subfolder

Usage:

•	  select any number of files

•	  right-drag them somewhere

•	  click "Move (Copy) Here to New Subfolder..." in context menu

•	  dialog opens, enter new folder name, click OK

•	  this folder is now created under the dragged-to folder...

•	  ... and the selected files are moved (copied) into it

This command works also in Find Results mode. In this mode the operations are "rich", ie the relative folder structure of the source is recreated in the target. Why: else same-named files from different subfolders would want to overwrite each other in the target. Note that "rich" operations are possible with files only, not with folders -- logical when you think about it.

There's a default name for the new folder given, and it's made from the "Folder0" template you defined in the INI file because you are hardcore:

  [NewTemplates]

  Folder0=yyyymmdd

Rich Move Here [keeping folder structure]

Move dragged stuff to drop location, recreating the source's folder structure in the destination folder. This command is only available in this context menu and only when dragging find results. See details.

Rich Copy Here [keeping folder structure]

Move dragged stuff to drop location, recreating the source's folder structure in the destination folder. This command is only available in this context menu and only when dragging find results. See details.

Backup Here

Backup dragged stuff to drop location. See details.

Backup Here [create Backup.log]

Same as above, but a detailed log file documenting the backup operation is created. See details.

Create Folder(s) Here

Drag a folder (or several folders) onto a target location and create a copy of this folder without any of its contents in the target location. It's the flat version of "Create Branche(s) Here" (below). Very handy feature to quickly create some folders by simply drag-dropping them to their birth-place.

Create Branch(es) Here

Drag a folder (or several folders) onto a target location and create a copy of this folder and all nested folders below it in the target location, without copying any contained files. What you get is a perfect copy of a tree structure, completely empty.

Note	This operation obviously will only work when you drag folders, not just files. If you forget, you will be kindly reminded.

Cancel

Abort drag&drop operation.


Edit Menu

Edit Menu Commands

New

Create new folder or new textfile in current folder.

Choose the date-named variants of the commands to auto-name the created folder or textfile to the current date, eg:

2000-03-05.txt

Copy Path

Copy current path to clipboard.

Copy Path Info

Copy summary information on the current folder to clipboard, eg:

D:\Download\, 145 object(s), Total: 13.29MB (13,935,798 bytes)

Full Collapse

Fully collapse the current folder (ie fold all nodes below the current node).

Shortcut: Shift+left arrow

Full Expand

Fully expand the current folder (ie unfold all nodes below the current node).

Shortcut: Shift+right arrow

Select All Files

Selects all files currently listed

Shortcut: Ctrl+A

Invert Selection

Selects all unselected files, unselects all selected files

Find Files

Just opens the Find Files tab on the Info Panel. This item serves mainly the purpose of TrackerV3 being compatible with the Ctrl+F shortcut commonly employed by programs to open Find dialogs.

Shortcut: Ctrl+F

Find Now

Starts File Find with the current parameter setting, starting in the current folder.

Shortcut: F3

Refresh Folder

Updates the currently selected folder in TreeView.

Shortcut: F4

Refresh File List

Updates the contents of the currently selected folder in ListView

Shortcut: F5

Refresh Icons

Updates the contents of the currently selected folder in ListView and the icons. Sometimes, when several heavy-duty tasks are busy simultaneously, Windows decides to reorganize the internal system icon list. When this happens, TrackerV3 can get confused with the icon-to-filetype mapping. When this happens, apply this command.


View Menu

View Menu Commands

Show Panel

Show/hide the Info Panel.

Shortcut: F12

Show Columns

Line Numbers: show line numbers in the left-most column.

Thumbnails: show/hide Thumbnails.

[Column Name]: show/hide this column in ListView.

Show All: yes, show all columns.

Adjust all widths: You always could auto-adjust a file list column's width by dbl-clicking the little gap right of the column header. Now, you can adjust the width of all columns by one dbl-click on the dead-zone right of all column headers. This zone however is not visible when the horizontal scrollbar is active: no problem, there's a new menu command, too, at the bottom of the View|Show Columns menu.

Default Sequence Reset the sequence of columns to factory settings.

Sort By

Set currently sorted column in ListView.

Original Order Show order as is in the FAT (file allocation table)

Size Format

Set file size display format for the size column in ListView.

Raw Bytes Count Pure byte count, no suffix, no thousand separators. This format is useful when you create reports that shall be further processed by software that cannot deal with thousand separators.

Bytes Exact bytes, no suffix (would just take away space)

KB rounded KBs are rounded as in Explorer

KB, MB, GB Size with 2-digit accuracy

Flexible Byte counts are given in the most easy-to-read unit (ie "bytes", "KB", "MB", "GB" depend on the actual number):

Flexible rounded, like Flexible but with rounded KBs, example:

Clusters Number of clusters actually used by a file on this drive

Date Format

Adjust date display format in ListView to your preferences.

Adjust time display format in ListView to your preferences.

Age: show the age of files in days, hours, or minutes. Try it and you'll keep it!

Shortcut: F8

Note 	Accessed date shows "today" for files younger than 24 hours if you opted for "no time" in configuration. Win9x has no better resolution for this date type. Never mind the semantic weirdness of this date format ("Modified 441 days", "Accessed today"), you'll get along...

Style Tree

Adjust TreeView to your preferences.

Style List

Adjust ListView to your preferences.

Alternate Color for Find Results Set a special backcolor to ListView when it shows file find results. The main reason for this color business is that it helps you distinguish browse mode from find results mode easily. There's no color selection interface to keep the program small and fast. Your only choice is between standard window background color (unchecked) and a sort of blue-green (checked).

If you don't like this color, you can hard-set another color in TrackerV3.ini (details).

Font...

Choose the font (face, size, weight etc.) for TreeView and ListView.

Reset View to Defaults

Resets all settings of the View Menu to factory defaults.


Go Menu

Go Menu Commands

Previous Path: jump to the previous location (useful to zap back and fore between two locations).

Go to Path...: enter/paste a location (a path) to jump to. You can as well enter a path/file name to jump

      directly to a specific file in that path.

Go to Line...: enter/paste a line number to jump to.

[History]: contains your recent browse history. The first/oldest entry is at the top, the last/newest at the bottom. The history stores up to 24 entries and remembers them between sessions.

Going back and forward

Works just like you know it from common browsers or Active Desktop:

Shortcuts: Alt+left arrow (back), Alt+right arrow (forward).

To go back and forward with the mouse, click on the small arrow icons you find on the right-most part of the statusbar. If there's no white stuff visible in the icon, then there's nowhere to go in that direction.

Right-clicking either of these icons pops up the Go menu.

There's also a tooltip for each of these icons showing you where a click will lead you to.

Remember the previous scroll position in history

Normally, when switching to another folder, the top index of the file list is reset to line 1. History can optionally remember the previous scroll position and focus position of the file list. You can thus easily jump back and fore between two large directories without needing to scroll down to the files you want to see in each of the lists. To enable this behavior, check the corresponding checkbox in the configuration window (General tab).


Favorites Menu

Favorites Menu Commands

Favorite Files

All files you have previously defined as favorite files (Ctrl+R). You can directly jump to any file by a single click.

Special Folders

Drives: browse to MyComputer. Invokes the Drives mode: the ListView now displays various information on your local logical hard drives. (This command is equivalent to clicking the MyComputer Icon in TreeView.)

Desktop: browse to the desktop folder.

Windows Folder: browse to the windows folder.

System Folder: browse to the windows system folder.

Temp Folder: browse to the windows temporary folder.

[Favorites]: All locations you have previously defined as favorites.

Toggle Favorite Folder: (un)marks Folder as favorite (either by bold face, or by an overlay icon: configure this in  menu View/Style Tree). Favorite Folders are added to the Favorites Listing within this menu. When you rename a favorite folder the favorites are automatically updated now so that the link is kept alive. Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+B.

Toggle Hilited Folder: throws a hilite (color configurable) on the current folder. It's 8 pixels wider than the selection rectangle to keep it visible when the folder is selected.Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+H.

Toggle Boxed Branch: draws a light gray rectangle on the background of the whole branch. Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+O.

Note	The Favorites menu pops up when right-click anywhere in the free area (not on a folder) of the TreeView.


Tools Menu

Tools Menu Commands

Automatic File Find When Browsing

If checked, file find with the current parameters automatically starts when you select a folder or drive in TreeView. This option can for example be used to invoke a "See all files" mode when all find filters are disabled, ie you'll get a list of all files below the current folder including subfolders. Or you can do selective browsing, for example if you're only interested in icon files, set the name filter to "*.ico" and all you gonna see is icons. Note: this setting is not remembered between session, assuming you will never want to start the program with a possibly large find operation.

Configuration...

Open the configuration window.

Shortcut: F9


Help Menu

Help Menu Commands

Help Topics

Displays this help file.

About...

Opens About window.

Register...

Opens registration dialog, where you can enter your name and reg-code to upgrade to the professional license.

This item is only shown in the non-registered version.


Small Fonts/Large Fonts

TrackerV3 is designed for "Small Fonts" (Desktop: Display/Settings). From v3.00.0115 onwards "Large Fonts" are supported, but there *might* be still areas of the display which are not rendered correctly in "Large Fonts" mode. In such a case let me know.


Bug Reports

It might be fixed already

If your version of the program is more than a week old, chances are that you're not the first who spotted the bug. Since I usually fix bugs immediately and upload the fixed version to the upgrade section of TrackerV3's homepage within a few days, you might check there first. On this homepage you also find a detailed history of changes, additions, and bug fixes.

TrackerV3 in trouble

If you get a bug, an error message, a crash, or some other suspicious event ... please let me know! To help me locating the problem, give me any information on the problem's context that you think might be relevant, especially:

What's the problem?

What did you do when the problem happened?

Can you reproduce the problem (if you dare)?

If you got an error message, what was it saying?

What exact version of TrackerV3 are you using?

What operating system are you running?

What's the language of your system?

Is your computer part of a network neighborhood?

Thanks for your collaboration!

If your problem turns out to really be a (new) bug, i'll try to fix it and you'll get a professional license of TrackerV3 for free (if you still want it <g>)! If you're a registered user already, you'll get all future upgrades for nothing! So, look out ...

Send bug reports by email

support2@trackerv3.com


Contact
Contact and Web Site

Send comments, wish lists, bug reports, praise, money, food to:

Mail

Donald Lessau

Moltkestr. 83

D-50674 Köln/Cologne, Deutschland/Germany

Email (click this link to open your email client):

support2@trackerv3.com

Homepage

Find the latest version and information here. The site is updated frequently.

http://www.trackerv3.com

User Forum

Feel free to join the TrackerV3 User Forum:

http://www.trackerv3.com/forum/

TrackerV3 Evolution Department (TED)

The TrackerV3 think tank:

http://www.trackerv3.com/ted/

Check for upgrades once in a while...

Due to lots of user feedback, TrackerV3 is developing at a rapid step. If you are a registered user, you might check in once in a while to get your free upgrade.


Copyright

TrackerV3

Copyright © 2000-04 Donald Lessau. All Rights Reserved.


Disclaimer

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY

This program is distributed as is. The author (Donald Lessau) makes no warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchant ability or fitness for a particular purpose, with respect to this software and documentation. In no event shall the author be liable for any damages, including lost profits, lost savings, or any other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use of or the inability to use this program.

By using the above mentioned program you acknowledge that you have read this disclaimer of warranty, understand it, and agree to be bound by its terms and conditions. You also agree that the limited warranty is the complete and exclusive statement of agreement between the parties and supersede all proposals or prior agreements, oral or written, and any other communications between the parties relating to the subject matter of the limited warranty.

Donald Lessau, Cologne 2004


Registration
Registration: purchasing a professional license

TrackerV3 is freeware for non-commercial use

You have the choice between the home license or the professional license. Both of these licenses provide you with all features, without any restrictions or time limits. The home license, which is free of charge, is reserved for private use, educational use, and non-profit use only. A professional license, however, is needed for commercial use in the corporate, government or business environment. It is illegal to use TrackerV3 in the corporate, government or business environment with just a home license.

Additional Benefits for registered users include

•	You'll receive the latest version of the software

•	Free support by electronic mail

•	Optionally you will be informed of any updates and improvements

•	You'll get minor upgrades for free, major upgrades at discounted prices

•	Your personal wishes will be considered in product evolution

Versions

•	Standard version. The version described in this help file.

•	Professional version. Provides additional features on demand: TrackerV3Pro is an extension of TrackerV3 customized to your individual specifications. This can include built-in automation of whatever routines you need, integration with standard database formats, cross-platform compatible reporting, ... you name it.

Single Copy Prices

•	Home license: free.

•	Professional license: see http://www.trackerv3.com for current prices.

Site License Pricing

A site license for TrackerV3 entitles an organization to receive one copy of the distribution package and duplicate the software as necessary for use within the organization on the specified number of computers. See http://www.trackerv3.com for current prices.

Ordering/registration/payment

On TrackerV3's homepage you find details and links to secure online-registration (secure credit card orders on the Internet using VISA, EUROCARD/MASTERCARD, DINERS, or AMERICAN EXPRESS).

Upgrading your license

You will receive your personal registration code per email (unless otherwise wanted) within 3 work days after your payment is confirmed. The registration dialog is located under the Help-menu in TrackerV3.

Thank you for your support!


Mouse down on progress bar

Left mouse	Toggle pause/play

Right mouse	Play from mouse position

Shift+mouse	Restart


Mouse on previewed image

Left mouse down	Pop up image in original size

Ctrl+Mouse down	Toggle zoom/original size

Right mouse click	Enter full screen mode

Keys in full screen preview

PageUp/Down	Previous/Next image

Home/End	First/Last image

Numpad * (multiply)	Toggle show/hide filename

Numpad - (minus)	Toggle background color

Numpad + (plus)	Toggle zoom/original size

Print	Screen shot

Any other key/button	Close full screen mode


File View: selecting and copying lines

Selecting works line-wise: to un/select a line simply left-click it. Hold the Shift-key to multi-select larger zones.

While you cannot select individual strings as in an editor, you can select as many different lines as you like, and then copy them to the clipboard in one block.

Copy a single line by dbl-clicking it (no need to select it first).

Extract Text

Scans binary files for text portions. Check International to include French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Scandinavian, and Spanish special characters.


Clipboard

If you don't know what the Clipboard is, TrackerV3 is probably not for you! Never mind...


Info Panel

That's the lower part of the main window with all those tabs (if you don't see it press F12).


TreeView

That's the left part of the main window where all the folders are listed.


ListView

That's the right part of the main window where all the files are listed when you browse thru your folders (Browse Mode). It is also where the results of a file find are listed (Find Mode).


MyComputer Icon

That's the top node of the TreeView.


Folder Contents Report (Tree Structure), example:

I:\Web.Jobs\XBeat

··· bitbull

    ··· images

··· Download

··· hck

    ··· Images

··· Images

··· Menu

··· quiz

    ··· images

··· Scripts

··· Sound

··· System

··· TrackerV3

··· webdesign

    ··· images


Folder Contents Report, example:

====================================================================================

E:\VB-Don\TrackerV3\*.*

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

History.txt                             4,978   20.01.2000 18:12:04

Install.txt                             2,448   17.01.2000 15:52:28

New.txt                                   561   17.01.2000 17:49:54

Readme.txt                              2,507   17.01.2000 15:51:52

Report                          <DIR>           23.12.1999 21:40:50

TrackerV3.cnt                           1,021   17.01.2000 16:49:58

TrackerV3.exe                         544,256   20.01.2000 18:07:04   ver 3.01.0018

TrackerV3.GID                          10,846   19.01.2000 13:26:58

TrackerV3.hlp                          71,172   17.01.2000 16:53:48

TrackerV3.ini                           3,183   20.01.2000 18:32:12

TrackerV3.zip                         267,053   17.01.2000 20:36:42

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10 file(s), 1 folder(s)               908,025 bytes                      [20-Jan-00]

====================================================================================


Folder Contents Report to CSV file, example of a CSV file. The first line has the column headers. The lines are quite long naturally, for display reasons they are shown wrapped below. Remember that this stuff is made to be read by machines.

Name,DOS Name,Type,Location,Size,Space Used,Clusters,Created,Modified,Accessed,Attributes,File Version,Description,Copyright,Character Set,Comments,Company Name,Internal Name,Language,Legal Trademarks,OLESelfRegister,Original Filename,Product Name,Product Version,Extra Info,Fixed Type,Fixed File Version,Fixed Product Version,Fixed File Flags,Fixed Target OS

Install.log,INSTALL.LOG,Log,C:\Programme\TrackerV3\,1397,16384,1,22.01.2002 15:01:55,24.01.2002 03:35:56,24.01.2002,----A---,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Readme.txt,README.TXT,Textdatei,C:\Programme\TrackerV3\,4050,16384,1,24.01.2002 03:35:55,24.01.2002 03:33:58,24.01.2002,----A---,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

TrackerV3.cnt,TRACKE~1.CNT,Help Contents File,C:\Programme\TrackerV3\,1615,16384,1,24.01.2002 03:35:55,27.04.2000 14:34:16,24.01.2002,----A---,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

TrackerV3.exe,TRACKE~1.EXE,Anwendung,C:\Programme\TrackerV3\,729600,737280,45,24.01.2002 03:35:55,24.01.2002 03:31:52,24.01.2002,----A---,3.20.0091,Advanced File System Explorer,Copyright © 2000-02 by Donald Lessau,Unicode,"On the fly file info, extended file find, file system reports, multimedia preview, file view",www.trackerv3.com,TrackerV3,Deutsch (Deutschland),,,TrackerV3.exe,TrackerV3 Standard,3.20.0091,,Application,3.20.00.91,3.20.00.91,(none),32-bit Windows

TrackerV3.hlp,TRACKE~1.HLP,Help File,C:\Programme\TrackerV3\,181878,196608,12,24.01.2002 03:35:55,04.09.2000 15:59:08,24.01.2002,----A---,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

TrackerV3.ini,TRACKE~1.INI,Konfigurationseinstellungen,C:\Programme\TrackerV3\,1920,16384,1,22.01.2002 15:01:51,22.01.2002 15:11:18,22.01.2002,----A---,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Unwise32.exe,UNWISE32.EXE,Anwendung,C:\Programme\TrackerV3\,109056,114688,7,24.01.2002 03:35:55,03.07.1997 09:35:04,24.01.2002,----A---,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,


Report List, example:

Report                         Dateiordner                  23.12.99 21:40:50    23.12.99 21:40:50    23.12.99

Help.txt                  6KB  Textdatei                    03.12.99 19:54:23    11.01.00 13:28:40    16.01.00

History.txt               5KB  Textdatei                    20.09.99 17:37:08    16.01.00 11:32:02    16.01.00

Install.txt               4KB  Textdatei                    03.12.99 14:44:11    22.12.99 21:43:42    15.01.00

Readme.txt               13KB  Textdatei                    20.08.99 11:23:38    22.12.99 23:07:34    15.01.00

Readme-301.txt            1KB  Textdatei                    22.12.99 23:00:48    24.12.99 11:31:18    14.01.00

TrackerV3.cnt             1KB  Help Contents File           15.01.00 23:56:14    15.01.00 19:53:40    15.01.00

TrackerV3.exe           526KB  Anwendung                    18.09.99 23:34:34    15.01.00 23:55:50    16.01.00

TrackerV3.GID            11KB  GID File                     15.01.00 23:56:13    16.01.00 00:02:44    16.01.00

TrackerV3.hlp            78KB  Hilfedatei                   15.01.00 23:56:14    15.01.00 23:07:26    16.01.00

TrackerV3.ini             3KB  Konfigurationseinstellungen  23.09.99 16:39:19    16.01.00 20:49:24    16.01.00

TrackerV3.zip           209KB  WinZip File                  14.01.00 16:04:41    14.01.00 16:04:40    14.01.00

TrackerV3-114.zip       200KB  WinZip File                  15.12.99 00:51:35    15.12.99 00:51:34    22.12.99


Extended File Info, example:

Name: TrackerV3.exe

DOS name: TRACKE~1.EXE

Type: Anwendung

Location: E:\TrackerV3\

Size: 698.00KB (714,752 bytes)

Space used: 704.00KB (720,896 bytes), 44 clusters

Created: 07.04.2000 22:45:53

Modified: 07.04.2000 22:45:54

Accessed: 09.04.2000

Attributes: Archive

File version: 3.10.0045

Description: Advanced File System Explorer

Copyright: Copyright © 2000 by Donald Lessau

Character Set: Unicode

Comments: On the fly file info, extended file find, file system reports, multimedia preview

Company Name: www.trackerv3.com

Internal Name: TrackerV3

Language: Deutsch (Deutschland)

Original Filename: TrackerV3.exe

Product Name: TrackerV3 Standard

Product Version: 3.10.0045

Type: Application

File version: 3.10.00.45

Prod. version: 3.10.00.45

File flags: (none)

Target OS: 32-bit Windows


12.03.02 18:55 ... just report


Report tab
Report

Overview

You can create two sorts of reports: Current Folder reports are on folders and have basically the format known from the classic DOS directory dump, Current List is on the stuff currently listed in the ListView being either the contents of the current folder or the results of a previous file find.

All reports can be sent to the clipboard, to an ASCII text file, or directly to the printer.

The interface for reports is found on the Report Tab, the fourth tab on the Info Panel. It's subdivided into three tabs:

Current Folder

You have the choice here between quite different things:

Classic directory dump

Mimics the classic DOS way of listing directory contents. Additionally includes file version information for those file who actually got a version info. Example

Version Info: Additionally you can have version information included, and choose between String Version Info (which is more commonly used) and Fixed Version Info (which is claimed to be more exact). This concerns only files that have version resources (*.exe, *.dll, etc.). Note that obtaining version information takes some time: if you don't need it, select No file version.

Extended info to CSV

Export extended file informations of whole directories (or even directory trees) to CSV-formatted files. That means, you can save absolutely all file information that's available on a Windows platform in a well-defined, easily processable, and widely portable file format. It's the documentation junkie's wildest dream come true. Example

CSV stands for "Comma-Separated-Values", a very simple database format which can be read and written by any ASCII editor. CVS-files can be easily imported for example to Excel tables or Access tables or probably any table format existing. This feature makes TrackerV3 a superb tool for exhaustive file system documentation. Will save you not hours but days!

Tree structure only

The other type of folder report mirrors what you see in TreeView. Example

Include subfolders: report includes all subfolders (and their subfolders, etc.) of the current folder. When you do a structure report you would normally check this box.

Tip	Straight Directory Print: choose Classic directory dump, uncheck the Include subfolders checkbox and press the To printer button.

Tip	You can abort a running report process by pressing Esc (Escape Key).

Current List

Reports the ListView as is. That is, the current column order, visibility, and item sort order is exactly reproduced in the report. This report is your choice when you want to document find results or make a detailed snapshot of the current state of your system directory.

Selected items only: kind of self-explaining ...

Output header

Include date now Adds the current date to the top of the report.

Include column headers Adds the column headers to the report.

Include find specs Adds the find parameters of the last File Find to the top the report (does only make sense, when you just made a File Find, of course).

Subitem separator

Tab separate items by Tabs

Other separate items by any chars of your choice

Padd blanks separate items by right-padding blanks: the current column widths are reproduced (as good as it gets) in the report (example).

Tip	Make sure the columns are adjusted to the lengths of their contents to get a straight result with this option (to do this, either dbl-click the line number column header, or choose the Adjust All Widths command from the column headers context menu).

Note	to users of version 3.01: the reporting functions were completely rewritten and gained dramatically in speed: a report on several thousand files will just take a few seconds now.


05.03.00 00:35 ... just configuration


Configuration

Open the Configuration window by menu View|Configuration (shortcut key F9). The interface is organized into three tabs:

General

Show floppy drives

Check this box if you want to see rarely used Floppy drives (A: and B:) in the TreeView (useful to reduce hardware access).

Show hidden files and folders

Uncheck if you don't wnat to see hidden system folders like "System Volume Information" and "Recycler" or files like "C:\boot.ini" or "desktop.ini". Operations on these items are often disallowed by the system or dangerous.

If hidden, those items won't also be found by a search nor listed in reports.

Show Nethood

Uncheck to hide the often unused Network Neighborhood node.

Show Accessed date only (no time)

Note that Win95/98 do not provide the time part of the Accessed date, whereas Win NT does. If you're running Win95/98 and tired of seeing all those 00:00:00 times under Accessed, check this box.

Sort folders apart

Check this to make TrackerV3 behave like Explorer in sorting folders apart from files. Uncheck it if you want everything in one alphabet.

Auto-Refresh on File system Changes

Automatic refresh (of tree and list) on file system changes. You don't need to press F5 anymore to get an impression of reality.

Remember previous scroll position in history

History (Go menu) can optionally remember the previous scroll position and focus position of the file list. If this box is checked you can easily jump back and fore between two large directories without needing to scroll down to the files you want to see in each of the lists.

Show relative path in find results

Show only the relative path in the find results path column (relative to the search path). This is very useful when you do recursive file finds starting somewhere deep down the folder hierarchy when otherwise the path column would be stuffed with redundant information.

Show folder size in General File Info

Show Size (total contents bytes sum), Space used and Contents for folders on the General File Info tab. This feature has to be explicitly activated in configuration since for large deeply nested folders it takes some time to gather this info.

TrackerV3 in shell context menu

To integrate TrackerV3 with the Windows shell check the "Track..." in shell context menu while TrackerV3 is running. The new item "Track..." will then appear in the shell context menu for drives and folders. By selecting "Track...", TrackerV3 will open this drive or folder.

To remove TrackerV3 from the shell context menu simply uncheck the "Track..." in shell context menu checkbox.

Save Settings on Exit

Well, kind of self-explaining...

Report

Output File Options

When you want to send your report to file you find some options here regarding the default file name (the name preset in the Save As dialog).

Default name to "[Current folder].txt": automatically generates a default file name from the currently browsed folder, quite useful to automate archiving find results.

Date/time as file name suffix: save the current report to a file whose name will carry the exact time when the report was created, eg Report_1999-12-23_21-09-33.txt.

Append to existing file: appends the current report to the file you select in the Save As dialog. If the file does not exist it will be created.

Preview

Zoom smaller originals to fit Image/Video preview area

Images that are smaller than the preview area (under standard display settings 320x160 pixel), for example icons and cursors, are zoomed to fill up the space available.

Grid under transparent areas

GIFs, WMFs (Windows Meta File), Icons and Cursors can have transparent areas where the background shines through. If you check this box you see a grid pattern where an image is transparent. (Else transparent areas would be just gray, which happens to be the background color of the preview area, and you could not distinguish transparent areas from gray areas in the image.)

Border style options

Choose border style for image and Audio/Video preview. Just a look & feel thing.

Black background

Checked: black, unchecked: gray (button face color) background.

Zoom smaller originals

Images that are smaller than the screen area are zoomed to fill up the space available.

Show file name

File name of the displayed image is shown in the top-left corner of the screen.

Enable server mappings

See HTML preview.

Previewed Formats

TrackerV3 attempts to preview all checked file types you see in the two lists. What formats actually work is dependent on the configuration of your local system (what Windows version, what version of Media Player is installed, what version of Internet Explorer is installed).

If you experience problems with a certain format, uncheck it in the list, and it will not be previewed.

No videos at all: check to exclude all video formats from preview (which is the default factory setting). This setting supersedes the selections in the list above.

See also Audio/Video: supported file formats.

File Info Tips

File Info Tips: extensive file information (depending on file type and individual file up to 35 fields!) pops up when you move the mouse over a filename's icon in the list view. This feature is restricted to Win2K and WinXP and works only on NTFS volumes. You can configure what information you want to see. Contrary to Microsoft  Explorer, longer entries (eg the user-editable "Comments" field; you can edit these fields in each file's properties dialog) are not cut off (up to 259 chars per field are shown). Plus, as always, TrackerV3 is much faster and smoother than Explorer.

MP3 Info Tips: these tooltips also work for Win98, ME, and NT (not just Win2K and WinXP). A very powerful feature for MP3 fanatics: scan thru your ID3v1.1 tags at the speed of light on mouseover, ie without moving one finger! Another unique TrackerV3 feature.

Initial Delay msec: time in milliseconds between mouseover and popup. Valid values are from 0 thru 9999

.

Thumbnails

To enable/disable thumbnails mode, press Ctrl+F12.

Width/Height: Thumbnail width and height is mildly configurable. You can choose between 128, 96, and 72 pixels for each dimension. When you work a lot with digital photos, which usually have a 4:3 proportion, a setting of width=96 and height=72 is perfect for you: more visible rows in the file list, and about 25% smaller cache files. Note, that the cache files for each of the now 4 possible thumb sizes are kept independently of each other: thus you can switch between thumbnail sizes in a blink -- with Explorer, you have to reboot Windows to do that!

Max size of thumbed originals in square pixels: on slower computer and with cache disabled, this gives you a chance to skip very large files from being thumbed.

Cache thumbs: While the processing on the fly is pretty fast (BTW, it can be aborted at any time by ESC), you can achieve speed of light if you enable the thumbnail caching. Contrary to Explorer, no hidden "thumbs.db" files will be scattered all around your hard disk, but TrackerV3 stores all cache data in one central folder , whose name and location you can chose yourself (button Browse...) (default is a folder "Thumbs" located right under the app's home directory).

... of search results, too: cache as well thumbs of Find Files results.

To refresh the thumbs cache press Ctrl+F5. However, it won't be necessary too often: while TrackerV3 expects and supports user smartness, the cache ain't dumb either and whenever an image file is updated the cached thumb is immediately updated too.


05.03.00 00:35 ... just preview


Preview tab
Multimedia Preview

Preview Tab

The fifth tab on the Info Panel.

Here you get three sorts of multimedia file previews: Image preview, Audio/Video preview, and Font preview (all in the same space since it's always only one of them for any given file).

The number of supported formats stands no comparison to tools specialized on this, however, they are among the most common file types and especially the image preview should be very valuable for web masters who deal with lots of PNGs, GIFs and JPEGs (I know what I'm talkin' about...).

Both previews are invoked by selecting a file in the List View by left-mouse click or keyboard. No preview is shown when you select a file with the right mouse button going for the context menu.

The preview is only active when the preview tab is on top (selected/visible).

Image preview

Shows a thumbnail for PNG, TIFF, GIF,JPG,JPEG,BMP,RLE,ICO,CUR,WMF,DIB, PSD image files. Images larger than the maximal thumbnail size (320x160 pixels under standard display settings) are shrunk to fit.

Image Preview, showing a 32bit XP-icons

Depending on the image format you get various informations:

Size: the original size of the image in pixels, and the size of the thumbnail.

Colors: maximal number of different colors used in the picture (aka color depth).

Area: space used by the image display in square pixels.

Video bytes: number of bytes used up by your video memory when displaying the image in full size. This number is calculated by multiplying the area of the image with the current color depth of your monitor. For example: if your system is set to 32-bit (True color), 4 bytes are used for the display of every pixel.

File size: number of bytes used by the image file.

Compression ratio: tells you the degree of compression of the image file. Percentages below 100 mean that the file is compressed. This number is calculated like this: FileSize / (Width * Height * (BitsPerColor / 8)), where BitsPerColor is the color depth of the image, not of your display.

Hotspot at: (cursor files only) the position (x, y) of the hotspot, that's the pixel of the cursor image that corresponds to the exact mouse position.

Icons contained: (icon files only) number of icons contained in the file. Icon and Cursor files can contain more than one image. (This information is only given when more than image is contained and only for icons, since it's rare to find multiple images in cursors and there the space is used up already by the hotspot information ... i'm waiting for complaints.)

PSD files: PSD files (Photoshop Documents) can include embedded thumbnail previews. Note that with PSD files, you can preview only the embedded thumbnail, not the original sized image.

Popup Menu Button

Copy Compact Info: copy a one-liner describing the currently previewed file to the clipboard.

Copy Extended Info: copy all information available on the currently previewed file to the clipboard.

The following for images only:

Copy Original: copy the image (original size) to the clipboard.

Copy Preview: copy the image (preview size) to the clipboard.

Full Screen: enter full screen mode.

Full screen preview: click the preview image with the right mouse button, and you see the image in full screen mode. If the image is larger than the screen it is shrunk to fit. In configuration you find options regarding background color, zooming, and more.

While in full screen mode, you can use PageUp, PageDown,Home, and End keys to browse thru the images found in the current list. Other keyboard tricks see here.

Mouse Down Blow Up

Showing the preview image in original size: when you move the mouse over the preview image, the cursor changes to something that is meant to mean "Original size". When and while you now hold down the left mouse button the original image pops up. If the image is larger than TrackerV3's window, you can scroll about the image by moving the mouse while holding it down. This feature is called "Mouse Down Blow Up", a revolutionary development of the TrackerV3 Evolution Department (TED).

Audio/Video preview

Plays an audio/video file, and shows various information depending on the format of the file:

Audio Preview

Video Preview

Size: (for videos only) the original size of the video in pixels, and the size of the thumbnail.

Length: [hours:]minutes:seconds  milliseconds

Format: [depends on the type of file] sample rate (Hz), bits per sample, and number of channels (Mono/Stereo), number of tracks (MIDI).

Tracks: (CD-Audio only) well, choose the track you wanna play ...

Additionally you get a progress bar indicating the relative position of the sound currently playing.

The sound progress bar also allows for some interaction:

Left mouse click (or keyboard Space bar) toggle pause/play.

Right mouse click play from here (actually you can do some nice scratching/looping with this feature).

Shift+mouse click (or keyboard Shift+Space bar) restart the sound from beginning.

Snapshot: (video only) copy a bitmap image (preview size) of the current scene to the clipboard (shoot a film still). Note that this works while the video is running or stopped.

Note	You cannot rename, copy, move, or delete an audio/video file while it is playing. The preview is automatically stopped when you start dragging a file.

Audio/Video: supported file formats

Note	The Audio/Video preview covers virtually all multimedia file types your system can deal with: various audio and video formats, including also MIDI, mp3, RealAudio, and CD-Audio. What formats actually work is dependent on the configuration of your local system: the Windows version, what version of Media Player is installed, what version of Internet Explorer is installed. By a rule of thumb you can say: if MediaPlayer can play it, TrackerV3 can play it too.

Unfortunately, the latter is true also in the worst case: what crashes MediaPlayer, probably also crashes TrackerV3. Some formats, particularly RM (RealMedia) and MP3, and, to a lesser extent, MOV and MPEG, come with highly variable formats, and the results are hard to predict.

Up to now, only RM (RealMedia) has been seen to crash TrackerV3.  Although I'm constantly improving on this issue, you can be sure that there are RM-files out there that make trouble. Information is always appreciated.

This said, under an average system, let's say Win98/IE5, TrackerV3 should be able to preview the following file types:

Audio files: WAV, MP3, SND, AU, AIF, AIFC, AIFF

Real Audio files: RA, RM, RAM, RMM

MIDI: MID, RMI

Video for Windows: AVI

MPEG video: MPG, MPEG, MPA, MPE, M1V, MP2, MPV, MPV2

QuickTime Video: MOV, QT

CD Audio: CDA

Tip	To enlarge or shrink the display area, use the horizontal splitter (the 3 pixel high zone right above the Info Panel).

ID3v1.1 tag editing

While previewing an MP3 file you can view and edit its ID3v1.1-tag.

Font preview

Preview for installed or uninstalled  Windows font files. The following types are supported:

*.TTF = TrueType fonts

*.PFM; *.PFB = Type-1 fonts (both files must be present in the same path)

*.FON = Bitmap/raster fonts

Additionally you get some version and copyright information.

With currently installed fonts, the displayed font name is blue.

Activate/deactivate fonts on the fly

You can activate/deactivate fonts on the fly by simply clicking on the bold font name shown in the font preview's info frame. Very comfortable for screen and print designers who often need a bunch fonts for some one-time quick job, and do not wish to go through the awkward font installation procedure provided by Windows while cluttering up their fonts folder with hundreds of never-again-used fonts.

•	The font file to be activated can sit anywhere. Take care however, that you do not move/delete it while it is activated, else you can neither use it nor deactivate it.

•	An activated font file will NOT be copied to the Windows font folder.

•	Deactivation does NOT delete the font file.

•	The activation/deactivation lasts only for the current Windows session -- no files are moved, the registry is not touched.

HTML preview

Preview for files of the following extensions: .htm.html.shtml.mht.php.php3.php4.asp. Advanced users can alter this list by editing the INI file key ExtHTML.

From the HTML preview you can follow links to the internet. It's nothing less than a fully capable browser based on the IE rendering machine.

You can drag pictures from the previewed page to file list: drag with right-mouse or hold CTRL when start dragging to force a copy operation.

Click on "Address/Title" to toggle "Address/Title"

Shift+Click on "Address/Title" to open the page in the default browser.

Configurable server mapping allows you to pass local files through a local web server (eg your local Apache installation; this server must be running, of course) before displaying them in the preview. In Configuration/Preview/HTML Preview:

Check the "Enable server mappings" option.

In the 1st field enter the local file path where documents are stored, for example: D:\wwwroot\.

In the 2nd field enter, for example, http://localhost/ if using a web server installed on the local system that's configured to serve files from the path above. Or enter a remote web server address to preview files that are stored on a remote server. The mapping is a simple string replacement.

Note: HTML preview needs Internet Explorer to be installed.


File View tab
File View

File View Tab

The sixth tab on the Info Panel.

File View displays the contents of ASCII and binary files (the file type is detected automatically).

Display options

ASCII file options

Line #: display line numbers.

Wrap: wrap lines at window border.

Hex mode: show ASCII file in Hex mode.

Binary file options

Extract text: extract text portions out of binary files. The minimal text length is 5 bytes (smaller text portions are not displayed because they are probably junk). The left column shows the offset (start position in file) for each text. Individual texts can be selected and copied (see below). In the header area, the ordinal of the first currently displayed text is shown.

International: extracted text includes French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Scandinavian, and Spanish characters. Useful to grab text from non-english binaries.

Copying lines

Although File View is a viewer, not an editor, there is a handy way to select and copy parts of the displayed files).

Selecting works line-wise: to un/select a line simply left-click it. Hold the Shift-key to multi-select larger zones.

While you cannot select individual strings as in an editor, you can select as many different lines as you like, and then copy them to the clipboard in one block.

Copy a single line by dbl-clicking it (no need to select it first).

The copy command is located in the context menu (right-click the view area).

Note	While a file is opened in Hex or Extract Text mode, you cannot do any file changing operations (delete, move, rename) on it (you'll get an "Access denied" error if you try).

Tip	To enlarge or shrink the display area, use the horizontal splitter (the 3 pixel high zone right above the Info Panel).