When you open Macintosh Explorer you will see some buttons at the top of the main window. These buttons help you navigate your hard drive and also give you easy access to many of Macintosh Explorer's features.
Back button: The back button goes back through the history list. When it gets to the last field in the history it becomes disabled.
Up Button: The Up button goes up a directory. If you are pointing to a volume or the folder has no parent it will be disabled.
Forward Button: The Forward Button goes forward through the history list. When it reaches the last item in the history list it becomes disabled.
Reload Button: The Reload button refreshes the list of files. If you've made a change to the directory then you should hit reload. For most functions in Macintosh Explorer the files are reloaded automatically. But if you have made a change in the Finder then you should reload the list.
Home Button: The Home button deletes all the listed files and folders in the right listbox and reloads the files and folders in the selected volume. When you are at the root of the volume the home button is disabled.
Cut/Copy/Paste Buttons: The Cut button lets you choose a file that will be moved. After you have selected the file you would like to move press the Cut Button. Then find the place you want to move it to and press the Paste Button. The Copy button lets you choose a file that will be copied. After you have chosen the file you want to copy click the Copy Button. Then chose a folder to copy it to and press the Paste Button. If the file/folder that you are trying to copy/move does not get copied/moved to the selected area than you will get an error. Make sure that when you are copying or moving a file/folder that you are not pointing to a file as a destination to paste the item or the item will not get copied/moved. The Paste Button will be enabled only when you have chosen a file to cut or copy. Note: you can also use Command-Key shortcuts from the edit menu to perform the same tasks.
New Folder Button: The New Folder Button creates a new folder in the selected area. If you are pointing to a file then the new folder will not be created. Also if you include a colon(:) in the name of the new folder it will not be created because colons are used by the system to keep track of the files on your hard drives.
Delete Button: The Delete Button will delete the selected file/folder. Deleting a file or folder from this method will permanently delete it. This button is disabled when it points to a volume.
Info Button: The info button brings up a new window displaying name, kind, size, creation/modification date, Maccreator, Mactype, visibility and much more. it also lets you change the Mactype/Maccreator, name, visibility and lock/unlock files.
Search Button: The Search Button will launch sherlock so you can find a file/folder.
Favorites Button: The Favorites Button will show and hide the favorites list. You can also show and hide the favorites from the checkbox at the bottom of the main window.
Bigger/Smaller Buttons: The Bigger/Smaller buttons make the font in the listboxes bigger or smaller.
Save List Button: The Save List Button takes the files/folders from the right listbox and saves them as a text file so you can keep them as a record or print them.
Preferences Button: The Preferences Button opens the preference window and lets you modify Macintosh Explorers Behavior.
Shrink Button: The shrink button will shrink Macintosh Explorer into a small floating window. The floating window has all your favorites from the favorites in it. Double clicking a file will launch it, and double clicking a folder will open it in the Finder.
Browsing
Under The Buttons you will see a Popupmenu, a text field, an open button and two listboxes. You will use these items to browse your hard drives.
Popup Menu: The Popupmenu lets you chose the volume you want to browse. Choose a volume and the items in the volume will be shown the listbox below it. If you put in a new volume such as a new hard drive,, Disk,, CD etc... then you will have to go to command-click on the reload button to refresh the list of volumes.
Path Field: The Path Field located at the top of the main window, shows the full path of the item you are pointing to. You can drag files/folders from the finder and press the open button to list the folder's contents or launch the file. You can also hit the return key on your keyboard to do the same function as the open button. You can also use the Path Field to launch a URL by typing the URL in and pressing th open button (or hitting return)
Open Button: The Open Button will either list the items of the folder whose full path is displayed in the path field or it will launch a file whose full path is displayed there. If you enter a URL in the path field, hold command and press the open button, Macintosh Explorer will open your default browser and display that URL.
Links: The links are an easy way to store 18 of your favorite files/folders. A single click will launch the file or list the items for the folder. Links can not be deleted just changed. To change a link, just drag and drop and file or folder from Macintosh Explorer or from the Finder on top of one of the icons.
The Listboxes: The Listboxes are where all your files and folders are displayed. From there you can double click a folder to list its items or you can double click a file to open it. In the listboxes you can drag and drop between each other or to the Finder and the Finder to the listboxes (holding option to copy). when you double-click a folder its full path will be listed in the history. You can view the history by clicking the little arrows beside the text field. At the top of the listbox the number of items in the list are displayed. You have an option to use single clicking in the preferences. If this is enabled double clicking will be ignored.
Favorites: The favorites list can be opened by pressing the favorites button at the top of main window or by the target icon at the bottom of the Main Window. The favorites list lets you save your favorites as a list so that they can be easily accessed. You can add files or folders. To add something just drag and drop a file or folder form Macintosh Explorer or the FInder. To delete an item from the favorites just go to the special menu and choose delete from favorites or select the items you want to delete and press the delete button on your keyboard. If you want the favorites to hide after you open a file or folder from it than hold command while you double click.
Find File: Macintosh Explorer makes it really easy to find your files and folders. just type the name of the file or folder in the text field in the main window and it will find all the files and folders with that name on the selected drive. The find field is a limited bt convenient method to find your files. For a better search tool you can launch sherlock by pressing COMMAN-F.
Bottom Info
At the bottom of the main window you will see information about the selected file/folder (the file pointed to by the path field). It shows the icon, name, modification/creation date, size, visibility, and Maccreator/Mactype. From here you can change only the visibility and the file's name. To change the name, click the files name and you will be able to edit it. Press return when you are done to change the name. To change the Maccreator/type open the info window by going to the File Menu and Choosing get info. Also at the bottom there is a trash icon and a heart icon. The heart icon will show/hide the favorites and the trash icon will show the items in the trash. Clicking on a folder's icon will open the folder in the Finder and clicking on a file will launch the file in the Finder. That way, if for some reason when you double click a file and it doesn╒t open, you can click the file's icon here. If there is an error (i.e.. there is not enough memory or it can't find the creator) than the Finder will return an error.
Info Window
The info window can be shown by pressing the info button in the main window, going to the File Menu and choosing get info, or pressing COMMAND-I. The info window brings up information about the selected file/folder. From the info window you can change the name, the visibility and for files the Maccreator/type and lock/unlock the file. You can also view but not change the comment as of yet. When you click the change button the file list in the main window will be automatically refreshed. If you don't want the files to be refreshed than just close the info window by pressing the close button. Clicking the file/folder's icon will reveal it in the Finder.
New Folder Window
To create a new folder go to the folder you want to create the folder in and go to File->New Folder. The New folder window lets create new folders. When creating a new folder remember that you can not use colons(:) in the folder name and the name can only be 32 characters long. Click the Create Button to create the folder.
Delete Window
The Delete Window pops up when you click the delete button in the Main window. To delete items, select the items you want to delete and press the delete button. Deleting a file/folder permanently deletes it , It wont move it too the trash. In the delete window you can drag and drop new items into the listbox or delete an item by selecting the items and pressing the delete button.
Open With Window
The Open with Window lets you open a file with another application. To do this, select the file you wish to open and press Command-Option-O or choose open with from the File Menu. In the Open with window you will see 4 buttons. The button to the left will close the window. The next button labeled browse lets you find another application to open the file with. Click open and the file will be opened with that application. you can also use the get creator button, which will get the file's with its creator.
New Browser Window
The new browser window looks almost like a list view from the finder. You can take files or folder from it and drop it in Macintosh Explorer. If you hold option-drag than it will be copied into Macintosh Explorer. You can not yet drag from Macintosh Explorer to the New Browser Window. You can open as many new browser windows as you like but the more that are opened the more memory they take up. When you open a New Browser Window it will start from the same place that Macintosh Explorer is at.
Backing Up Files and Folders
Macintosh Explorer lets you easily back up your files and folders. Just select the files/folders you want to back up and go to the Special -> Back Up Files/Folders. A new dialog will appear with the list of the selected files/folders. You can add more by drag and droping files and folders from the Finder or From Macintosh Explorer. When you have all the files and folders you want to back up press the select folder button to select the folder to back up the files in. Once you have done that click the back up button and all the files/folders will be backed up. It is best to back them up on a different hard drive or upload them to a server. You can also choose to stuff the backuo up files/folders bu choosing "stuff folder that files are backed up too." You should always create a new folder when backing up files/folders so that files that you don't want to be stuffed do not get stuffed.
Note: To use this feature you must have the stuffit engine installed which you can get from http://www.aladdinsys.com/.
Deleteing Unused Files
Macintosh Explorer lets you easily delete unused files and folder from your hard drives. To do this go into the folder you want to search for unused files and folders and go to Special ->Find Unused files/folders. A new window will come up asking what files you want to delete. You can either chose files/folders with no creator, that take up no space, have no creator AND take up no space, or files/folders that either take up no space OR have no creator. After choosing what you want and selecting the OK button the files/folders that match the criteria will be listed. You can either delete all the files/folders or move them to the trash. You can also save a list of all their names to keep track of them. If you want to add more files to the list your can drag and drop them from Macintosh Explorer or from the Finder. To delete items from this list select the items you want to delete and press the delete key on your keyboard.
Preferences
The preference window lets you modify Macintosh Explorers behavior. In the preferences you can change the appearance as well. Changing the appearance is very easy just choose the colour you want and font. The other options perform the following functions
Browsing
Use Real icons: If selected will show the real icons of the files and folders in the folder list. If this isn't selected Macintosh Explorer will use a set of icons for different creator types. Deselecting this option will speed up browsing by over 50%.
Hide Invisible Files: This option will hide invisible files. It is better to hide them so that you don't delete an invisible file or folder by mistake. This option is enabled by default.
Protect Invisible Files: Protecting Invisible Files will not let you change invisible file's info, delete them, or change their visibility.
Display Extended Info: Displaying Extended info will show more info for the files/folders in the file lists.
Show Creation Date: This will show the creation date instead of the modification date in the file lists. This requires Display Extended Info to selected.
Single Click Browsing: This option will let you display the items for the files/folders in the left list with just one click
Auto Open Picture Viewer: Auto open picture viewer will open the built in picture viewer of Macintosh Explorer hwne a picture file is selected to allow picture previews while you browse.
Options
Show Bottom Info: This option will let you show or hide the info for files/ folders at the bottom of the main window.
Calculate folder Size: Calculate folder size will show the size of the selected folder at the bottom of the main window. This makes browsing slower when Macintosh Explorer has to calculate folder size.
Update Favorites When Changed: This option updates the favorites whenever you add or delete and item. If this isn't selected then the favorites is only updated when you quit.
Always open files using Finder: This option will always open files using the Finder instead of Macintosh Explorer. Opening files in the Finder will return errors if the file can't be opened and always bring the application to the front when it is launched.
Disable File Path: Disabling the file path disables the text field at the top of the main window. When you disable the file path it lets you easily tab between the two listboxes. although this feature does make file browsing more convenient, you can not type anything in the file path but you can still drop items into it.
Live Drag: This option will update the window while its moving not only once it is moved. Also it lets you move the main window from anywhere inside it.
Colors
The Color field lets you change Macintosh Explorer's colors to any of the colors currently in Apple's product line or any other color of your choice.
Appearance
Appearance lets you change the font used by Macintosh Explorer.
Copying and Moving Files/Folders
With Macintosh Explorer copying and moving files has never been easier. There are many ways to do it.
Moving: There are three ways to move files/folders. To move files/folder you can press the Cut button and then press the paste button in the area you want to move the file/folder to. You can also drag and drop; files/folders between listboxes. If you drop a file from the right listbox to the left listbox than it will be automatically moved to the root of the hard drive. When you want to move a file/folder from the left listbox to the right listbox don't click the item just drag it. If you click on it than the right listbox will be cleared. To move multiple files and folders just press the shift key and click on all the files/folders you would like to move. The third way is to use the command keys. Press command -X to cut and Command-P to paste.
Copying Files To copy files/folders is almost the same as moving. Instead of pressing the Cut button you press the Copy button and instead of pressing Command-X you press Command-C. When you drag between listboxes you do the same thing as you do when you move files/folders but instead you hold option and drag.
Macintosh Explorer also accepts file drop to and from the Finder. You can drag and drop files/folders to Macintosh Explorer to move it or option-drag to copy it. Remember when copying files you have to start dragging the file/folder and then drop it or else if you are dragging from the Finder you the program will hide or if you are dragging from within Macintosh Explorer you won't be able to drag the item.
Note: to deselcel a selected item, hold the command key and click on it. You can deselect them all by pressing the home or page down keys on your keyboard.
Background Tiles
Macintosh Explorer lets you tile background images. To do this just take the pattern that you want to tile across the back and name it background. If you want to change the background while using Macintosh Explorer, just change the files with the new pattern, control click and press refresh background. If you do not see a background than you should increase the memory. You can find different backgrounds in the Backgrounds folder included with Macintosh Explorer or you can download more from our web site http://ragesoftware.virtualave.net/explorer/. If you create your own patterns than you can submit them to us and they will be posted on our web site.
Quitting the Finder
When you quit the Finder you will not be able to: Move, Copy, Move To Trash, Shutdown, Restart, reveal in Finder, Open apps with other apps, Open files with Finder, or put your computer to Sleep,
If you have any more questions please email support@macintoshexplorer.com or go to http://ragesoftware.virtualave.net
