Add two options to COMPARE FOLDERS dialog please

[Bearded Kirklander]

Under the following menu selections:

EXTRAS > SETTINGS > COMPARE FOLDERS

There is a Dialog page which has the following options on it:

• File name
  - File Size
  - Date of last change
  
  Folder name
  - Size
  - Date of last change
  
  2 Sec. difference ignore
  Select only newer files
  Show only selected files

I would like you to add two more options:

Select only newer FOLDERS
Show only selected FOLDERS

I would not expect the word FOLDERS to be in all caps - I was just using all caps to emphasize what is different from the existing feature that is based on files.

I really like the functionality of those two options for files, especially the "Show only selected files" option. That way if you have like 700 files in a folder and only 37 of them are selected, you don't have to weed through all of the other 643 file names. It's a "selection set", if you will.

Well, I would very much appreciate it if you could add that same functionality for FOLDERS when doing that "Compare folders" command.

The reason is the same - I have about 730 folders in one pane (local drive) and close to that many in the other pane (the external backup drive).

If I run the Compare folders function after adding say 4 new folders on my local machine, it selects those 4 folders. But I have to scan through all 730 of them to see those 4.

If you added the options mentioned above, I would no longer have to do that, as only those 4 selected items would show up in the local pane.

I hope that makes sense.

It seems a logical extension of an existing function (for files) so I hope it is easy to do.

Thank you much,

BK

[Bearded Kirklander]

I really could have used this one today. It would have made some file / folder operations much less of a hassle.

I hope it gets added to the list of things to do, along with a "Preserve Folder Date & Time" for copy / move operations. That one is a HUGE one.

Sorry to nag, but I'm really just trying to help, in a selfish sort of way...

[Marek]

I think, we do not need the new options. The settings "Select only newer files" and "Show only selected files " should work for folders too. I will rename the options to "Select only newer items" and "Show only selected items".

[Bearded Kirklander]

I think, we do not need the new options. The settings "Select only newer files" and "Show only selected files " should work for folders too. I will rename the options to "Select only newer items" and "Show only selected items".

While in your reply you have indicated that it should work for folders as well, on my XP machine, it does NOT work with folders like it does with files.

Here is a screen shot of the settings we are talking about:



If that "Show Only Selected Files" option is checked and I run a Folder Compare where only folders are present in each pane, no files, it ends up selecting ALL of the folders in both panes.

But if I uncheck that option like this:



And then do a Folder Compare, it does properly select the folders that are not the same.

Since some of my sub-folders contain hundreds of entries, it would be nice if I could set it so that ONLY the selected FOLDERS are shown.

Honestly - it does not work properly with folders in the 385 release.

It only works properly with FILES, not folders.

Basically, I have this type of deal existing:

C:\AUDIOBOOKS\ <folder name>

None of the MP3 files are actually in the C:\AUDIOBOOKS\ folder - they are down one more level.

What is listed in that C:\AUDIOBOOKS\ location are the names of the authors and book titles in FOLDER format, like these listed below:

C:\AUDIOBOOKS\Frank Herbert - Dune\
C:\AUDIOBOOKS\Frank Herbert - Dune Messiah\
C:\AUDIOBOOKS\Frank Herbert - Children Of Dune\

The actual audio files are contained within those folders, like this:

C:\AUDIOBOOKS\Frank Herbert - Dune\Disc 01.mp3
C:\AUDIOBOOKS\Frank Herbert - Dune\Disc 02.mp3
C:\AUDIOBOOKS\Frank Herbert - Dune\Disc 03.mp3

and this:

C:\AUDIOBOOKS\Frank Herbert - Dune Messiah\Disc 01.mp3
C:\AUDIOBOOKS\Frank Herbert - Dune Messiah\Disc 02.mp3
C:\AUDIOBOOKS\Frank Herbert - Dune Messiah\Disc 03.mp3

etc...

So, C:\AUDIOBOOKS\ does not actually contain any MP3 files at that directory level. All you have is a list of folder names, and that is what is not working properly when I check the "Show Only Selected Files" option.

I hope that makes it clearer. I'm having trouble finding a simple way of expressing the problem.

Getting this feature working properly with folders would really be nice. Some of my directories contain hundreds of folders. One has about 773 entries in it - all folders.

If I could have it show ONLY those folders that end up being selected, it would make it much easier to visually verify before making the copy operation.

As it is, I need to scroll down past hundreds of folders to find the selected ones, and it can be a realy pain.

If you need additional examples or screen shots or what not, please let me know and I'll provide them.

Thank you

[Bearded Kirklander]

I wanted to provide a better visual example of what happens in 385 when I do a folder compare, so below are two screen shots.

Both shots show two folders, one on my D: drive and one on my external Z: drive, which I use for backup. The goal is to choose FOLDER > COMPARE from the menu and have it highlight those folders that do not exist on the Z: drive so that the new folders on the local D: drive can be quickly identified and copied over to the Z: drive. I usually press the F5 key to perform the copy operation.

The first shot (below) shows the result of a FOLDER > COMPARE where the only two items checked in the EXTRAS > SETTINGS > COMPARE FOLDERS dialog are FILE NAME and FOLDER NAME.



The second shot (below) shows the result of a FOLDER > COMPARE where the there are THREE items checked in the EXTRAS > SETTINGS > COMPARE FOLDERS dialog. Those are FILE NAME, FOLDER NAME and SHOW ONLY SELECTED FILES.



As you can see, the result of checking the "Show Only Selected Files" option is that all of the folders in both panes are selected. However, if it were to function as you had indicated, we should only see the new folders on the local D: drive.

This is what has led me to request those two new additions mentioned at the start of the thread.

I hope these help you in understanding the results that I get using Windows XP SP2 and FC Beta 385.

Again, if there is anything I can do to help clarify the issue and then aid in testing future beta releases, please let me know.

Thank you very much,

BK

[Bearded Kirklander]

Wanted to give a very quick note about the 388 Beta update and the FOLDER > COMPARE menu command.

I installed 388 over my existing 385 installation.

I'm doing some very preliminary testing - folder compare only - no files.

In the COMPARE FOLDERS dialog, when I have only FILE NAME and FOLDER NAME checked, it properly highlights the folders in each pane that are unique. It did this in 385 as well.

With 388, in the COMPARE FOLDERS dialog, if I check the new "Show Only Selected Items" box and then repeat the FOLDER > COMPARE menu command, it now seems to work properly. This is NEW to 388. It did not work properly in 385.

In my quick testing, I have 776 Folders in the left pane (local hard drive) and 742 Folders in the right pane (external hard drive - for backup only).

With that new option checked and the command executed, it lists 34 selected objects in the left pane and zero selected objects in the right pane, which means it seems to be working as it should.

I think others can see that with 700+ folders, this "Show Only Selected Items" function can be incredibly helpful if it is working properly.

I'll do more in-depth, multi-scenario testing later, but felt this quick feedback might be helpful to Marek.

Thank you very much,

BK

[Bearded Kirklander]

I wanted to provide a visual example of what happens when I do a folder compare with the new 388 Beta, so below are two screen shots.

Both shots show two folders, one on my D: drive and one on my external Z: drive, which I use for backup. The goal is to choose FOLDER > COMPARE from the menu and have it highlight those folders and files that do not exist on the Z: drive so that the new folders and files on the local D: drive can be quickly identified and copied over to the Z: drive. I usually press the F5 key to perform the copy operation.

The first shot (below) shows the result of a FOLDER > COMPARE where the only two items checked in the EXTRAS > SETTINGS > COMPARE FOLDERS dialog are FILE NAME and FOLDER NAME.



The second shot (below) shows the result of a FOLDER > COMPARE where the there are THREE items checked in the EXTRAS > SETTINGS > COMPARE FOLDERS dialog. Those are FILE NAME, FOLDER NAME and SHOW ONLY SELECTED ITEMS:



These are taken under Windows XP SP2 using the new 388 Beta.

It seems like in addition to the name change of the option, some other coding tweaks may have been made, because now the 388 Beta behaves differently than the 385 Beta and the display of selected items appears to be working correctly.

As a result, I am able to do a quick visual confirmation of the items to be copied over. The more folders you have, the more scattered the selected items may become. So when I hit the 700+ mark in terms of folders, it is very useful to be able to show ONLY those items that meet the comparison criteria. I can catch possible typo's, confirm that the folders to be copied are the ones that I had in fact added and worked on, etc.

Believe me, this is a "Good Thing" (trademark Martha Stewart Enterprises)

I will do further testing under Vista and more under XP but so far, so good.

Thank you Marek for your hard work. I appreciate it very much.