Tools - Quick starter...


Activating the menu item "Tools → Quick starter..." or the shortcut "Shift+Ctrl+J" opens the quick starter.



The FreeCommander quick starter offers the possibility to find and open frequently used files and folders quickly.

For that purpose links to these files and folders are stored in so called repositories. The files type of repositories is .TXT. Each of their rows only contain "Name" and "Path" (separated by a tab) of a file or folder. 

Examples for using the quick starter are found at the bottom of this chapter.


The quick starter offers the following edit functions:

The context menu

Right clicking a row in the quick starter opens a context menu with the following menu items:

  • Run
    Activating this menu item or the "ENTER" key opens the highlighted folder in the main window, or runs the highlighted file.
  • Select item in main window
    Activating this menu item or the shortcut "Ctrl+Space" highlights the folder/file in the main window.

Menu item Repository

Create new...

Activating the menu item "Repository → Create new..." opens a dialog where the name of the file to be created (e.g. "documents") can be inserted. On conforming the name:

  • a new file "FcQs_documents.txt" is created in the configuration folder. The path of the configuration folder is shown and can be edited under the main menu item "Tools → Settings → Start program".
  • the newly created file is opened in a new tab in the quick starter window.

Open in a new tab...

Activating the menu item "Repository → Open in a new tab..." opens the dialog "Open" with the configuration folder. After selecting a repository file it is opened in a new tab in the quick starter window. Repository files have the format: "FcQs_"+individual name+".txt". Example: "FcQs_documents.txt".

Delete...

Activating the menu item "Repository → Delete" deletes the active repository file (after confirmation in the dialog "Delete current repository file?"):

  • the active tab is deleted
  • and the active repository file is deleted completely.

Reorganize

Activating the menu item "Repository → Reorganize" checks every file and folder of the active repository file if it still exists physically (or is deleted meanwhile form the disc). No longer existing files and folders are deleted from the repository file.

Exit

Activating the menu item "Repository → Exit" or the "Esc" key closes the quick starter window.

Menu item Edit

Copy

Activating the menu item "Edit → Copy" or the shortcut "Ctrl+C" copies the selected files and folders to past them afterwards (e.g. to an other repository file).

Paste

Activating the menu item "Edit → Paste" or the shortcut "Ctrl+V" inserts the files and folders (e.g. copied in another repository file) to the active repository file.

Add from flat file...

Activating the menu item "Edit → Add from flat file..." opens the dialog "Open" with the configuration folder. After selecting a repository file all file and folder links in this file are copied (added) to the active repository file. Repository files have the format: "FcQs_"+individual name+".txt". Example: "FcQs_documents.txt".

Add selected from main window

Activating the menu item "Edit → Add selected from main window" inserts all files and folders selected in the FreeCommander main window in the active repository file.

Rename

Activating the menu item "Edit → Rename" or the F2 key opens the dialog to rename the selected item.

Delete selected items...

Activating the menu item "Edit → Delete selected items..." or the "Del" key deletes all files and folders selected in the active tab of the quick starter window from the active repository file.

Menu item Perform

Run

Activating the menu item "Perform → Run" or the "Enter" key or double-clicking the row opens the highlighted file.

Select item in main window

Activating the menu item "Perform → Select item in main window" or the shortcut "Ctrl+Space" the file or folder highlighted in the quick started window is selected in the FreeCommander main window.

Menu item Options

Auto close

After activating the menu item "Options → Auto close":

  • this menu item is preceded by the icon .
  • the quick starter window is closed automatically after the actions "Run" and "Select item in main window".

After activating this menu item again this option is set back, the quick starter window is closed no longer automatically.

Run with single click

After activating the menu item "Options → Run with single click":

  • this menu item is preceded by the icon .
  • a file can be opened by single clicking its row.

After activating this menu item again this option is set back.

Customize quick starter

Under the menu item "Tools → Settings → Quick search/filter/starter" the following settings for the quick starter can be defined:

  • Make quick starter hotkey global
    If this setting is checked, the shortcut "Shift+Ctrl+J" is available in other active programs (as long as FreeCommander is running in the background).
  • Color and font 
    The following settings can be defined for the quick starter window:
    • Font color
    • Background color
    • Font

Search and filter

The filter field is found on the left of the status bar (below the list of files and folders). The quick filter provides the possibility to decrease the number of shown folders and files. It is sufficient to type a filter string in the filter field (and confirm it with the "Enter" key) to filter the files and folders of the active repository file quickly. Only files and folders are shown then, whose names contain the filter string. Wildcards are supported.

The "Backspace" key deletes typed characters. To the right of the filter field the number of the shown files and folders is shown.

Examples for using the quick starter

Creating a new repository file

the following steps to find files (e.g. from the windows folder) are necessary:

  • Open the windows folder in the FreeCommander main window.
  • Activating the menu item "View → Plain view - files" or the shortcut "Ctrl+B" opens the plain view of the windows folder (to see all files of all (sub-)folders in one list).
  • Activating the main menu item "Edit →Select all" or the shortcut "Ctrl+A" selects all files of the windows folders.
  • Activating the main menu item "Tools → Quick starter..." or the shortcut "Shift+Ctrl+J" opens the quick starter.
  • Activating the quick starter menu item "Repository → Create new..." creates a new repository file (e.g. named "Windows files").
  • Activating the quick starter menu item "Edit → Add selected from main window" adds all files of the windows folder (and its (sub-)folders) to the repository file "Windows files".
  • Activating the quick starter menu item "Repository → Exit" or the "Esc" key closes the quick starter window.
  • Activating the menu item "View → Plain view - files" or the shortcut "Ctrl+B" closes the plain view of the windows folder in the main window.

Using a repository file 

the following steps are necessary to find a file in the repository "Windows files" (e.g. the file "notepad.exe"):

  • Activating the main menu item "Tools → Quick starter..." or the shortcut "Shift+Ctrl+J" opens the quick starter.
  • Activating the quick starter menu item "Repository → Open in a new tab" opens the repository file "Windows files".
  • Typing the name (or a substring of the name) in the "Search and filter" field (e.g. "otep") and confirming it with the "Enter" key reduces the number of shown files from 90000 to 40. The file paths can be seen only, if the width of the quick starter window is sufficient.
  • Select e.g. the row that contains "c:\windows\notepad.exe".
  • Activating the menu item "Perform → Run" or the "Enter" key or double-clicking the selected row opens Notepad.
    Activating the menu item "Perform → Select item in main window" or the shortcut "Ctrl+Space" selects "Notepad.exe" in the main window.