IDEA: Multiple Sorts of Directories

[HankFriedman]

Please forgive me if my request is already handled somewhere...  but let me know if it is.

I would love a utility that would allow me to view a detailed list of files (e.g. showing name, extension, date, time, attribute..) and allow me to sort on two of them simultaneously.

E.g. To sort on extension, with a sub-sort showing them in declining dates.

Like this:

     index.htm    02/22/2008
     books.htm   02/20/2008
     article.htm    01/15/2008

does any file manager allow you two types of sorting at once? Could anyone write a simple one?

thanks

[jgpaiva]

Oh, this is definitelly work for a file manager. IIRC, DOpus can do that

[AndyM]

In an explorer window, I first sorted by date, and then by extension.  Within each extension group, the date order was maintained.

[HankFriedman]

Thank you both for your replies.

I will explore Directory Opus.

Andy M, are you using Windows XP? When I tried to replicate your success, I couldn't. I could neither get a column with the extentions shows as three letters after the . nor would the sort orders stick after I chose a new sort.

Thanks again

[jgpaiva]

Interesting, i also can't reproduce andyM's described behaviour. (xp pro sp2 here).

Just tested: this isn't possible in xyplorer.

[tomos]

Doesnt work in DOpus either

edit/ DOpus#8

[AndyM]

Andy M, are you using Windows XP? When I tried to replicate your success, I couldn't. I could neither get a column with the extentions shows as three letters after the . nor would the sort orders stick after I chose a new sort.

-HankFriedman (February 24, 2008, 11:27 AM)

oops, I forgot I have a shell extension installed that gives me a new column called ext.  And if I try this using the Type column, it doesn't work.  So let me find that little utility and I'll come back and post the link.  It's really much handier anyway than the very wide File Type column.

Yes XP Pro Sp2

[AndyM]

It's called CPext:

Adds a column to Windows Explorer details view that shows the extension part
of a filename.
Author: John Williams, 2006-09-21, http://www.xrayz.co.uk

I saw recently on the Shell Extension City website something called DMEXBAR that does many things, including adding an Extension column and I assume that would work the same way.

I wonder why explorer keeps the date sort as a secondary sort when sorting by extension but does not do that when sorting by Type.

[HankFriedman]

Dear AndyM,

The add-on your mentioned from http://www.xrayz.co.uk/extension-column/   (to give the exact link) did the trick.

I just wish that some of the explorer shells did the same thing.

Thank you very much for your help.

Hank

[nosh]

Xplorer² lets you sort on multiple columns very easily. Just sort on the first column as usual and shift-click more column headers to sort further.

Edit: You can save the sort order on a per-folder basis.

[Ampa]

@nosh: Thanks for the tip - never knew I could do that.

[HankFriedman]

Dear Nosh,

I "took the plunge" since Xplorer2 is on sale for us Donationcoder members until the end of the February and ordered it.

I look forward to learning all about it.

thanks

Hank

[nosh]

Pleasure, guys.

Hank, they have a rather large manual but it's a quick read.

[AndyM]

I'm a registered Xplorer2 user, I like the software, and I still use it for certain things.

But it's not my default file manager. I keep going back to Windows Explorer which works fine for me most of the time (with a few tweaks like CPExt and Ctrl-RightClick_ClosesParentFolder ). 

[DonL]

Interesting, i also can't reproduce andyM's described behaviour. (xp pro sp2 here).

Just tested: this isn't possible in xyplorer.

-jgpaiva (February 24, 2008, 11:37 AM)

I wouldn't be too sure about that. Check latest beta version...

[jgpaiva]

I knew you'd see this, don

Thanks!

[HankFriedman]

Having gotten xplorer2, I'm delighted with its capabilities (and I'm very fussy about my explorer replacements -- I have several).

It is now my primary tool for file managing.

Thanks for all of your help.

What a great forum.