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Author Topic: [Feature Request] Shortcut to skip current searched directory  (Read 5481 times)

david787

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Sometimes when i search for a program or file FARR must go first through the directories that are before the directory in which the searched item is because the directory is after them in the sort order of directories to search. I think a keyboard shortcut will be very useful to skip directory in which i don't want FARR to search. For example, i type a search term and i see in the status bar the current directory in which FARR is searching, and if i don't want to search this directory i press the shortcut and skip to the next directory in the list order, and if i don't want to search this directory too i press the shortcut again and move to the next directory in the order list.

mouser

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Re: [Feature Request] Shortcut to skip current searched directory
« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2017, 04:38 AM »
That's an interesting idea.. Let me think about it.

skajfes

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Re: [Feature Request] Shortcut to skip current searched directory
« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2017, 05:34 AM »
I am just wodnering, what is included in your search folders? I am asking because most of the time I don't have time to see what folder is being searched currenlty, let alone pressing shortcuts to skip it.
It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.

david787

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Re: [Feature Request] Shortcut to skip current searched directory
« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2017, 10:07 AM »
I am just wodnering, what is included in your search folders? I am asking because most of the time I don't have time to see what folder is being searched currenlty, let alone pressing shortcuts to skip it.

Some of the folders have lots of files inside and it takes time for FARR to search them. So, instead of waiting for the search to finish i can press a shortcut to skip the folder if i know the searched file is not in this folder.

skajfes

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Re: [Feature Request] Shortcut to skip current searched directory
« Reply #4 on: August 03, 2017, 02:43 AM »
I have a similar set of folders, but I've taken a different approach, using modifier keywords. That way by default FARR doesn't search those folders, unless I explicitly want to.
So for example my music folder has a modifier keyword "music", and if I want to search music I just append +music to the search. That causes FARR to search only my music folders. Note you can have multiple folders with same keyword modifier, and multiple modifiers for same folders, so this is really flexible.
Similarly I have search modifier keywords for work documents (+w), dropbox (+db), code (+cc), etc.
It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.

skajfes

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Re: [Feature Request] Shortcut to skip current searched directory
« Reply #5 on: August 03, 2017, 02:44 AM »
Additional benefit is that when you actually launch something from the folders that are not included in the search by default, it gets added to launch history, and FARR promptly offers the same results in default search.
It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.

mouser

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Re: [Feature Request] Shortcut to skip current searched directory
« Reply #6 on: August 03, 2017, 04:11 AM »
skajfes solution is definitely the best one for long term happiness.

david787

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Re: [Feature Request] Shortcut to skip current searched directory
« Reply #7 on: August 03, 2017, 10:40 AM »
I have a similar set of folders, but I've taken a different approach, using modifier keywords. That way by default FARR doesn't search those folders, unless I explicitly want to.
So for example my music folder has a modifier keyword "music", and if I want to search music I just append +music to the search. That causes FARR to search only my music folders. Note you can have multiple folders with same keyword modifier, and multiple modifiers for same folders, so this is really flexible.
Similarly I have search modifier keywords for work documents (+w), dropbox (+db), code (+cc), etc.


It works but you have to type additional keywords. I guess i am just used to launch FARR search panel and type my program of file name without trying to remember which modifier for which folders or files is set.

skajfes

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Re: [Feature Request] Shortcut to skip current searched directory
« Reply #8 on: August 04, 2017, 01:34 AM »
I guess i am just used to launch FARR search panel and type my program of file name without trying to remember which modifier for which folders or files is set.
That is all fine, but you have to take into consideration that FARR is not designed to search over large sets of files/folders, and forcing it to do so will just ruin the experience.
Also if you think about it, you'll have your search modifiers commited to muscle memory in no time, so that will become almost a non issue. I don't event think about what modifier is for what, just type and the right stuff happens.

I know it's a hassle having to deal with this, but when you think about it, you can probably get away with two or three different modifiers, depending on your setup. For example a separate modifier for network mounted drives, since they're slow by default. And one for large collections of files (ie music, documents or whatever)

Other thing you can do is try to narrow down the search, when defining search folders. For example I have a folder where I keep all my source code for projects, work and stuff, and it is a huge collection of files (19 GB, 150 000 files, over 29000 folders). However, when I want to launch something from there it is usually just the solution, or project file, and it is normally found 2 or 3 levels deep in the folder structure. So I have added file extension restritions to only include *.sln and *.csproj files, 4 levels deep into the folder structure, and now it is blazing fast - and it works awesome.

If you can't do that you can narrow the search by excluding files from folders, for example you will almost never want to launch a *.dll file, so add it to extension restriction (with a minus: -dll) so it will skip those files.

As I said, it depends on your setup.
It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.