Sweet! Direct Folders 3.0 released :)

[moerl]

The one I liked best among the tools listed here, http://donationcoder.com/Reviews/Archive/DialogExtenders/index.html, Direct Folders, the one I wanted to buy and the one whose author I emailed, asking if he was still actively developing the tool because I wouldn't want to spend money on dead software, the best dialog extender I've ever tried, personally, has been updated to v3.0! That's awesome! For months now, I've been holding back on installing apps of this type just because I really liked Direct Folders but did not want to use it unless I knew that it was still in development. You can imagine that learning that it was just updated solved all my problems

Just installed! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

This also marks my first post here in a while. I've missed you all

[Ampa]

And Code Sector are offering 50% off all their products, including Direct Folders 3, for ONE DAY ONLY... TODAY!

Ampa

[mja]

This post prompted me to look at the file box extenders review again and I when I went to the FileBox eXtender website the product has now been made freeware: http://www.hyperionics.com/files/downloads.asp

I thought everyone would be interested in knowing this. I installed it on my system (there's a newer version available) and it works really well and seems to have pretty much the same feature set as Direct Folders.

[urlwolf]

Thanks mja
I use My Folders because it has icons next to the shortcuts.
The disadvantage is that it doesn't have recently used files.

Also there are ahk programs that give this functionality (free).

[mouser]

mja, thanks for the heads up, that is very big news that filebox extender went freeware!!
It's one of the best dialog extenders and there's no excuse now for anyone to be without one of these tools.

[alxwz]

mja, thanks for the hint.

Just dl'd FileBox eXtender and while somehow limited in its functionality (from what I can see at first glance), it seems to work reliably.

And while it looks similar, it doesn't share the nasty habit I encountered with the bundled tools from PowerDesk and ExplorerPlus: those would, in case you chose a folder from the drop-down menu that had been renamed in the meantime, immediately dump all the stuff to be saved in the very first folder shown in the save box (especially "nice" if it's a save from Opera with dozens of small files at once, grrr). I had that happen quite often, therefore I removed them. In that case, FileBox eXtender shows an error message.

BTW: I haven't yet seen a "dialog extender" utility for Windows that would do what once was a favorite functionality of "Default Folder" for me on my Macs: You could click on any open folder in the background and the dialog box would open exactly that folder to save/open.
Does anyone know such a thing for Windows?

[alxwz]

Well, now that I've written it, I discovered that FileBox eXtender does exactly (switching to the directory you clicked in the background; under XP) what I described; something they didn't advertise somewhere.
Though not when you click at the desktop in the back (doesn't matter, there's a "places" icon for that) and it seems to work only with admin rights (you always seem to end up in the users profile dir otherwise).

It even works with DOpus (nice), but not with Total Commander.

Enough to let me look like an idiot. Never mind.

[tsaint]

I bought direct folders some time ago. Great except for task manager regularly showing it to be using 90-95% cpu for a minute or two at a time.
Requiring me to terminate direct folders to be able to continue working.
Ive downloaded v3 and get the same behaviour. Tried 2ce to get support from the developer to no avail, so direct folders is not on my list of triffic software.

[app103]

There is a good reason why FileBox Extender is now freeware...unfortunately, it's being retired...this is probably the last version there will ever be. 

After a great deal of development work we have sadly concluded that it is not practical to adapt FileBox eXtender to work under Window Vista – the architecture is simply too different. By way of apology to customers who were hoping for an upgrade path we are offering anyone who purchased a license for Filebox eXtender after Dec. 31, 2005 a choice of a license swap for another of our products (either for yourself or as a gift for a friend), or a refund of your purchase price. To claim, simply email us a copy of your license key, together with your full name, company name (if any), email and postal address at the time of your purchase.

FileBox eXtender™ - keep favorite folders at your fingertips - free software for everyone, for Windows XP and older (not supported under Vista)

Someone asked me yesterday if there was a program that would set any window he wanted as always on top. I remembered one, but didn't know what the name of it was, so I did a google search and checked whatever I could find for the familiar screenshot I was looking for. It turned out to be FileBox Extender.

I don't remember why I never tried this program before. I wish I did. I figured I'd download it and install it and give it a try...and I am LOVING it!

My only regret is not installing it sooner.

[peteg05]

alxwz, thank you for telling about that background switching option. This is really great.

I informed Jeff, the author of DirectFolder about this and he just e-mailed me that he has implemented this ClickSwitch feature among a few other changes. Version 3.1 is ready to download and the history file says clickswitch works with Explorer and TotalCommander.

[JeffK]

And Code Sector are offering 50% off all their products, including Direct Folders 3, for ONE DAY ONLY... TODAY!

Ampa

This discount appears to be still available as at the time of writing.  I bought Direct Folders and Jet Start Pro; I have been considering the latter for some time.

Jeff

[moerl]

What the hell? Direct Folders was just updated to v3.1..

[JeffK]

I'm actually having trouble getting either product to work properly.  Direct Folders comes up with hieraglyphics for some folder names.  Should I expect it to work with Office '97?  JetStart starts but won't stay running???

Jeff

[DesertEagle]

Direct Folders comes up with hieraglyphics for some folder names. Should I expect it to work with Office '97? 

Please email me more details about this problem. I'll test DF with MS Office 97 and 2007 beta 2 today.

JetStart starts but won't stay running???

I've answered to your post on Code Sector forum, you'll find there a link to the debug version. Just send me the generated log.

--   
Best regards, Jeff

http://www.codesector.com
http://www.directfolders.com

[alxwz]

After I'd played with FileBox eXtender for a while, it seemed to me that it's history (recent folders) function was broken. It didn't get newly created/used folders and let the list unchanged. Essentially, it seemed to fill the list once and then let it unchanged all the time. And it seemed to ignore my second drive (D:) completely, only using the desktop then. 
After I set it to display the full path in the dropdown menu though, it now seems to work properly.

Another update: Clicking on the desktop to switch the folder seems to (almost) work when you put the settings as "Enable for clicks on any window" (I missed that setting; but even then it only jumps to the users' profile directory, not the desktop folder itself). The problem I mentioned with FBX always switching to the user's profile dir as a non-admin might have been caused by the complete path not activated in Explorer's address bar under this user configuration (this had been discussed in an older thread in their forum).

[alxwz]

Nope, FBX is doing it again: List full, everything new just seems to be counted as "<Path>\Desktop".
Sad, I liked the unobtrusive way it does things. Posted it to their forum although I'm not sure it's still alive.
Will have to look at the alternatives. Or go with XP's built-in function for recent files/folders (which stubbornly shows "most recent" in reversed order).

Am I the only one to find Direct Folders ugly?

[JeffK]

I'm actually having trouble getting either product to work properly.  Direct Folders comes up with hieraglyphics for some folder names.  Should I expect it to work with Office '97?  JetStart starts but won't stay running???

Jeff

DesertEagle (aka Jeff, the author of Direct Folders) has sent me a fixed version of JetStart.  I haven't been able to try it yet as I couldn't download it at home.  I am now at work and have got it there.  I will be able to try it tonight, my time.  Thanks Jeff.  With a name like that I can't go wrong.

BTW the reason that I can't download at home is that my broadband connection is down.  The supplier to my ISP, a company called Veridas, has gone down (something to do with a management coup).  This has affected 90 ISP's like mine and 30,000 customers in Australia.  I should be back on line properly mid week, just in time to collect my winnings from the current software draw  .

Jeff

[DesertEagle]

After a great deal of development work we have sadly concluded that it is not practical to adapt FileBox eXtender to work under Window Vista – the architecture is simply too different.

Not sure about much different architecture - I've implemented support for Vista today in a few hours

If you have Windows Vista, please test Direct Folders 3.12 http://www.codesector.com/ftp/dfolders.exe. Also added support for MS Office 97 and 2007 beta 2.