Back2TheFolderŞ ©1991, 1992, 1993 Mike Throckmorton ©1993 Ziff-Davis Publishing Company All Rights Reserved. Back2TheFolder was designed and written by Mike Throckmorton. Icons were designed and drawn by Mark Simmons. About Back2TheFolder... Back2TheFolder (henceforth "B2F") is an "Open, Save, Save As dialog folder navigation aide". Which is to say, it tries to make it easier to find folders and files using that silly dialog you get when you choose "Open", "Save" or "Save As" from the "File" menu in your applications. The key differences between Back2TheFolder and other, similar "Open" dialog box navigation aides are: Ă Back2TheFolder tries to help you without your having to do any setup or other fussing around. You can just install it and forget it and it will make using your Macintosh easier. Ă It uses lots of contextual information to try to automatically start the Open/Save dialog where you'd most likely want it to be. Ă It is simple and tries to fit more naturally into the dialogs to be less invasive both how it looks and how you use it. Ą Some details... Ą B2F will automatically start your Open, Save and Save As dialogs at the folder it thinks you would most likely want. It also keeps lists of recently visited folders and recently opened files for each application. To see a list, for the current application, of the most recently visited folders, your global and application "fixed folder" lists and the Back2TheFolder command menu, click and hold on the right half of the current disk volume name/icon item in the Open/Save dialog. To see and select from the most recently opened (via the Open dialog) files by the current application, click and hold on the left half of the current disk volume icon in the Open dialog. There are cute little graphical icon thingies to show you where to click, as the following illustration shows, Ę The Commands sub-menu lets you add Global folders, application folders, delete folders from the various lists, set a few options, and set sorting for the various lists (by age, by reference frequency and by name). Command Summary Add Application Folder - adds the folder currently displayed by the Open/Save As dialog box to the list of folders for the current application. Add Global Folder - adds the folder currently displayed by the Open/Save As dialog box to the list of folders you can use from any application. Delete Folder - lets you remove entries from any of the folder lists that B2F maintains (Global, Application, Recent) Set Default Folder - let's you set a particular, fixed folder for an application so that whenever you choose Open/Save As for that application, the Open/Save As dialog box will start at that folder. Clear Default Folder - let's you cancel a default folder for the current application. Return To Last - if you "un-check" this item, B2F will take no automatic Open/Save As location action for this application (see detailed description below). Sorts Global Application Recent Folders Recent Files - the "Sorts" command let's you specify the order that you want B2F to display the various lists in. You can choose from Name - alphabetic ordering. Age - most recently accessed first. Frequency - most often accessed first. B2F defaults all lists to "most recent first" (Age). Balloon help is implemented so you can turn it on for explanations of each command menu item. Ą Miscellaneous Options and Notes... Ą - Return to Last - If you un-check this option for the current application using the "Commands" menu, B2F will take no "automatic" action. I provided this for those "special" applications who do their own automatic control of "Open/Save" dialogs. This option is turned on by default. - Set Default Folder/Clear Default Folder - If you always want a specified application's Open/Save dialogs to start at a specified folder, you can navigate to that folder and choose "Set Default Folder". For example, if you always keep the documents for application XXX in folder YYY, you can set the default folder for XXX to YYY and B2F will ensure that your "Open/Save" dialogs will always start there. This overrides all other B2F behaviour for the application. You can, of course, set a different default folder for other applications. Ă Note... If you don't like waiting for the click delay when holding down your mouse button to get the B2F menus (or if a conflict with another utility prevents the click delay mechanism from working), you can hold down the command key and click to invoke B2F right away. Also, if you have balloon help turned on, a few applications are goofy and you have to use this technique to get the Back2TheFolder menus. Ă Note... If you'd like to remove an entry from the "Files" menu list, hold down shift before clicking on the "Files" side, select the entry you wish to remove and release the mouse button. Note: this simply removes the entry from the list, it DOES NOT remove the file! Ă Note... The B2F Prefs file (named "Back2TheFolder Prefs" and located in the Preferences folder inside your System Folder) can get large as it collect the usage information it needs to do its guessing. The more applications you use, the larger it gets. If it gets too large for your needs, just trash it and let B2F start over collecting information. It learns fairly quickly. If I, one day, get overcome with embarrassment about the size of the file, I might add some smarts to B2F to let you set a maximum size and just remember information about the applications you use most frequently. Ą Installation... Ą Drag the Back2TheFolder extension to the System folder and restart. If you have NowMenus/Super Boomerang, I recommend that you have B2F load before them in the INIT/Extension load sequence (using either alphabetic control or an INIT manager). Ą Usage Licensing Information Ą Back2TheFolder was written by Mike Throckmorton and is thoroughly copyrighted software. Mike Throckmorton 2120 Ardenne Drive Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105-1477 USA Ph: 313-662-7902 CompuServe ID: 72220, 1611 W A R N I N G: Although great care has been taken in the design and construction of this package, it may contain errors or may interact with other software or hardware on your computer which may cause operational failures. The effects of such operational failures may cause damage (direct, indirect, etc). A CONDITION FOR USE OF THIS PRODUCT IS THAT: IF YOU USE THIS SOFTWARE you agree that you will not hold me (Mike Throckmorton), Ziff-Davis Publishing Co., or the person you got the package from responsible for such damage. YOU USE THE SOFTWARE at YOUR OWN RISK. (c) 1993 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co., All rights reserved. You may NOT upload this utility to any other online service, network, or Bulletin Board. You may NOT make copies for any commercial purpose. This utility is not public domain or shareware. Distribution is limited to Ziff Communications online services and electronic publishing projects.