Multiple Settings vs Sessions for Folder Comparison

[Atkinson]

I am finding myself unable to do something with BC3 that seems to me should be a pretty simple task. I have two folders that I have opened for comparison in BC3, using the Explorer context menu. I want to be able to switch between multiple settings to view the differences between files in the two folders, without changing the specified folders that I have chosen for viewing.

For instance, my default folder comparison settings include filtering out files with the System attribute set. However, I sometimes have pairs of folders displayed, and decide that I want to see the system files also. Instead of opening the Session Settings and finding and changing this setting every time, I want to just select a predefined configuration from a pulldown and apply it to the folders that I am viewing.

I believe that this is very similar to the Sessions Settings function that you have now, but without having the folder info from the Specs tab saved and then reapplied with the session. (Another way of thinking of this is that I want to be able to define multiple defaults for each kind of session, such as Folder Compare, and then apply then on-the-fly after I have my folders already opened.) Is there some way to do what I want in BC3 now? If not, would you consider adding this in a future build?

[Aaron]

Hello,

Applying session settings to a location is on our Customer Wishlist.

Which options would your different 'base' sessions have set? What types of files/folders are you comparing for your daily workflow?

[Atkinson]

I mainly change filter settings to do one of two things:

1) to show or not show files that have the system and/or hidden attributes (and to prevent them from being operated on),

2) to filter my display (and operations) down to specific types of files, such as Microsoft Office files or output files from my data-analysis programs.

[Michael Bulgrien]

This idea has been expressed in the forum several times since (including when BC3 was still beta). I, too, would welcome the ability to group a set of session settings and save them in a "template". A template dropdown would allow a user to override their default session settings with the settings saved in a particular template. The dropdown would also have an item to return to <default> session settings (i.e. disables the active template so that BC3 operates as it does today).

I would welcome an option or tweak that would make an active session template to not only override default settings on new sessions, but also override the settings when loading a saved session.

Lastly, I would welcome an option to be able to assign a session template to a file format, so that different file formats could inherit different "default" session settings by their association with a particular session template.

[aussieboykie]

A good way (IMO) of providing this function would be to support named filters. Having defined and tested a set of filter conditions, the user could assign a name - e.g. MyMusic, AllJPEGs, NoThumbs - and save for reuse, perhaps by means of a drop down in the Name Filters tab for the user to select from a list of existing named filters.

Regards, AB

[Michael Bulgrien]

A named set of filters isn't enough, IMO. My choice of the word "template" represents a named grouping of session settings which could also include, but would not be limited to, a customized set of filters.

[Aaron]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've added them to the Customer Wishlist entry on this subject. It is something we would like to tackle in a future version, but will be a very large project.