Directory Opus

16 March 2005

Windows Explorer has never been up to the mark. Since Windows 3, we have had a vast range of shell replacement programs to choose from. Well most can pack their bags and head home because, for the power user at least, Directory Opus beats the lot of them.

Interface

The main DOpus file management window is known as a Lister. You would be forgiven for thinking this is pretty much like Explorer by default, but you quickly realize that the Lister is very flexible indeed. A tab toolbar allows for single-click access to various viewing styles, including commander-style, dual window vertical and horizontal layouts, and the familiar Explorer style.

There is also a mode for previewing images and an excellent thumbnail mode that views the contents of selected files in an additional pane to the right of the interface. This feature alone makes DOpus worth the investment as a replacement for media viewing and management software, let alone Explorer itself.

I particularly liked the inclusion of Back and Forward buttons, allowing you to step through the folders opened, pretty much like a browser steps through web pages. This is a real time-saver.

Each folder can have its own viewing options and for all others, DOpus will detect a folder's content type (documents, images, movies, music) and list out the files in the folder using the appropriate viewing mode. You have full control over column detail to be displayed or can disable content type detection altogether.

DOpus, like some other shell replacements, allows quick control over file sorting and filtration but, as is typical with this program, finds a way to go the extra mile. For example, I really appreciated the checkbox mode, which places a checkbox next to each file to support batch operations.

I cannot conceive of a way of viewing folders and files that is not supported by DOpus.

Toolbars

Support for toolbars is one of the program's most impressive features. The standard toolbar provides quick access to a range of functions that leaves Explorer standing. For a start, every button supports all three buttons on the mouse. For example, left-clicking the Folder button creates a new folder, right-clicking creates a new zipped folder, and clicking the middle button calculates the byte size of the selected folder(s).

As a little aside, here, I like the way DOpus pops up little dialog boxes for creating or changing file names. Explorer is positively retarded in this respect, whilst DOpus, for example, allows you to create multiple folders in a single action, and knows when you are renaming a file to highlight the file name and not the extension. You can also move and rename a folder in a single action, synchronise two folders, join two files together and so on.

DOpus comes with several toolbars as part of the package. You can customise these fully, or create your own toolbars and have as many toolbars displayed as you wish, docked or floating to taste. For example, you can use toolbars to control Nero CD burning, access to Microsoft Office functions, etc. Again, this means that if you have an application launcher installed on your system you may as well junk it in favour of DOpus. A support forum also allows you to download toolbars created by other users. (You can also download replacement themes, icons and action sound files.)

Advanced Features

First up is performance. DOpus is a true multi-tasking application, so you can perform operations concurrently. Whereas Explorer affords you the opportunity to make a cup of tea while you wait, say, for a large folder tree to be copied, DOpus denies you this luxury by allowing you to perform other operations without the wait. I cannot emphasise enough how much time and frustration this saves.

Another enhancement is support for file collections. You can group files from different locations in any number of user-defined collections, and work with them as if they were all in the same folder. You can also use functions such as the file finder to output results to a file collection. A flat view mode also allows you to expand the current folder to open all of the subfolders and displays all the files in the structure in the Lister. If you have ever had to search through a complex folder structure in order to find a particular file, you'll know how convenient this is.

Another advanced feature is undoing of past actions. Access the Undo tab of the output window and you can cycle back through previously issued commands and reverse any changes made.

Another DOpus winner is the support for FTP with SSL (SFTP) security. Sites are quick to configure and manage and connecting to an FTP site lists the remote structure in the Lister. This makes DOpus far more powerful and easy to use than many FTP utilities, and DOpus backs this up with SMTP support making it a snap to email files from within Opus.

Customisation

The available functions in DOpus are so extensive that finding them all may take some digging. Moreover, this is one of the most extensible programs I have ever seen. Just about ever feature is customisable, from the visual theme, to actions performed for mouse buttons. As mentioned above, you can create and configure your own toolbars, raw commands and behaviours, etc.

And there, perhaps, is the biggest drawback with DOpus (as a commercial product, anyway). The program is so powerful (must have been a nightmare drawing up the functional specification) that the level of configuration supported would bewilder novice or even intermediate users. Of course, they do not need to tinker with the program, but there is no doubt that DOpus is targeted at power users who know their way around Windows.

But if it is customisation you are after, DOpus is a dream come true. The complete control over just about everything can become absorbing; you have the genuine opportunity to configure a file management system as if it were created just for you.

Verdict

As a file management utility, DOpus is worth the investment. But this becomes a greater value proposition when you consider that DOpus can replace your FTP program, image viewing and conversion utilities, WinZIP, application launcher, even movie player.

There's no doubt about it, this is by far and away the best and most powerful Windows file manager we have ever seen. At a stroke, it can render all manner of utilities installed on your system redundant.

If you are looking for a Windows Explorer replacement, then it is probably because you are looking for something more powerful. Call off the search. We have a winner.