Need a help

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MaxPayne
Posts: 1
Joined: 26.09.2019, 13:12

Need a help

#1 Post by MaxPayne » 26.09.2019, 13:19

Hi.

I was wondering if it was possible to change the default exlorer on Windows 10? What I mean is, can FreeCommander somehow, anyhow be set to automatically run and open a folder after it's double-clicked? I've been using FreeCommander for quite some time and just love all it's features !

I would love it if it could be set to automatically open, lets say, Documents folder on Desktop after being double-clicked when not in FreeCommander.

I know how to make file associations to connect different file types with different programs, but unfortunately I don't see any option to do the same with folders. Please help me if you can, and no, I am not making a feature request.

Thanks.


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JDN
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Joined: 18.05.2018, 00:59
Location: Upper U.S.
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Re: Need a help

#3 Post by JDN » 02.10.2019, 07:00

Hello Max Payne,

If you cannot get Dreamer's suggestions to work (and there is no reason why you should have any problems with them), then I would like to suggest you may consider running a "Hotkey" utility that enables you to define or re-define any hotkey on your keyboard (e.g. ALT-V, SHIFT-CTRL F6, ALT-CTRL-HOME, etc.). This is the same idea as using FC's "keyboard shortcuts" except that you can use this utility to create your own shortcuts. You can write a simple "program" that will perform very simple or complex tasks each time you press one of these hotkeys.

I use an excellent freeware utility called AHK (AutoHotkey) which you can download from the following site:

"www.autohotkey.com"

If you have any programming experience, that will be a big help to you when creating hotkeys that do anything more than just the simplest of tasks (like starting a program or opening a file or a folder). The following seven lines are an extract from my AHK definition file that defines the hotkey "F6".
Whenever I press the "F6" key, AHK runs FC for me.
If FC is not currently running, then AHK will run it for me. If FC is running but is not currently active, then AHK will activate it for me. If FC is active but is not in the foreground or is perhaps minimized, AHK will make it the foreground window and then resize it to your preferred size.

I have not included the re-sizing instructions here because I want to keep this example as simple as possible. Here is the extract from my AHK definition file:

F6::
if not WinExist( "ahk_class FreeCommanderXE.SingleInst.1") {
run "C:\PROGRAM FILES\FREECOMMANDER XE\FreeCommander.exe"
}
WinActivate ahk_class FreeCommanderXE.SingleInst.1
WinWait ahk_class FreeCommanderXE.SingleInst.1
RETURN

If you have zero experience with programming, using AHK may be a little too advanced. But if you feel adventurous, it is a utility that will provide you with many wonderful time saving features and it works beautifully together with FC.
There are several ways you can arrange to have FC made active with a specific file or folder.

You asked how to start FC and have it point to a specific folder. If you open the FC help file, you will see one of the main tabs is called "Command Line Parameters". If you look at that page, you will see that when you start FC, you may supply one or both of the following command line parameters:

"/L" sets the path of the left pane (the help file says "window" but I think the correct name is "pane" or "panel".
"/R" sets the path of the right pane

So you can specify the command in the above file extract as follows:
run "C:\PROGRAM FILES\FREECOMMANDER XE\FreeCommander.exe" "/L=C:\MUSIC" "/R=C:\FINANCE"

The above command will start FC with the folder "C:\MUSIC" in the left pane and the folder "C:\FINANCE" in the right pane.

Good luck

P.S. In Windows, every window has a "class name". On my PC, the class name of FC is "FreeCommanderXE.SingleInst.1".
Normally, you do not need to trouble yourself with any class names. But if the class name of the FC window on my PC is not the same as the class name of the FC window on your PC, you will need to run the AHK Spy utility program to learn the class name of the FC window on your PC.
This is not very complicated. The SPY utility program is part of the AHK download. When you run this SPY utility, and you click on any window, SPY shows you the name of the AHK Class. With any luck, it will be the same name on both your PC as well as mine.

Of course, Dreamer has made several excellent suggestions and you may choose to use those instead. I would recommend you try Dreamer's suggestions first and if you cannot get that working, then you may want to try using another suggestion - such as maybe my suggestion.

johnsmith101
Posts: 1
Joined: 11.10.2019, 11:31

Re: Need a help

#4 Post by johnsmith101 » 11.10.2019, 16:05

hello,

Thank you so much for sharing these links, it helped me alot

Thanks and regards.:)

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