Software Update: Directory Opus 12.12

GPSoftware has released version 12.12 of its file manager Directory Opus. This program is in a way comparable with Total Commander, but with more extensive options about exactly what information should be displayed and how. The program nestles deep into Windows and is therefore more intended as a replacement for Windows Explorer.

Directory Opus is versatile and extremely configurable, both in functionality and appearance. That is also the biggest problem, because the program can certainly appear complex to novice users. Directory Opus runs on Windows XP and above, and is available in a 32-bit and a 64-bit version. The program can 60 days being tested; after that, a license of 89 Australian dollars has to be purchased, which equates to approximately 56 euros. Since version 10.2, there is also a less extended version, for the equivalent of 31 euros. The changelog for this release shows the following list of changes and improvements:

Changes since 12.11:

• Fix for Opus being unable to update configuration files. An operating system bug in Windows 10 meant that the System process would lock the config files if you installed certain UWP/Metro Windows Store applications.
• Opus now resolves soft links/junctions to their underlying paths before passing them to Windows Search (since the indexer seems to only index under the real paths and ignore junctions, this meant searching in a linked folder would return no results).
• Having the Status column added to a file display no longer triggers a background load of metadata for all files in the folder unless it’s actually needed (ie if a label filter that sets a status icon uses metadata).
• When editing a Folder Format for a collection path, the Use as the default format for all sub-folders checkbox can now be used to make the format apply to sub-collections.
• Added support for the iTunes Compilation tag for MP3 and MP4 (M4A) files.
• Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V of a file with a very long (~250) filename now works properly and no longer tries to use the file’s short name.
• Copy CREATE FOLDER now supports folder aliases.
• For modifying how files are deleted within the standalone viewer, you can now pass applicable Delete command arguments to the Show VIEWERCMD=delete command. For example, Show VIEWERCMD=delete,shift,quiet would suppress the confirmation prompt.
• Fixed a side-effect of the newly added Preferences / File Operations / Inline Rename / Rename all selected files at once option that affected (among other things) creating multiple text files by pushing Ctrl+O repeatedly and then renaming them inline.