Software Update: Directory Opus 12.29

GPSoftware has released version 12.29 of its file manager Directory Opus. This program is in a sense comparable with Total Commander, but with more extensive options about exactly what information should be displayed and in what way. The program nestles deep in Windows and is therefore more intended as a replacement for Windows Explorer.

Directory Opus is versatile and extremely configurable, both in terms of functionality and appearance. That is also the biggest problem, because the program can certainly seem complex to novice users. Although Directory Opus works on Windows XP and above, version 12.20 is the latest where it installer still works under Windows XP. The program can 60 days being tested; after that, a license of 89 Australian dollars must be purchased, which amounts to about 55 euros. Since version 10.2 there is also one less extensive version, for the equivalent of 30 euros. The changelog for this release shows the following list of changes and improvements:

The following changes were part of the 12.28.1 – 12.28.4 beta updates:

• Updated LibRaw, including support for new OM-1 cameras.
• FLAC/Ogg publisher data now writes “ORGANIZATION” tag for better compatibility. (Both “ORGANIZATION” and “PUBLISHER” work when reading tags.)
• The viewer pane will now allow .docx files which have been incorrectly named .doc to be passed to the MS Word preview handler.
• Go NEW=x,y now accepts negative coordinates.
• WAV waveform thumbnails in IEEE floating point format are now supported.
• SSH connections are now treated as case sensitive by default in case we aren’t able to auto-detect it.
• Fixed incorrect metadata shown for audio files whose metadata comes from the Windows shell (eg .m4a files).
• Fixed range selection via Shift + Page Down which, with the file display grouped and some of the groups collapsed, would not always immediately repaint all items to reflect their new states.
• Fixed mouse cursor being confined until you alt-tab’d to another window if you opened a color picker, dragged its sliders with the mouse, then closed it with the Esc key without releasing the mouse button.
• Fixed problem with separators going missing if the buttons they were attached to were hidden (eg an Undo LIST command that didn’t generate any items.)
• Fixed problem with range selection in details mode when selecting a range by shift-clicking and then pressing Shift+Up to deselect the last item in the range.
• Fixed problem where the path-to-selection highlight in the folder tree could show in the wrong color if the tree was locked.
• Fixed problem where the busy indicator in the location field could keep spinning forever if a script column called Script.RefreshColumn in certain circumstances.
• Fixed “Stretch background” not working in floating toolbars.
• Fixed problem setting EXIF ​​dates which meant Adobe Bridge did not recognize the “Date Taken” field (“DateTimeOriginal”) when set through Opus.
• Setting the EXIF ​​Date Taken (“DateTimeOriginal” tag 0x9003) field in Opus now applies the same value to the EXIF ​​”ModifyDate” field (tag 0x0132). Previously this would be set when changing the modification time of the actual file, but it makes more sense for it to mirror the DateTimeOriginal field.
• The “Ignore diacritics” option in the Filter Bar now handles the Norse O correctly (or at least, it’s now consistent with the similar option for the Find As You Type field).
• Fixed problem with Explorer Replacement when clicking on folder links in Excel.
• Fix for CreateFolder command, when run via scripts, creating things below the selected folder if there is one and a name (not full path) is specified.
• Simple OK/Cancel dialogs that respond to the Y or N keys now only do so on key press, not key release (in case the same key is used to launch the function.)
• Fixed problem with script dialog static controls which could display text in the wrong color in some situations.

The following changes are new for 12.29:

• Fixed TortoiseGit showing additional, non-functional, context menu in Windows 11.
• Fixed problem opening folder links containing spaces from Outlook emails.