Altap Salamander: Basic Working with Files and Directories

Finding Files and Directories

You can search for files and directories using various criteria for name, size, date & time, attributes, containing text, etc. After searching, you can work with found files and directories (view, edit, copy, move, delete them, etc.)

To search for files and directories:

  1. Open the directory in which you want to start the search in the panel.
  2. Open the Find dialog box:
    Menu:Commands/Find Files and Directories...
    Shortcut key:Alt+F7 or Ctrl+F
    Toolbar:Choose the Find Files and Directories button on the Top, Middle, or Bottom toolbar.
  3. In the Named box, type the name of the searched file or directory. Use file masks to search for a group of files or directories with similar names or extensions. Important note: when you specify mask without asterisk (*), question mark (?), and point (.), you will find all files and directories whose names are containing this mask (e.g. when you specify "dog", you will find "dogs.txt", "hotdog.jpg", etc.), you can prevent this by adding point (.) to the end of such mask (e.g. when you specify "dog.", you will find only "dog").
  4. Specify directories in which you want to start the search in the Look in box. This box is preset to the current directory in panel. Use the Add button to browse for another directory and add it to the Look in box or to add all local or network drives to this box.
  5. Tick the Search subdirectories box if you want to search also in subdirectories of directories specified in the Look in box.
  6. If you are searching for files containing some text, tick the Search file content box and specify the searched text in Containing field. See the Find dialog box for details on searching options.
  7. If you need to specify additional criteria for file size, attributes, or date & time, click on the Advanced button to open the Advanced Options dialog box.
  8. You may want to ignore some directories (exclude them from search). For example System Volume Information in root directories or directory with your temporary files. Specify such directories in the Ignore Directory List dialog box. Open it from menu Options/Ignore Directory List (the Ctrl+G key) in the Find dialog box.
  9. All errors which occur during search and all ignored directories are added to the Find Log dialog box. Tick the Show Error Messages After Finding item in the Options menu if you want to see this log when search is finished and some error occurred. Use the Show Find Log (the Ctrl+L key) item from the Commands menu or the Find Log button on the right side of the Found Items listview header to show this log manually.
  10. Choose the Find Now button to start searching.

Remarks

Altap Salamander displays the progress of the search. You can work with Altap Salamander while the search continues in the background. You can open another Find dialog box and begin new search simultaneously.

Searched files and directories are displayed in the Found Items listview. Click on columns headers to sort this list by name, size, path, or time. Or use sort commands from the View menu.

When you find some files and directories, you can work with them. Go to the Found Items listview and use Files menu commands:

  • Open (the Enter key): open the focused file or directory,
  • Open All Selected (the Shift+Enter key): open all selected files and directories,
  • Focus (the Space key): focus the focused file or directory in the active panel (and switch to this panel),
  • Hide (the Ctrl+H key): hide selected files or directories from the Found Items listview,
  • Hide Duplicate Names (the Ctrl+Shift+H key): some items can be found several times (see the Append to Found Items command below), hide redundant items from the Found Items listview,
  • View (the F3 key), View With (the Ctrl+Shift+F3 key), Alternate View (the Alt+F3 key): view the focused file,
  • Edit (the F4 key) and Edit With (the Ctrl+Shift+F4 key): edit the focused file,
  • Delete (the F8 or Delete key): delete (send to the Recycle Bin) selected files and directories,
  • User Menu (the F9 key): open the User Menu for selected files and directories,
  • Properties (the Alt+Enter key): open the Properties dialog box for selected files and directories.

You can use drag and drop to copy or move found files and directories from the Found Items listview to any desired location. Another option is to use the clipboard, you can Cut or Copy (see menu Edit) found files and directories from the Found Items listview to the clipboard and later Paste them anywhere you need.

If you need to pick name of some found file or directory, use one of the following commands from menu Edit:

  • Copy Path + Name as Text (the Alt+Insert key): copy a full path to a focused file or directory to the clipboard,
  • Copy Name as Text (the Alt+Shift+Insert key): copy a focused file or directory name to the clipboard,
  • Copy Path as Text (the Ctrl+Alt+Insert key): copy a focused file or directory path to the clipboard,
  • Copy UNC Path + Name as Text (the Ctrl+Shift+Insert key): copy a UNC path to a focused file or directory to the clipboard.

In some special situations you may appreciate that you can search in already found files (values in the Named and Look in boxes are ignored). Use the Refine - Intersect with Found Items (the Ctrl+I key) command from the Commands menu or from the drop-down menu on the Find Now button to keep only found files and directories which fulfill criteria given in the Find dialog box. For example, you can find all files containing a word "car" (using the Find Now command) and then refine found files only to files containing a word "John" (using the Refine - Intersect with Found Items command), so you will get all files containing both words. Similarly you can use the Refine - Subtract from Found Items (the Ctrl+S key) command to hide found files and directories which fulfill criteria given in the Find dialog box. If used in previous example, the result will be all files containing "car" but not containing "John".

Another special command is Append to Found Items (the Ctrl+W key) in the Commands menu or in the drop-down menu on the Find Now button. The only difference when compared with the Find Now command is that it does not clear the Found Items listview before searching. It allows you to simply merge search results. When using this command, you may find some files or directories several times. Use the Hide Duplicate Names command to remove such redundant items.

Duplicate files can be found in the Find dialog box. See Finding Duplicate Files for details.

You can save current settings in Find dialog box using the Add Current (the Ctrl+N key) command from the Options menu. It opens the Settings Manager dialog box. You can use this settings next time, just choose its name from the Options menu. To view or remove these settings, use the Manage (the Ctrl+M key) command from the Options menu.

See Also

Find dialog box
Advanced Options dialog box
Ignore Directory List dialog box
Find Log dialog box
Finding Duplicate Files
Setting Manager dialog box
Group Policy Restrictions