FileBoss V2.515   7 Oct 2009

Version 2.515 is a small service release implementing the following changes:

• Decreases the time FileBoss takes to load and start on many systems.
• Sovles problem where FileBoss would sometimes freeze or exhibit strange behavior after deleting multiple folders.
• Solves rare statup problem ecountered on a few XP 64-bit systems.
• Removes the Only if newer overwrite option from the Move dialog as a safety precaution.
• Better registration support for Windows 7 x64.

FileBoss V2.510   7 Oct 2009

If you have FileBoss version 2.502 and you don't use Windows 2000 you do not need to download and install this release as the changes only affect users of Windows 2000.

This release is a fix for some installations of Windows 2000 where FileBoss would not display any files or folders in the either the left or right windows (folders list or contents views) except the Recycle Bin and, possibly, a link to Windows Explorer).

Version 2.510 is a free upgrade for all current FileBoss customers. Just download, install and enjoy!

FileBoss V2.5

What's New, What's Hot
3 August 2009

(A minor update was released on 9 August 2008, Ver. 2.502, with speed improvements for remote connections.)

Version 2.5 is a free upgrade for all current FileBoss customers. Just download, install and enjoy!

Installation

FileBoss version 2.5 will install right over your current production version of FileBoss.

Although the new version has a completely different method and format for storing options, settings and virtual folders, the first time it is run it will read in the old files, convert them to the new format and then write out the new format to disk - leaving the original files intact.

An x (standing for XML) has been added to the end of the extensions for all affected files so that for example fileboss.fbopts becomes fileboss.fboptsx

Menu and Toolbar Changes

To see the significant menu additions see Menu Changes for Version 2.5

Download

New Tools and Features

Immediately following the list of additions and changes below are detailed descriptions of everything that is new. To go directly to the details click Detailed Descriptions of Additions and Changes.

New

• Backup & Sync... action command, more...
• Copy/Backup to multiple destinations, more...
• Hide system, hidden and other categories of folders and files in Explore mode, more...
• Display and sort drives by different types of sizes (used, free, capacity), more...
• Hide and/or minimize FileBoss when copying, more...
• Natural numeric ordering, e.g.  1, 012, 2, 3, 33, 40... more...
• Added /elevated command line parameter, more...
• Added /select command line parameter, more...
• Search toolbar button renamed to Find and now invokes last Find operation, more...
• Error log automatically displayed after any operation that had an unreported error, more...
• Better handling of changing CDs / DVDs, more...
• Drag & Drop toolbar button now rotates between Copy and Move instead of Copy, Move and Create Shortcut, more...
• File extensions can now be removed in batch renaming, more...
• Optional criteria for Backup if Newer operation, more...
• Improved formatting of history log entries for readability, more...
• Touch files recursively without stopping on errors, more...
• Expanded right-click menus, more...
• Auto completion of filenames in dialogs, more...
• Auto completion of full filenames on the Command Bar, more...
• New bookmarks can now be edited when created, more...
• Command bar will now select files that are entered, not just go to it.
• Tools and Viewers dialog data can now be loaded and saved independently.
• Interchangeable files for Options and Settings and File Sets between FileBoss versions, more...

Fixes and minor changes

• Fixed rare but significant bug in rename routines where when adding folder names the folder names could be added multiple times.
• Fixed CD/DVD file listing which occurred on some HP LightScribe drives.
• Show true icons with programs such as Tortoise CVS.
• Default compare resolution now five seconds.
• Renaming current folder would not always update the display
• Copying to network drives time outs have been improved, i.e. they don't occur frequently.
• Adding a folder to the list of Drop Zones now displays the Drop Zone list if it isn't already visible
• Fixed rare but aggravating problem when aborting copy operations which was very slow at times
• Fixed Find command from some right-click menus over folders so it now works
• Fixed inactive right-click commands
• Fixed animation in the progress window when copying files
• Fixed rare problem in under Windows Vista where some systems files would be listed in the contents window but not in the navigation window
• Fixed Windows Vista problem where ZIP, TIB, RAR and some other archive formats would sometimes be displayed as folders rather than files

Detailed Descriptions of Additions and Changes

Backup & Sync... action command

This is a great way to quickly synchronize a backup folder or path with another or to backup files and is ideal for when you want to make the backup folder the same as the source folder with the safety of not accidentally copying files the other way around.

The complete details are located on the Quickly Backup and Sync page.

Copy to multiple destinations

Copies can now be quickly sent to multiple destinations by simply listing each destination in the Destination(s) field of any copy based dialog such as Copy To, Backup if Newer and Backup & Sync. (Multiple destinations can not be use with the Move To copy action.) 

Entering multiple folders

You can enter as many paths as you want up to a limit of 32,000 characters.

Enter the list of folders in the Destination(s) field as shown highlighted in yellow above. Each path must be separated with a comma, semi-colon or the bar character (, ; or |).

Clicking the Browse button will display a folder picker where you can select one or more folders that FileBoss will enter into the Destination(s) field for you.

And you can always click the Edit button to bring up a dialog where you can add, edit and order the paths. This is especially handy when dealing with more than three or four paths.

Entering comments in the Destination field

Sometimes it is convenient to have a title for a long list of destination folders. You can enter a comment anywhere in the string (though at the beginning is normally best so that it can be seen) in the form

    <cmt:  your text here>

for example

    <cmt: network backup>

This would make the Destination(s) field in the above dialog look something like:

    <cmt: network backup> D:\backup ; N:\backup ; \\Corp\c\backup

For more information about copying to multiple folders in one command see Copy to Several Folders at Once.

Edit dialog for copy destinations

To enter multiple target folders easily use the Browse button to the right of the Destinations field. This will open a special dialog for entering or editing multiple destinations.

For more on using this dialog see Edit dialog for copy destinations

Auto completion of filenames in dialogs

FileBoss will now auto complete filenames in most dialogs and on the command bar when the full path is given and is the first thing to be typed in the field.

Auto completion of full filenames on the Command Bar

To type or paste in a complete file or folder path to go to press F8 put the cursor in the Command Bar (and display the command bar if it is hidden) and then type or paste the path hitting the Enter key or clicking the green arrow to the right.

Hide system, hidden and other categories of files in Explore mode

This menu hides or displays groups of folders defined by special attributes or other conditions as explained below.

Note that these are global settings and changes will affect all Explorer tabs both current and future. These settings are not present and do not affect Virtual Folders.

The default setting is to Exclude None.

Hidden, System, Hidden and System

Hide all files and folders that have the Hidden, System, or Hidden and System attributes set. The Hidden and System setting requires both attributes to be set for the file or folder to be excluded.

Windows Folder

Hides the Windows system folder, typically but not always C:\Windows

Program Files Folder

Hides the Program Files system folder, typically but not always C:\Program Files

$<folders>

Hide all folders when the name starts with a dollar sign. Folders with a name starting with a dollar sign are frequently special folders used by the Windows operating system.

$<files>

Hide all files when the name starts with a dollar sign. Files with a name starting with a dollar sign are frequently special files used by the Windows operating system.

Exclude None, Exclude All

Turns all of the above settings off or on. However the Folders setting is not affected.

Folders

Excludes or includes folders in the contents (right-hand) window. This toggles their display on and off.
Options for the display of folders can also be changed using the Explorer | Display Folders at > command from the main menu. These commands allow you to hide the folders or to display them at the top or bottom of the list.

For a permanent reference to this facility see: Hiding and showing specific files and folders

Display and sort drives by different types of sizes (used, free, capacity)

When My Computer folder (or just Computer depending on the version of Windows in use) is displayed you can now have it show the size, used and free space on all your drives and even sort by it.

The graphic the right is a sample of the drives sorted by the amount of free space they contain.

The screen shot to the right shows the drive sizes option set to show the free space and is sorted by the amount of free space available on each drive.

For complete details see How to display drive information.

For more information see: Show Drive Names & Sizes

Natural numeric ordering

When entries (folders and files) are sorted by their names FileBoss now uses natural numeric ordering. This means what a computer would consider good ordering:

    003.txt
    1.txt
    15.txt
    2.txt

are now displayed as what humans consider the proper order.
    1.txt
    2.txt
    003.txt
    15.txt

This applies to numbers anywhere in FileNames:

    Picture 1.txt
    Picture 2.txt
    Picture 003.txt
    Picture 15.txt

de and/or minimize FileBoss when copying

FileBoss can be hidden during a long copy operation by either hiding FileBoss's main window leaving just the progress dialog visible or by minimizing everything to the system tray.

FileBoss can be hidden from the progress dialog, from any of the copy dialogs or by using meta-commands.

For Complete details see Hiding FileBoss.

Better handling of changing CDs / DVDs

The way FileBoss handles the folder listings when changing CDs and DVDs has been improved to lessen the number of mouse clicks to get the listing of the new media.

Fixed CD/DVD file listing which occurred on some HP LightScribe drives

Fixed problem with erroneous file listings on some HP LightScribe drives. Previously the name of the first file would be repeated for each file on the CD / DVD.

Error log automatically displayed after any operation that had an unreported error

When performing some operations on files, e.g. long copy operations, where there is the option to skip any errors, and that option has been selected, FileBoss will automatically display the error history window after the operation is complete if and only if there were errors.

Search toolbar button renamed to Find and now invokes last Find operation

The Search toolbar button (on the upper-left toolbar in the default configuration) has been renamed to Find and now invokes the last Find operation when clicked. So if the last selection from the Find menu was Find | Recent Files... then when the main Find button is clicked it will invoke the Find Recent Files dialog.

Added /elevated command line parameter

To make running FileBoss as administrator easier and shortcut specific the /elevated command line parameter can be used. This is most useful under Windows Vista and later versions of Windows. When specified Windows will prompt for permission to continue and then launch FileBoss in elevated mode.

Added /select command line parameter

The /select command line parameter is only significant when another command line parameter gives gives the full path to a file. When that is the case FileBoss will open the appropriate folder and select the specified file.

Drag & Drop rotation now Copy / Move instead of Copy / Move / Create Shortcut

The automatic rotation of the drop mode when the Drop Mode toolbar button is pressed has been shortened to toggle between Copy and Move rather than Copy, Move and Create Shortcut. The Create Shortcut mode can still be easily selected by clicking the arrow to the right of the button or using the Options | Default Drop Mode > options from the main menu.

Bookmarks can now be edited when created

When a bookmark is created a small dialog will be presented where you can either accept the default bookmark name and target or edit them as you wish.

File extensions can now be removed in batch renaming

File extensions can now be removed not just renamed using the Change Extensions panel of the Rename dialog. Just select the Change to option but leave the field blank as shown below.

Backup if Newer optional comparison criteria

The Backup if Newer... copy routine can now use comparison information other than the modified dates to determine when a source file is 'newer' and should overwrite a target file. The new criteria includes the created and accessed dates as well as whether the source file is larger or smaller than the target file.

For complete details see Optional Comparison Meta-Flags

Improved formatting of history log entries for readability

The number and format of the entries in all the History (log) windows have rationalized and reformatted for easier reading and better grouping.

Touch files recursively without stopping on errors

Files can now be touched recursively with the option to not stop on errors, e.g. file not found, with any errors logged to the Errors log window which will be displayed after the operation is finished. 

Command bar go to and select specific file

When the full path to a file is entered in the Command Bar FileBoss will not only open the containing folder but also select the file 

Default compare resolution now five seconds

The resolution for determining if files have the same file time (Modified, Created, Accessed) has been expanded from 1 second to 5 seconds. This new time takes into account the different ways various versions of Windows store these times. 

Interchangeable files for Options and Settings and File Sets

All data and Virtual Folder files created by FileBoss are now interchangeable between the 32- and 64-bit versions of FileBoss. In addition all files are now in standard xml format providing great flexibility not only for the current version but more importantly for the new tools in future versions of FileBoss.

Expanded right-click menus

In order to speed up access to FileBoss features many of the right-click menus have been expanded to include what use to be sub-menus.

Showing true icons

FileBoss now shows the same icons as Windows Explorer displays for such program as Tortoise and other special file management systems.

Renaming current folder

Fixed bug where the current folder could not always be renamed.

Copying to network drives time outs

Fixed rare but aggravating problem when aborting copy operations

Long copy operations are now easier to abort during the copy.

Fixed Find command from some right-click menus over folders

Previously the Find command would not be active

Fixed inactive right-click commands

Under some circumstances commands on right-click menus were not active when they should be.

Fixed animation in the progress window when copying files

The animations (flying folder) in progress windows would freeze even though copying was progressing normally.

Fixed problem with renaming the current folder in Explore view

Sometimes the current folder could not be renamed in the left window of an Explore tab.

Fixed rare problem in under Windows Vista where some systems files would be listed in the contents window but not in the navigation window

Fixed Windows Vista problem where ZIP, TIB, RAR and some other archive formats would sometimes be displayed as folders rather than files

This page lists the changes to FileBoss V2. To see a history of changes to previous version click here.