You can customize the file manager to suit your requirements and preferences. This section describes how to customize the file manager.
Use the Folder Options dialog to set preferences for the file manager. To display the Folder Options dialog, choose Edit -> Preferences.
You can set preferences in the following categories:
The default settings for views.
The behavior of files and folders, executable text files, and Trash.
The information that is displayed in icon captions.
Preview options to improve the performance of the file manager.
You can specify a default view, and select sort options and display options. You can also specify default settings for icon views and list views. To specify your default view settings, choose Edit -> Preferences. Click on the Views tab to display the Views tabbed section.
Table 7–7 lists the views preferences that you can modify.
Table 7–7 Views Preferences
Dialog Element |
Description |
---|---|
View new folders using |
Select the default view for folders. When you open a folder, the folder is displayed in the view that you select. |
Arrange items |
Select the characteristic by which you want to sort the items in folders that are displayed in this view. |
Sort folders before files |
Select this option to list folders before files when you sort a folder. |
Sort in reverse |
Select this option if you want to reverse the order by which items are sorted in this view. If you select this option, the order of the characteristic you select in the Arrange Items drop-down list is reversed. For example, if you select By Name, the items are sorted in reverse alphabetical order. |
Show hidden and backup files |
Select this option to display hidden files and backup files in the view pane. The first character in a hidden filename is a period (.). The last character in a backup filename is a tilde (~). |
Default zoom level |
Icon view and list view. Select the default zoom level for folders that are displayed in this view. The zoom level specifies the size of items in a view. |
Use compact layout |
Select this option to arrange the items in icon view so that the items in the folder are closer to each other. |
Text beside icons |
Select this option to place the icon captions for items beside the icon rather than under the icon. |
Use manual layout |
Select this option if you want to arrange the items in icon view manually. |
Show only folders |
Select this option to display only folders in the Tree in the side pane. |
To set your preferences for files and folders, choose Edit -> Preferences. Click on the Behavior tab to display the Behavior tabbed section.
Table 7–8 lists the preferences that you can modify for files and folders.
Table 7–8 File and Folder Behavior Preferences
An icon caption displays the name of a file or folder in an icon view. The icon caption also includes three additional items of information on the file or folder. The additional information is displayed after the file name. Normally only one item of information is visible, but when you zoom in on an icon, more of the information is displayed. You can modify what additional information is displayed in icon captions.
To set your preferences for icon captions, choose Edit -> Preferences. Click on the Icon Caption tab to display the Icon Caption tabbed section.
Select the items of information that you want to display in the icon caption from the three drop-down lists. Select the first item from the first drop-down list, select the second item from the second drop-down list, and so on. The following table describes the items of information that you can select:
The file manager include some file preview features. The preview features can affect the speed with which the file manager responds to your requests. You can modify the behavior of some of these features to improve the speed of the file manager. For each preview preference, you can select one of the options described in the following table:
Option |
Description |
---|---|
Always |
Performs the action for both local files, and files on other file systems. |
Local Files Only |
Performs the action for local files only. |
Never |
Never performs the action. |
To set your preview preferences, choose Edit -> Preferences. Click on the Preview tab dialog to display the Preview tabbed section.
Table 7–9 lists the preview preferences that you can modify.
Table 7–9 Preview Preferences
Dialog Element |
Description |
---|---|
Show text in icons |
Select an option to specify when to preview the content of text files in the icon that represents the file. |
Show thumbnails |
Select an option to specify when to show thumbnails of image files. The file manager stores the thumbnail files for each folder in a .thumbnails directory that is one level below the folder. |
Only for files smaller than |
Specify the maximum file size for files for which the file manager creates a thumbnail. |
Preview sound files |
Select an option to specify when to preview sound files. |
Count number of items |
Select an option to specify when to show the number of items in folders. If you have set your View to Icon View, you might need to increase your default zoom level in the Views tabbed section to see the number of items in each folder. |
The file manager includes backgrounds that you can use to change the look-and-feel of the following screen components:
Desktop
Side pane
View pane
Panels
To change the background of a screen component perform the following steps:
Choose Edit -> Backgrounds and Emblems. The Backgrounds and Emblems dialog is displayed.
To display a list of patterns that you can use on the background, click on the Patterns button. To display a list of the colors that you can use on the background, click on the Colors button.
To change the background to a pattern, drag the pattern to the screen component. To change the background to a color, drag the color to the screen component.
Click Close to close the dialog.
To reset the background of the view pane or side pane to the default background, right-click on the background of the pane, then choose Use Default Background.
When you change the background of the side pane or the view pane of a particular folder, the file manager remembers the background that you chose. The next time that you display the folder, the background that you selected is displayed. In other words, when you change the background of a folder, you customize the folder to display the background.
To add a pattern to the patterns that you can use on your screen components, choose Edit -> Backgrounds and Emblems. Click on the Patterns button, then click on the Add a New Pattern button. A dialog is displayed. Use the dialog to find the new pattern. Click OK to add the new pattern to the Backgrounds and Emblems dialog.
To add a color to the colors that you can use on your screen components, choose Edit -> Backgrounds and Emblems. Click on the Colors button, then click on the Add a New Color button. A color selector dialog is displayed. Use the color wheel or the sliders to choose the color. Click OK to add the new color to the Backgrounds and Emblems dialog.
You can show and hide file manager window components as follows:
To hide the side pane, choose View -> Side Pane. To display the side pane again, choose View -> Side Pane again.
To hide the toolbar, choose View -> Toolbar. To display the toolbar again, choose View -> Toolbar again.
To hide the location bar, choose View -> Location Bar. To display the location bar again, choose View -> Location Bar again.
To hide the statusbar, choose View -> Statusbar. To display the statusbar again, choose View -> Statusbar again.
To remove a tab from the side pane, right-click in the side pane. Choose the tab that you want to remove from the popup menu. To add the tab to the side pane again, choose the tab from the popup menu again.