Dual Media & Folders views

[suttonbg]

It's a screen real estate issue. With a 27"and a 32" screen as an extended desktop, that seems unlikely, but...

My wife and I have started to work jointly on our image collection, using iMatch Anywhere, for which, Mario, many thanks. However, that means we have to add Rosy's collection of images to our main computer, using iMatch to sort out the many folders, duplicates, etc. iMatch certainly has all the capability to do that, but an inefficiency remains.

We both use heavily nested directory structures to physically organise our files. The resulting consolidated directory tree in the Media & Folders View is many times the physical length of that window on the screen. The result is a huge amount of scrolling up and down to move folders into a unified arrangement.

Now, while my screen real estate is limited vertically, it is quite wide. If I was merely using Windows, I would simply arrange two Explorer windows side-by-side with the source and target folders in focus and drag sub-folders from one window to the other. Tried that a couple of times, but the subsequent Relocate and Rescan process in iMatch took more time than I saved. However, I suspect iMatch will not allow two views side-by-side like that.

Brainwave! Stack the screens vertically so that they act as one tall screen, even at some risk to my neck. Tested the QuickView panel, which certainly extended vertically across two screens, but, the main iMatch window, while it extends horizontally across two screens, seems to remain fimly limited to only one screen vertically.

I had hoped that perhaps the Recently Updated Folders panel would provide a quck way of shifting focus from source to target folders, but it seems not to function as a Recently Visited Folders panel, which is what would be useful.

Any suggestions on how to avoid endlessly scrolling up and down the Media & Folders View would be appreciated, certainly by the scroll wheel in the mouse.

[Mario]

<Ctrl>+<X> to "cut" out a folder.
Search for the target folder with the folder filter panel (below the Media & Folders tree), then <Ctrl>+<V> to insert? This will move folders across a large distance without having to manually scroll the folder tree.

Also, note the commands for collapsing and expanding children and siblings quickly in the context menu of each folder. They can be a great help when navigating deep hierarchies.

Creating folder bookmarks or Folder Favorites to quickly navigate large folder hierarchies can be very helpful.
Drag the folder into the Favorites Panel and then <Alt>+click it to locate it in the Media & Folders View.

Spreading a (n application) window across multiple screens in Windows is not really supported well by Windows, causing all kinds of issues especially if the screens have different DPI and all that.

[suttonbg]

Dear Mario,

As always, thank you for your very useful suggestions.
1. For this application, the Filter was not the most useful, largely because of the repetetive use of terms, eg, camera name, in the directory structure. However, I will have other uses for it.
2. Using Favorites or Bookmarks worked very effectively. At the moment, using the Bookmarks just below the Media & Folders view is the most efficient solution.
3. The keyboard shortcuts for moving folders and manipulating directory structure just add to the efficiency.

4. Finally, your comment about spreading an application acroos screens in Windows may have solved another minor issue I had noticed. I tend to have the main iMatch window occupying my main screen and other ancillary panels (Quick View, Attributes, Categories) on the secondary screen. If I right-click on something on the secondary screen, such as a misspelled word in an attributes field, all I get is the shadow outline of the pop-up box (dictionary suggestions in that case). If I move, say, the Attributes panel to the main screen and repeat, the dictionary pop-up box is fully visible and populated. Is there any solution to this behaviour I can implement at my end?

[Mario]

Did this happen after you dragged the panel to the other monitor or was the panel already positioned there from the last IMatch session?

I can't reproduce this.
Did you try closing and re-opening the panel?

[suttonbg]

Dear Mario, 

I've done a bit of experimentation with two monitors and the results are described in the attached text file.

I think the situation is, as you implied, Windows not handling two different resolution monitors with any elegance. I'm happy that I can find the missing pop-up dialog boxes. I'm also happy that I can find an arrangement of windows and panels of iMatch across my two monitors that works well enough. Ideally, I would have both monitors the same, but the Minister for Finance vetoed that suggestion. 

[Mario]

I cannot reproduce this using combinations like:

Main:
4k res, 150% scaling.

Secondary:
4K res, 150% scaling
4K res, 100% scaling (that's my default for testing purposes)
4K res, 200% scaling
1920 pixel, 100% scaling
1920 pixel, 150% scaling


How do you move the panel to the other monitor. Do you double-click the panel tab to un-dock it and then move it?
Or do you drag it in one stride to the other monitor?

Does this affect all panels? For example, what's with the Categories Panel or Metadata Panel?

I work with IMatch on up to 3 monitors (4K, 4K, 2530 pixel) regularly, and many users too. I have never seen this issue and there are no related bug reports. This might be something really specific to your system setup and/or the way you move the panels. Or something. Any detail may matter. I can fix it when I can reproduce it.

Tip: <Windows> + <Print> makes a screen shot and stores it to Pictures\Screen Shots.

Or hold down the <Print> for a few seconds for more options.
Maybe easier than doing screen shots with a phone.

[suttonbg]

Dear Mario,

Thank you for your continued interest in this issue. I've tried the things you suggested with a mixed bag of results.

iMatch:
Normally, I simply slide panels from one monitor to the other. Tonight, I undocked them and then moved them. The results were the same as I reported yesterday.

However, the problem appears to be restricted to two panels: Favorites and Attributes. Pop-up dialog boxes in Categories and Metadata panels worked as expected in all cases.

I wondered if the problem was restricted to iMatch, so I tried another couple of applications where windows or panels could be undocked.

Geosetter: a similar problem to iMatch when any menu item is selected.

Adobe Bridge: no problem.

I have attached a SysInfo file in case that offers any clues.

I am quite prepared to believe that this is a problem specific to my setup, but now that I know what to expect, I can work around it, in that case.

[Mario]

However, the problem appears to be restricted to two panels: Favorites and Attributes.

Interesting. I take it that both tooltips for the toolbar and right-click context menus fails for these two panels?
I'll have a look and see if and what these panels do different. There should be no difference since the same toolbars (and tooltips) are used everywhere. Very strange. Hopefully I can find something out or reproduce this somehow.

I'll move this to the bug report board for now.

[Mario]

After trying many things, I've found a one way to reproduce this (for the Favorites Panel, not the Attributes Panel).
See my explanation here: https://www.photools.com/community/index.php/topic,13826.0.html

Let me know when the new IMatch version is out if this fixed the problem for you too.