drag and drop to search bar, file management trick

General discussion related to "Everything".
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jimspoon
Posts: 187
Joined: Tue Apr 26, 2011 11:39 pm

drag and drop to search bar, file management trick

Post by jimspoon »

I accidentally dragged and dropped a file from the results list to the search bar, and I was surprised when that file (full pathname, enclosed in double-quotes) became the search query! On experimenting I found that I could select multiple files from the results list and drop them on the search bar; the query became a list of full pathnames (each double-quote enclosed), separated by the | (OR) operator. Naturally when the query is so defined, the results list contains only the listed files.

If I follow this list of files with "|<folder:(search words)>" I can zero in on a folder I want to copy/move the files to, so that the files are shown together with the folder I want to copy/move to. Then it is very easy to select the files and drag them to that folder. If I can right-click and drop, I can choose between copy, move, create shortcut, create hardlink, create symbolic link operations (the latter two courtesy of the Link Shell Extension).

Since it's easy to make mistakes, it's a great blessing that I just discovered the Undo Move command.

The only extra thing I would wish for is the ability to do all the above with keystrokes when I would prefer not to use the mouse.
void
Developer
Posts: 16753
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: drag and drop to search bar, file management trick

Post by void »

The only extra thing I would wish for is the ability to do all the above with keystrokes when I would prefer not to use the mouse.
With Everything 1.5, please try setting a keyboard shortcut to set the search from the current file/folder selection:
  • In Everything 1.5, from the Tools menu, click Options.
    Click the Keyboard tab on the left.
    To the right of Show commands containing, type in the following:
    search
  • Select File | Search in Everything.
  • Click Add....
  • Press a new keyboard shortcut and click OK.
  • Click OK.
harryray2
Posts: 1104
Joined: Sat Oct 15, 2016 9:56 am

Re: drag and drop to search bar, file management trick

Post by harryray2 »

Opposite question...is there a way of creating, in the context menu, some of the keyboard commands so that the mouse, rather than the keyboard can be used?
void
Developer
Posts: 16753
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: drag and drop to search bar, file management trick

Post by void »

A customizable context menu is on my TODO list.
harryray2
Posts: 1104
Joined: Sat Oct 15, 2016 9:56 am

Re: drag and drop to search bar, file management trick

Post by harryray2 »

Jimspoon...Can you tell me what "|<folder:(search words)>" does?

Thanks.
harryray2
Posts: 1104
Joined: Sat Oct 15, 2016 9:56 am

Re: drag and drop to search bar, file management trick

Post by harryray2 »

Void...Thanks, that's great..I assume for the moment that the commands in the keyboard options are just limited to the keyboard?
jimspoon
Posts: 187
Joined: Tue Apr 26, 2011 11:39 pm

Re: drag and drop to search bar, file management trick

Post by jimspoon »

harryray2 wrote: Sun Sep 12, 2021 12:23 pm Jimspoon...Can you tell me what "|<folder:(search words)>" does?

Thanks.
To the files you already have displayed in the Results List, it adds a list of folders that meet the (search words). This could be handy for dragging and dropping the files you've found to a desired folder.
| is the OR operator.
< > is the grouping operator. This makes sure that you don't get unexpected results because of the rules of operator precedence.
void
Developer
Posts: 16753
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: drag and drop to search bar, file management trick

Post by void »

I assume for the moment that the commands in the keyboard options are just limited to the keyboard?
Correct, Keyboard only at this stage.
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