Folder Tab Options

This page contains various options that control the appearance and behavior of Folder Tabs.

• Display folder tabs: Controls when the tab bar is displayed. You can't have zero tabs - there's always at least one tab open, but you can choose whether or not to display the tab bar when there is only one tab.
  
  
  • Always: Folder tabs will always be displayed, even if there's only one tab open.
  • When needed: Tabs will only be displayed when needed, that is, when there is more than one tab open. If you have multiple tabs open, the tab bar will be hidden when the second-last tab is closed.
  • When needed (balanced): If the Lister is in dual-display mode, and one side of it has more than one tab open, tabs will be displayed on the other side as well. This is more for aesthetic reasons than functional; it can look strange to have tabs visible on one side but not the other.
     
• Tab position: Controls where the tabs appear in relation to the file display they're attached to. Note that this can be overridden on a per-Lister basis using the Set TABPOSITION command.
  
  
  • Below: Folder tabs will be displayed horizontally, below the file display.
  • Above: Folder tabs will be above the file display.
  • Left: Folder tabs will be displayed vertically, to the left of the file display.
  • Right: Folder tabs will be to the right of the file display. 
     
• Dual display position: Controls where the tabs appear when the Lister is in dual-display mode. Note that this can be overridden on a per-Lister basis using the Set TABPOSITION command.
  
  
  • Normal: Both tab bars appear in the same relative position (as set by the Tab position option).
  • Together: The tab bars appear together. For example, the top file display's tabs would be below the file display, and the bottom file display's tabs would be above the file display - resulting in the two tab bars being next to each other.
  • Apart: The tab bars appear apart. For example, the left file display's tabs would be to the left of the file display, and the right file display's tabs would be to the right.
     
• Click selected tab: Controls what happens when you click the already selected tab.
   
  • Rename tab: The tab will go into inline rename mode, letting you assign a custom label to it.
  • Go to previous: Clicking the already selected tab will activate the previously selected tab.
  • Do nothing: Clicking the tab does nothing.
     
• Display drive letter in tab label: With this option on, the drive letter will be displayed in the tab along with the name of the folder.
  
          
   
• Display new tab button: Adds a small + button at the end of the folder tabs, which you can click to quickly open a new tab. The drop-down control lets you choose what folder is displayed in a new tab opened this way:
   
  • Current folder: duplicates the current tab's folder.
  • Default folder: This opens the "default folder", which is actually the folder that the Default Lister opens. To change it you need to change the Default Lister.
  • Empty tab: does not automatically read a folder, leaving the new tab empty.
  • Location: Opens a specific folder.
     
• Double-click tab-strip to open a new tab: If this option is on, double-clicking an empty spot on the tab bar will open a new tab. You can choose what folder is displayed in a new tab opened this way:
   
  • Current folder: duplicates the current tab's folder.
  • Default folder: This opens the "default folder", which is actually the folder that the Default Lister opens. To change it you need to change the Default Lister.
  • Empty tab: does not automatically read a folder, leaving the new tab empty.
  • Location: Opens a specific folder.
     
• Double-click tabs to close them: If this option is on, double-clicking a tab with the left button will close it.
   
• Drag over tabs brings them to the front after: Lets you adjust the time you have to hover over a tab while dragging a file before the tab comes to the front. If you turn this option off then dragging over tabs won't bring them to the front at all.
   
• Folder tab close buttons: This option causes close buttons to be displayed in each tab (whenever there is more than one tab open). If this is turned off, you can still close tabs by double-clicking them (if the above option is on), using the file display's close button, by clicking them with the middle mouse button (if you have one) or by right-clicking them and choosing Close Tab from the context menu. There is also an option to make the close buttons smaller to save space.
  
          
   
• Lister close button closes active tab: If multiple tabs are open, clicking the Lister close button (the main close button for the whole window) will close only the active tab instead of the whole Lister. (A similar option also exists for the File Display border close button, under File Displays / Border.)
   
• Lister closes when last tab closes: If this option is enabled then Listers will close when the last tab within them is closed (similar to how web browsers work). 
   
• Open new tabs next to the active tab: Normally new tabs open at the end of currently existing tabs - with this option turned on, new tabs will open immediately to the right of the currently selected tab.
   
• Preserve folder tree expansion when switching tabs: When this option is on, the expansion state of folders in the Folder Tree will be preserved between tabs. That is, when you switch away from a tab, Opus remembers which folders in the folder tree were expanded and which were collapsed, and restores this state when you switch back to that tab.
   
• Process file changes in background tabs: When this option is turned on, tabs that aren't visible still process any file changes that occur in the folder they're displaying. If you turn it off, changes won't be processed for non-visible tabs - instead, the tab will be marked as dirty and automatically reloaded when you switch back to it. Turning off background change processing can enhance performance when you're working with lots of tabs simultaneously.
   
• Treat tab label as folder when dragged or right-clicked: Normally you can drag tabs around, or access their context menu, by clicking anywhere on the tab. If this option is turned on, the tab is split into two parts for the purpose of mouse clicks. The icon acts as the hotspot for the tab, and the label acts as the hotspot for the folder displayed on the tab. So with this option on, you need to click and drag the icon if you want to drag the tab, or right-click the icon if you want to access the tab's context menu. Right-clicking the label will display the context menu for the folder, not the tab, and dragging from the label will represent a drag of the actual folder, which lets you copy the folder or create a shortcut to it using drag and drop.
   
• Use popup menu when tabs exceed available space: There are two options for how tabs are handled when the available space is not enough to show them all at once. With this option off, a small pair of arrows is displayed at the end of the tab bar when the tabs don't all fit, and you can use these arrows to scroll left and right through the open tabs. Note that this option only applies when tabs are displayed horizontally (above or below) - when tabs are displayed vertically, a scrollbar will appear that lets you scroll up and down the tabs if they don't all fit.
  
          
  
  When this option is on, a popup menu button is displayed at the end of tab bar instead.
  
          
  
  Clicking this button displays a popup menu that lists the tabs that aren't currently displayed. If you turn on the Show all tabs in menu option as well, the popup menu will include all currently open tabs, not just the ones that don't fit.