The options on this page affect the Find-As-You-Type field, a multi-purpose field that appears at the bottom of the file display when you type, and the Filter Bar, a popup field that makes it easy to filter the contents of current folder.
This page lets you configure the keys that invoke the various modes of the FAYT field and the Filter Bar. For each of the FAYT modes you can configure a different text and background color, which can provide an important visual cue as to which mode the field is in. For most modes you can also configure the activation key - the key that you press in the file display to show the bar in that mode. For example, the default key for Command mode is > so pressing > in a file display would open the FAYT in Command mode.
The FAYT close timeout option lets you specify how long the
FAYT field remains displayed for once you have stopped typing. Not all modes
auto-timeout; for example, in Command mode the field will remain open
until you press Enter or Escape or click out
of the field.
The Default mode option lets you configure which option is the "default" - that is, what happens if you press a key that's not one of the configured FAYT/Filter Bar keys. The default is Find mode, which means if you press, say, the A key, the FAYT will open in Find mode and the selection will jump to the first filename beginning with an A. The activation key field is hidden for the default mode.
See the Find-As-You-Type documentation for more detail on the FAYT field including a description of its various modes.