To quickly access the address bar, you can hit Alt+F2, then, to go back to a list,
Ctrl+Tab.
Address bar's two modes
Address bar can work in two modes - static control (a simple one, and this is by
default) or a 'combo box', which is more powerful.
To change from 'static' to 'combo box' right click the address bar and choose
'::switch mode', to change from 'combo box' mode to 'static' - drop down the
combo box and select '::switch mode'.
The rest of this article applies to the 'combo box' mode.
Changing current location
The address bar is usually used to change the location you want ACB go to. You can type it or choose from the previously visited locations. If
you will do that will Ctrl down, then the new window will be created.
However you can also execute programs. Keyboard :
Enter – go to a location (if with Ctrl down, open it in a new window), or if it’s a program, execute it.
Shift +Enter – the program will be executed using command interpreter, and the window will not be closed.
Ctrl +Space– file name under the cursor will be copied to a address bar
Ctrl+Alt+Space – file path under the cursor will be copied to a address bar
Note, that the above shortcut keys work differently while the focus (cursor) is in the list, then the selected files will be copied to the clipboard.
You can use network locations, like \\server\share. To get all the machines in
the network, use \\. But, if you want "Network neighborhood" , use rather
Ctrl+Alt+G shorctut, go to "Entire network" and select one of the machines.
Address bar and statistics
ACB remembers which folders are the most often visited, and so can suggest you
those locations when you start typing in the address bar. For example start typing "my
doc" and probably you'll see "My Documents" as a proposition. The same
with all the other folders and files mostly used by you.
If you don't want ACB to do the statistics, read:
options.
Finding a particular folder is a tedious and time consuming process. You
probably are used to open folders one by one, going deeper and deeper, trying to
get where you want. How much time do you spend daily on doing this? Wouldn't be
better to just enter a few letters and get what you want? An example: why to
open "C:\", then "Websites", then "Some subfolder" then again "Some subfolder",
and again and again "Some subfolder" just to finally open, for example, "My
Project", when you can just enter let's say "my pr", or "web pr" into the
Address Bar?
Using favorites is a good way to quickly get to a given location. However, it
is still a few seconds to do that, which is simply too long. Besides you have to
constantly manage your favorites, by adding new folders, removing old and
unnecessary ones. Apart from that - how many favorite folders can you keep
there, before you get lost? ACB can remember literally thousands of locations
for you.
That is why the Suggestion Tool helps you in finding folders and files. The
search methodology is based on keywords, popularity (how
often you use a given folder or file), freshness (last modification date),
correlation to current folder and a few more factors. All of this to bring
you the best possible matches.
This is why ACB collects statistics of folders popularity - how often you browse
them (if you want to turn off generating statistics then read
about the available options).
You can enter those keywords in the address bar. Just start typing, and you'll
see the results. But not on the very first usage - ACB doesn't yet know which
folders are most popular, but it learns. On the first usage you can only try to
find out your "Documents" folder and a few other known locations.
Just enter a few words or parts of the words, which you remember that are in the
name or path of a folder you want to get to.
Examples:
Assuming that you frequently open "My Documents", "Martin's Documents" and
"New Documents" folders, set focus to the Address Bar, and:
Type "doc" (without quotes) and ACB will suggest you all of the above
locations, sorted by the popularity and by other factors.
Type "mar doc" or "mart" or even "docu mar" and you'll get "Martin's
Documents" folder.
Type "new do" and you'll get "New Documents".
Narrowing the search results.
The more keywords you enter the more precise the Suggestion Tool is. Let's say
that you want to open the "C:\Windows\System" folder. You start typing "sy", but
what you get is a lot of other files and folders with "sys" in their name or in
their full path, so, for example, you get "C:\Some folder\sysinfo" or
"C:\Program Files\Cool System Monitor" which you don't want.
But just enter e.g. "win sys" or "wi sy" or even "sy w" and you'll get what you
want. Of course, under one condition - you have visited this folder one or (even
better) more times.
ACB's Suggestion Tool algorithm uses more than 11 various factors to rank the
results and carry out the best matching locations. But if you think it can be
improved, then please contact me,
or use the forum.
Executing File Finder from the Address Bar
You can create a list of files of certain type , simply type ? and then files’ extensions to search in current directory, and/or text to search enclosed in “ ”. Examples:
In address bar type :
?*.jpg;*.gif - press enter, jpg and gif files will be found in current folder
and it's subfolders, and then an ACL will be
created.
?*.txt”help” - press enter, txt files having “help” text will be found.
the File Finder window is said to create the AC List, and close itself. If you don’t want
it to close itself, press enter with shift.
It's Clickable!
There were many whishes about making Address Bar in ACB "clickable", that is,
enable Users to click any part of a path and open folders in this way. But it
couldn't be done just like that, because there are so many things you can do
with current "editable" solution. But here is a compromise: you can click a part
of path in the Address Bar with Alt pressed down. That is, if you're in,
for example : "C:Program Files\Some folder\Some subfolder" you can press 'Alt'
and click "Program Files" to open this folder.
Remarks
Note, that you can drop files and directories to the address bar, from anywhere
- some of the ACB's window, your desktop or anywhere. Then ACB will go there.
