Australian PC World - Add a 'Send-To' Window to Windows 3.x

Add a 'Send-To' Window to Windows 3.x

Tip
Windows 95 allows you to right-click any object, click Send To, and then select from a customised list of frequently used locations such as printers, file viewers, folders, and floppy drives. Wouldn't it be great to have a similar feature in Windows 3.x? You can. All you need to do is create a custom window in File Manager into which you can drag and drop your files.
Start File Manager and select a location for your SendTo folder. Choose File--Create Directory. Type SendTo (or another name of your choice) and click OK. Select the new directory and choose Window--New Window. To make sure this window shows only your drag-and-drop targets, choose View--Directory Only.
The next step is to fill this window with useful objects. These can be simple batch files for moving or copying files, or they can be applications.
To create a batch file for moving files to your Backup directory, start Notepad and type this line: move %1 c:\backup. Save the batch file in your SendTo folder with a name like to_bakup.bat. To create a batch file for copying files to a floppy, type this: copy %1 a:\. Save it in your SendTo folder as to_flopy.bat. Add as many batch files as you want. Just take care not to use a name like move.bat or copy.bat or they'll conflict with the DOS move and copy commands. Once done, you can drag any file on to the batch file's icon. DOS will flash on screen while the operation is performed, then disappear.
Some applications work in the SendTo folder as well. For example, if you use Microsoft Anti-Virus for Windows (which came with DOS 6.22), copy its file, mwav.exe, to your SendTo directory. Then, to scan a file for viruses, just drag it from a File Manager window onto mwav.exe in the SendTo window. Click OK to acknowledge the scan report.

Imitate Win 95's Send To menu in Windows 3.x, then drag files onto batch or other programs in the SendTo window

Unfortunately, you can't be so cavalier about most program files -- many of them need to be in the same directory as the files installed with them. But you may be able to get around this. First, copy just the .exe file to SendTo to see if it will work when you drag a file on to it. If it doesn't, copy the program's .dll files. (Always copy files rather than moving them -- if you can't make the program work, you can just delete the copied files rather than trying to remember where they originally came from.) If it still doesn't work, copy more files from the program's home directory.
Once it's working, select all the files in SendTo (including any .ini files, such as mwav.ini) except the ones you want to see. Choose File--Properties, check the Hidden box, then click OK. If they don't disappear, choose View--By File Type, uncheck Show Hidden/System Files, and click OK. Then test again. Some applications can't tolerate having some of their files hidden; in that case, you'll have to live with a little extra clutter in your SendTo folder.
If File Manager prompts you for confirmation every time you drop a file on a SendTo item, you can turn off the prompt: select Options--Confirmation, uncheck Mouse Action, and click OK.
The final step is to arrange your File Manager windows to your liking. You may want to reduce your SendTo window to a small box in the corner where you can easily drop files on its individual contents. When you've finished rearranging, hold down the <Shift> key as you choose File--Exit. This saves your File Manager window configuration so your SendTo window looks the same the next time you start File Manager. Happy dragging!
- Scott Dunn

Category: Windows 3.x
Issue: Oct 1997
Pages: 165-167