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Introduction
File Tool - A very powerful tool for finding files. You can search for duplicate files, zero-size files and invalid shortcuts, just to name a few. In addition to just searching files you can retrieve a lot of useful information from them, such as date the file was last accessed, file's version, author and so on.

The main interface
The interface consist of three main sections. Starting from the top the first section is the search options, then the list and then the operational bar.

The search options are used to define and customize your search. All options are explained later in this document.

The list will show the search results. You can define what data the File Tool searches from the search options bar. You can save it with a shortcut CTRL + S or from File > Save list as.. -menu. You can print the list with any text editor by first saving the list as text and then printing that text with for example Notepad or with Word. Please notice that the list contains all the data from all the programs, not just the ones that are safe to remove. The program can't know what you want to remove, you have to make that decision.

The operational bar on the bottom contains all the most important functional elements. Such as a button to close the tool and the button to remove items.


The search options


Search From
This section defines where you want the File Tool to search the files.
Search For
This section defines what exactly it is what you want the File Tool to search for.
Zero-length files are empty files.
Duplicate files are exact copies of another files. This feature is very useful for example finding duplicate pictures from your collection of photos.
Temp files are files which have been used to store data for a short time to your computer, these files are many times safe to delete but not always.
Invalid shortcuts are shortcut files which have become obsolete. This feature is very useful for finding broken shortcuts from your start menu.
Files based on a file mask - this feature allows you to customize your search. If you want to find for example all text (.txt) files you just write "*.txt" (without the quotes) to the box. Click here to find more.
Additional file mask - this feature gives you even more options to customize your search. For example if you want to search all duplicate music (.mp3) files you have select that you want to search for duplicate files and write "*.mp3" (without the quotes) to this box.
Retrieve information
Computer - the computer where the file is.
Filename - file's name.
Size - file's size.
Last Accessed - the date and time when the file was last accessed.
Last Modified - the date and time when the file was last modified.
Description - file's description data, if available.
Version - file's version, if available.
Author - file's author, if available.

Warning
Please notice that the File Tool doesn't even try to estimate whether the found files are safe to remove or not because it's simply impossible. The file tool just does what you tell it to do, you have to know what you are doing.



Topics
Introduction
The main interface
The search options
Warning
 
.:: Copyright 2001 Jouni Vuorio and Adam Severns