Copyright: Robert Galle, (c) February 2001
Citation: Copied from WhereIsIt? Lite help file, (c) February 2001, Robert Galle


WhereIsIt? help index
Version 3.02 LITE

Welcome and thank you for choosing Where Is It?

About Where Is It? LITE

Getting started

How to use help in Where Is It?

Where Is It? basics

Where do I begin

How to...

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

To learn about Where Is It? user interface, click on the picture the item of interest.

Contacting the author and ordering

Contacting the author

How to order Where Is It?

Robert Galle,

February 2001


About Where Is It?
About Where Is It? Lite

Where Is It? Lite is a freeware program, serving as a free browser for WhereIsIt? catalog files. Where Is It? standard edition is designed to be the best media cataloging tool available on the shareware market today, and a successor of a successful DOS program Floppy Master, extending it's capabilities to new and larger media storage devices and providing even more comprehensive access to cataloged data. Where Is It? Lite is fully 32-bit, multithreaded program, targeted for Windows 95, 98, ME, and Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000.

What can it do?

With Where Is It? Lite, you can browse, search and print data stored in catalog files, created with Where Is It? standard or professional edition. Each catalog can store images of media contents - floppy disks, CD-ROMs, removable drives - anything Windows can work with. When building a catalog, program will scan a new media and build a picture of it and everything on the media; files, folder, folder layout. Where Is It? can also browse in the content of compressed files like ZIP, ARJ, RAR etc. This way, you have in the catalog a complete media image, which you can further improve with your own descriptions and categories. After building catalogs with images of your media, you can use a powerful search to locate items, create reports or browse disk content without having that disk available.

Where Is It Lite? has read-only capabilities, you can't use this program to add or modify data in the catalog. For tasks like that, you need to buy Where Is It? professional edition.

System requirements

• Windows 9x, ME, Windows NT 4.0, or Windows 2000 (or newer)

• At least 8 MB of RAM is strongly recommended, 16 MB or more preferred.

• 5.0 MB free hard disk space for program installation and catalogs.

• Mouse or other Windows-compatible pointing device.

Program Highlights

Suitable for beginners and advanced users

Very adjustable program with many options for power users, as well as easy to use with default settings and Quick-Setup Wizard for all those who don't want to get their hands dirty.

Explorer-like interface

Easy to use, familiar Explorer-like user interface with adjustable toolbar, columns to choose between, and extensive use of object menus (right mouse click). Full multi-language support is included for international users.

Wide media and file system support

Where is it? supports any media type Windows can use, including diskettes, CD-ROMs, removable disks like iomega Zip and Jaz, hard disks, network drives etc. It will recognize by name and collect useful data for most of them, too. Also, it is compatible with all Windows-supported file systems, including FAT, FAT32, and NTFS.

Fast access to item's properties

Fast and easy access to every item's detailed properties, from wherever you are. Want to get item's description? Just leave mouse pointer on it for a moment, description will popup as a tool-tip!

Manageable catalog files

Logical organization of databases, based on one or more catalogs. Each catalog can easily be transferred as a single file to another computer, a friend, a public forum...  Small catalog-file size, with approximate usage of 2 MB for 70.000 files and folders (that's about 10 fully filed CD-ROMs). Internal database structure optimized for very efficient access and small total size. Single-file, transferable catalog storage makes sharing your data easy.

Detailed info with descriptions

Detailed info on every object in the database (files, folders, disks, catalogs,...) each capable of accepting up to 32 KB characters of description text, and a thumbnail image. Each file, folder, or disk can have assigned one or more user-defined, tree-ordered categories, up to 128 user flags, custom-defined icon... Disks in catalogs can be grouped into disk groups, forming a hierarchicaly organized, easy to browse and find collection.

Powerful searching finds what you need

Powerful multi-threaded searching, with detailed settings on what to search for, where to search and how to search. Use either Quick Search to quickly find your items by name or description, or start up the Advanced Search with Search Expression Editor, allowing you to write complex search queries using full set of available search criteria and Boolean logic operators. Searching for duplicate items is there, too, as well as analyzing how data has changed since last cataloging, or checking if older or newer versions of files are present somewhere in the catalog.

Report generator with print preview for summarizing your catalogs

Adjustable and powerful report generator adds a final professional touch to your catalog collection. Export your data to ASCII file, Excel table, rich-text document, HTML document, print on your printer, or send by fax using the Microsoft Fax, after previewing it on full-screen, with adjustable zoom.


Contacting the Author

Here is how you can contact me:

E-Mail:

support@whereisit-soft.com

robert.galle@whereisit-soft.com

World Wide Web (WWW):

Personal Home Page:

http://www.s-sser.lj.edus.si/robert

WhereIsIt? Home Page:

http://www.whereisit-soft.com

WhereIsIt? mirror sites:

USA:       http://www.nettally.com/moribus/whereisit

Germany:   http://members.tripod.de/WhereIsIt

Slovenia:  http://www.s-sser.lj.edus.si/robert/WhereIsIt

Mailing address:

Robert Galle

Pavsiceva 36

SI-1370 Logatec

Slovenia, Europe


Freeware

Freeware is a type of software distribution.

It means you may use or distribute this software

without having to pay for it.


Floppy Master

Floppy Master 3.5 is a DOS-based catalog program,

written by the same author. WhereIsIt? can import

catalog data from old Floppy Master.


Catalogs

Catalog is a basic storage unit in Where Is It?. Each catalog can hold

one or more disks, and you can have more than one catalog opened at

once to work with (registered version only). Multiple catalogs system enables

you to organize your disks in logical groups, with each catalog's data

stored in a separate, easily relocatable file.


Compressed Files Support
Compressed File Support

Where Is It? can recognize and browse for contents the following compressed file formats:

   ACE*, ARC, ARJ*, CAB*, EXE, GZIP, HA, LHA, LZH, PAK, RAR*, TAR, ZIP*, ZOO.

   *supports multi-volume archives

The following file formats are also recognized in their self-extract (EXE) form:

   ACE, ARC, ARJ, LZH, PAK, RAR, ZIP.

Extracting files in Where Is It? is possible from the following formats:

   ACE, ARC, ARJ, GZIP, LHA, RAR, TAR, ZIP, ZOO.

Please note that extracting from multi-volume archive files is not entirely supported, and may

not work correctly in all cases.


Release Candidate version

This program is currently released as a Release Candidate. This means that

the program is more or less finished in this release, but is still undergoing

some final testing before being released as a final version.


Ordering Where Is It?
How to Order Where Is It?

Unlike Where Is It? Lite, Where Is It? standard release is a shareware program. You may test the program out at no charge for an initial trial period of 14 days since the day of installation. If you want to continue using WhereIsIt? shareware edition after that period you must register. The registration fee is set to $39.95 USD and is payable in US dollars, or the equivalent in other accepted currency. You will receive the registration details that allow you to unlock the shareware version by e-mail - if you would like to receive the program and registration data by regular mail on a CD-ROM, please add $6.00 USD for shipping and handling to the price.

You can register the program and send your registration fee in more than one way. Most often used are credit card orders, but you can also order with a corporate purchase order, wire the registration fee via bank transfer, or send cash or personal check via regular mail. Please click here for details.

When your registration form and fee have been received, you will get your own personalized registration data to register the shareware version and unlock it to its full capabilities. Unless requested otherwise in your order, this data will be sent to you by e-mail.

Registration benefits

After receiving the license fee, each registered user in entitled to:

- A personal registration code, to unlock current and all future releases of shareware version, available on the Internet. This way, you can always use the latest version of this program, and enjoy all new features.

- Optional program delivery on a CD-ROM, including all add-ons such as plugins, translations, help files, etc. for additional payment of $6.00 USD shipping and handling.

- Access to a free mailing list to be notified about program's latest news and current development.

- Free priority technical support via e-mail for a period of six months.

Registration benefits can be suspended if registered user had violated license agreement, for example by distributing his personal registration data to other unlicensed users.

The latest version of WhereIsIt? can be found on program's WWW Home Page (http://www.whereisit-soft.com). As a registered user, your license will be valid for all new versions of this software, allowing you to unlock new shareware releases and use them to their full potential. If registration

details are changed between major versions, all registered users will receive registration updates via e-mail, allowing them a free upgrade to the new major version as well.

Pricing and Currencies

The base price for WhereIsIt? is set in $US, and is $39.95 USD. Whenever possible, please use the USD currency when registering. Other currencies may also be acceptable, as follows:

- if registering through ShareIt!, in any way of payment supported by ShareIt! (credit card, bank/wire transfer, check or cash) you can also place an order in Euro. While placing an order with ShareIt!, you will be able to choose between USD and Euro currencies, and ShareIt! will calculate the equivalent amount Euro based on the USD price for you.

- if sending a personal check or cash directly to the author, you can use any currency used in the European Union, or the USD. If sending in currency other than USD, set the amount as equivalent to the USD price at current exchange rates.

Site Licenses and Quantity Discounts

When ordering multiple licenses or a site license, the following discounts are available:

1 - 4 licenses          =  base price     = $39.95 USD per license

5 - 10 licenses         =  10 % discount  = $35.95 USD per license

11 - 50 licenses        =  15 % discount  = $33.95 USD per license

51 - 100 licenses       =  25 % discount  = $29.95 USD per license

more than 100 licenses  =  40 % discount  = $23.95 USD per license

Discounts for non-licensed resellers are also available on cumulative quantity bases. Please contact the author for more details.

The built-in "How to Order" wizard

You may want to use the built-in "How to Order" wizard to decide which is the best way for you to register this program. The wizard will present and describe all available options to you, let you choose the best options for your specific case, and help you to either place the order online or to print out the already filled order form based on your selections. Using this wizard does not force you into any commitments until you actually place the order - you can just run the wizard to learn about possible options, or print an order form to send in later. You can find the "How to Order" wizard in the Help menu.

How to place the order


Registration code

Registration code is generated for each individual registered user, enabling

him to unlock this program to its full potential and to disable limitations of

shareware version. You can only get your own registration code after you

have registered your copy of the program.


Shareware Version Limitations

Unregistered (shareware) version of Where Is It? has build-in some limitations in order to encourage registering this software. All of the following limitations are removed when program is registered, using given serial number and registration code. For more information on how to register, have a look on how to order.

Catalog size limit

Catalog capacity is limited to total of 2 GB data storage, You will not be able to add more data in the catalog, if the total sum of all media capacities in the catalog already exceeds this limit. If you want to add more data, you will have to open a new catalog.

No multi-catalog support

Only one catalog can be opened at the time. If you would like to work with another catalog, you must first close the current one.

No catalog auto-loading

Auto-loading catalogs on program startup is disabled. Registered users can setup a list of catalogs to automatically load when program is starting.

Unregistered message in reports

All reports will include a visible message saying they were generated with unregistered version.

Tips can't be disabled

Tips on program startup can not be disabled in the unregistered version. The first tip will always remind you that you are working with an unregistered program.

No script language support

Script language is only available in registered version. Script language is mostly used for unattended catalog updates, or it can perform special tasks on program startup, for example, updating the catalog data when program starts, so you always have the latest state to work with.


Where Do I Begin

After installing Where Is It? Lite in your system you can begin your work at once. It is a good practice to check the program settings first, just to adjust some settings to your own needs and get familiar with program's options. You can use the Quick-Setup Wizard to guide you through the most important settings. Then, here are a few basic steps for you to follow, just to get you started.

1.

Since Where Is It? Lite is a catalog browser program, the first step is loading a catalog to work with. The easiest way to do this is to click the right-most button in the toolbar ( [image]), or to select File / Open from the main menu. You can open more catalogs at once, if you wish.

2.

Now you have get yourself quite complete catalog to work with. You can browse the catalog in program's main window (you may want to learn about program's user interface first), search for items ( [image]) using extensive search options, generate reports ( [image]) and so on. Each item's detailed properties like names, dates, or descriptions are accessible via property button ( [image]).


Where Is It? Lite Basics

Since Where Is It? is a media catalog program, everything is based on catalogs. The main task of Where Is It? is to keep all data for disks and other media in one place, allowing you to access that data without having to have that media actually there. Catalog is a place where data for your media is stored. Catalog can contain data for many disks, CD-ROMs, floppy disks etc. Each catalog is organized in a tree structure layout; catalog name on the top, disks in the first level, root folders on disks are on second level and so on.

For Where Is It? Lite, you will need to have catalogs delivered, since Lite version does not have creating or updating capabilities. For catalogs you already have, you can use Where Is It? Lite to explore that data, search it by the specified criteria, or print and export comprehensive reports about it.

User interface

As you have probably already noticed, Where Is It? is quite similar to Windows Explorer The main window is divided in two resizable panes, with status bar at the bottom, and toolbar and main menu on the top (toolbar can be repositioned to and side of the window or even to be floating in the window on it's own - just grab it with mouse near the edge and drag it away).

Left pane is a tree structure, displaying all loaded catalogs and their contents. Items in the left pane can be expanded or collapsed; if they are expanded, all the items contained in the selected item are visible under it. On the other hand, collapsed item does not show it's content, but displays a '+' sign, announcing it can be expanded to display more.

Right pane is displaying content of currently selected item in the left pane - if you have selected a catalog, then the right pane would display all disks stored in that catalog. Right pane can be presented in either of four ways (large icons, small icons, icon list, and details), selectable in the main menu or with appropriate buttons. Detail view (most common view for WhereIsIt?) consists of columns, each displaying appropriate type of data. Columns can be adjusted by right clicking on the header area.

Every item, either on the left or the right pane has it's own pop-up menu - if you right-click it, a menu will show up by it, displaying all the options available over the selected item. Most of these options are accessible in more than one way; by toolbar, main menu, keyboard shortcut or item's pop-up menu; you may use any of them with the same effect.

All buttons on the toolbar have a hint - if you don't know what a button does, just place a mouse over it and wait for a second, and a short description will appear.

The status lights at the right side of status bar indicate the current program state. If the light is green, the program is idle. Red light means program is busy and you should wait for it to finish - this should never take more than a few seconds, except when sorting a lot of items, or when a media update is in progress. Yellow light indicates that search for items is in progress. In this case, you can still work with program, but some options may be limited until searching is finished.


Descriptions

Each item in the catalog can have assigned up to 4096 characters long

custom descriptions. That means you can describe in your own way

every catalog, disk, folder or file in the catalog, and use that description

to search, browse and print reports.


Categories

A category is a user-defined tag that you can put on any folder or file. Categories

are defined locally in each catalog, you can edit them with the Catalog Setup

option. Each catalog can have more than 4000 different categories defined, and

they can be organized in a tree structure, forming sub-categories. Each file, folder

or disk can belong to one or more categories. Categories are usually used to

logically group similar items together. This way, you can, for example, search by

category to find all your games in any media in the catalog.


Flags

Flags are custom defined markers, telling you something about the item with flag

set. Flags can be set on each file, folder or disk in the catalog. Flags are defined

locally in the catalog, using the Catalog Setup option. Each catalog can have up

to 255 different flags defined.

Commonly used flags can be, for example, "Include in report", "Important file", or

"Backup". In the first case, you can define the "Include in report" flag and set it for

all the items you want to appear in the report - before generating report, all you

have to do is perform a search for items with that flag set and generate report from

the found list.


Disk Locations

Disk Locations are a list of all possible locations where you may keep your disks.

Each media in catalog can have assigned one disk location to help you find its

location. A list of available disk locations is user defined for each catalog separately,

you can edit it in Catalog Setup dialog.


Description Assistant

Description Assistant is an interactive tool to help you describe folders (or even files)

using some standard description files like file_id.diz, or just plain text files like

readme.txt that can give you a hint what are you describing. Description Assistant

requires that media is present in the drive, and will try to make a list of all files that

may hold a description for the item you are describing. You can easily browse through

found files, displaying the file content in a special part of window, from where you can

copy text fragments by simply dragging them to your item's description.


How to send the registration fee

ALL OF THE WAYS OF PLACING AN ORDER MENTIONED BELOW ARE EQUIVALENT AS FAR AS THE PRICE AND THE END RESULT - YOUR BECOMING A REGISTERED USER - IS CONCERNED. YOU CAN JUST SELECT THE WAY THAT SUITS YOU MOST.

Placing an Order through ShareIt!

There are two vendors available where you place your order for WhereIsIt, usually - but not necessarily - using your credit card. This is by far the fastest and most often used way to register WhereIsIt, and is recommended to all customers as the first choice.

Using ShareIt! is especially recommended to the European customers as they have an European office based in Germany as well as USA-based one, and can accept payments in both USD and Euro. ShareIt can accept all major CREDIT CARDS used these days, including Eurocard/MasterCard, Visa, American Express, and Diners Club - credit card orders can be placed online through a secure, VeriSign certified site, or, if you prefer, sent by fax using a special form. Also available are other forms of payment, such as BANK / WIRE TRANSFERS, or sending CHECKS or CASH to the ShareIt! office.

To place an order for WhereIsIt through ShareIt!, please point your web browser to the following address:

http://shareit1.element5.com/programs.html?productid=135712&language=English

ShareIt! will guide you through the ordering process in a few easy steps. All necessary information and instructions will be provided to you from there, as needed.

Placing an Order through DigiBuy!

You can order WhereIsIt with your credit card through alternative vendor as well. DigiBuy can accept all major CREDIT CARDS in use today, including MasterCard, Visa, Amex, and Discovery, as well as some other forms of payment, such as CORPORATE PURCHASE ORDERS, or CHECKS. If you will be ordering online using your credit card, DigiBuy provides a secure connection to transfer your credit card details, as well as some other ways like phoning or faxing in your credit card data if you are not comfortable with sending it over the Internet. Online credit card processing is done in real-time and you will immediately receive the feedback, as well as your order receipt by e-mail. After your order is placed and processed, DigiBuy will notify me within one business day of your order and I will ship the product directly to you (sending you registration details by e-mail, or the whole software package on a CD-ROM by regular mail, if so requested).

To place an order with DigiBuy, either online or by phone or fax, please point your web browser to the following address:

http://www.digibuy.com/cgi-bin/order.html?304295

You will get the DigiBuy's online order form for WhereIsIt, where you will be able to place your order in a few easy, guided steps. All necessary information will be provided to you as needed during the process.

Sending Personal Check or Cash

If you don't have a credit card, you don't want to use it on the Internet, or you would prefer to place an order directly with the author, you can do so by sending a personal check ("cheque" in some countries) or cash by mail, in an envelope, to the author's address:

Robert Galle

Pavsiceva 36

SI-1370 Logatec

Slovenia, Europe

In case of sending a check, please make sure your check is made payable to "Robert Galle".

PLEASE NOTE!

If sending an EuroCheque, please use your local currency instead of USD.

If a non-local currency is used with EuroCheque, bank charges an extra fee that is often higher than value of EuroCheque itself, making the check uncashable.

Please always include the Order Form together with your payment. You can either print the order form as stated below and fill it up, or - better - you can print the appropriate Order Form directly from the program. Just

start WhereIsIt, select the Help / How to Order Wizard menu option, and follow the wizard. The How to Order Wizard will print the Order Form for you, based on your selections and data, including all price calculations.

                             O R D E R    F O R M

                         WhereIsIt? (current version)

      Name    ___________________________________________________

      Company ___________________________________________________

      Address ___________________________________________________

              ___________________________________________________

              ___________________________________________________

      Phone   ___________________________________________________

      E-Mail  ___________________________________________________

      Where did you first hear about WhereIsIt?

      ___________________________________________________________

      [ ]  Send me my registrations details by e-mail

      [ ]  I would like to receive the program and registration data

           by regular mail, on a CD-ROM (add $6.00 USD for shipping

           and handling).

      --------------------------------------------------------------

      Registration fee calculation:

        Quantity  _______  x  $39.95 USD   =  _________ USD

        If ordering more than one license:

        [ ]  Issue one site license for specified number of users

        [ ]  Issue individual licenses for specific users. Please

             include a list of "User Name" / "Company" pairs for

             each ordered license.

        Available quantity discounts and site licenses:

        [ ]  5 - 10 licenses         =  -10% ($35.95 USD / license)

        [ ]  11 - 50 licenses        =  -15% ($33.95 USD / license)

        [ ]  51 - 100 licenses       =  -25% ($29.95 USD / license)

        [ ]  more than 100 licenses  =  -40% ($23.95 USD / license)

        Special discount for registered users of Floppy Master:

        (applies only to registrations received before 1.1.1998)

        [ ]  Floppy Master upgrade   =  -50% ($19.95 USD / license)

        + $6.00 USD shipping and handling per issued license if set

          to receive on a CD-ROM by regular mail

                                     ==============================

                                          TOTAL  =  __________ USD

        If currency other than USD is used:

             Currency used:      _____

             Exchange rate:      $1.00 USD = __________ _____

             Total for payment:  __________ _____

      Registration fee is:

        [ ]  included in this mail as cash

        [ ]  included in this mail as personal check

        [ ]  Other: _____________________________________________

      Date:                                    Signature:


Quick-Setup Wizard

This Wizard can guide you step by step through main program configuration.

If you are lost in many options WhereIsIt? is offering you to adjust, use the

Wizard to set the main ones and later you can adjust other, if needed.


Compare to Media

Results from comparing disk or folder to real media are displayed in a special window. Results consist from four lists, each containing either new files, changed files, deleted files, or files that have stayed the same since last cataloguing. One list is displayed at the time, in a main part of Compare Results window; you can select which list to view from the 'List Type' box on top of this window:

New files on media, not yet in the catalog

Displays all files that do not exist in the catalog, but are present on the media.

Files that did not change since last cataloguing

Displays all files that stayed the same. Files listed here have the same size, date, and location in the catalog as well as on the media.

Files that have changed since last cataloguing

Displays all files that have changed on media, but are still on the same location. The old data is listed in this list, as present in current catalog, not on the media.

Deleted files since last cataloguing

Displays all files listed in the catalog, but no longer found on media at the same location.

Comparing is folder-related, which means that all files are compared against items in the same folder. If you have moved a file on a media from one folder to another, for example, this file will be shown as deleted in first folder, and as a new file in the second.

The most common functions for file manipulation are available on the toolbar, as well as on file's pop-up menus. Toolbar is dockable to any side of list window, or can be made floating. If you close the Compare Results window, you can call it back with option available in Window menu.

Please note: File manipulation functions are only available for files already in the catalog, therefor they will not be accessible in the New files list.


Disk Image

A disk image is the basic unit stored inside a catalog. Entire catalog is a collection of disk images, each representing data for a specific media. With adding and updating disk images you will keep your catalogs filled with up-to-date data about disks and other media.


Internal Viewer

The Internal Viewer is a small and simple add-on to Where Is It? that allows you to quickly open and browse the contents of any file in the catalog. It can function in either ASCII or HEX mode, and will display all text or rich-text files in a readable form, while all other binary files are presented in HEX mode. If you would be rather using some other, external program for viewing files instead of this internal viewer, you can set so in the Program Settings (General settings group, External programs tab).

Before you can view your selected file, you must insert media with the required file in your drive, or make it otherwise accessible by system. If media is not accessible when you select the 'View' command, you will be prompted to insert it first.

You can switch between ASCII and HEX modes yourself, using the Options / View as ASCII/HEX commands. Program will auto-detect the correct mode based on file contents when it is opened, so there should be no need to change it manually.

Searching for part of text is also provided in internal viewer, but it is only available when in ASCII mode.

You can select a font to be used in Internal ASCII Viewer with the Options / Set Font command, or in Program Settings (Customize Fonts tab). While viewing rich-text formatted document, the font setting will be overridden with document formatting.

In the Options menu, you can also turn word wrapping on or off. If word wrapping is on, lines of text will be wrapped to the next line if longer than current window width. Word wrapping only applies to ASCII view mode.

If you have Quick View (Plus) installed on your system, you can quickly launch it with viewed file using the Options / Open Quick View command. Quick View is capable of showing contents of many different file formats.


Compare Files to Catalog

Results of comparing files against catalog data are presented as three lists, one of them is visible at the time. You can select which list to display by adjusting value of 'List Type' box, found on top of this window. The three lists are as follows:

Files not found in selected catalog

Here are listed all files from your source folders that were not found in selected catalog. These files are not stored on any media in the selected catalog.

Files found to be the same as in selected catalog

Files listed here are files from catalog that match completely at least one file from your source folders. If a file appears more than one time in the catalog, all appearances will be listed.

Files found in the catalog, but only matching file name

Files on this list are files from selected catalog that match by name at least one of your source files, but do not match them by other properties, like size or date. Most likely, these files have changed since last catalogued, or they may not be related at all, despite having the same name.

You can access the most common functions for item manipulation on the toolbar, as well as on item's pop-up menus. Toolbar is dockable to any side of list window, or can be made floating. If you close the Compare Results window, you can call it back with option available in Window menu.

Please note: Item manipulation functions are only available for items already in the catalog, therefor they will not be accessible in the Files not found in selected catalog list.


How to Use Help in Where Is It?

Where Is It? has the help file divided in two parts, and each part can be accessed in two ways.

Interactive help

The first part is the normal help file you are just reading. Here you can find some basic information about how to use the program, with index and search support. Use this help to browse through information and find what you are looking for. Help file can be accessed from main menu using the Help / Help Index option

Context-sensitive help

The second part is the context-sensitive help. Use this type of help to get information about specific parts of user interface, like buttons, check boxes, edit boxes etc., right from where you see them. Many dialogs in the program are equipped with this type of help, and you can recognize them by the help button ( [image]) in the upper right area. To use this help, just press the help button (notice that your cursor will change) point to the item you require help with and click on it. Alternatively, most controls will also allow you to right-click them and use the “What's This?” option in their pop-up menu to call up help about the selected control.


Using Report Generator

Report generator is a very flexible tool, and can be used in many different ways. Here are the basic steps how to produce a report:

Prepare items to include in report

1. Generating report from one of the lists

Normally, you will want to generate report from one of item lists in the program (current list in right pane of the Main window, search results, user list...) In this case, you need to prepare data before selecting Report Generator option (for example, execute searching to find items you want to include in report, or collect those item in the User List). After your items are ready on the list, you can click on the [image] button, and select appropriate list as a source.

If you did not choose contents of Main window as a source, you can also choose if you want your items in report sorted by source or not. Without sorting, items will be in the same order as they are on the source list. On the other hand, if items are sorted, items will be grouped together by catalogs, disks, and folders, and equipped with appropriate headings.

2. Generating custom reports

With custom reports you can visually select from loaded catalogs how your report will be put together. To make custom report, click the [image] button in the main window, and select custom reports option. In the left bottom corner you will get a tree-like display of your currently loaded catalogs. You can expand or collapse nodes on that tree, making more or less items visible. When report will be generated, only visible items on that tree will be included in report. Most disks and folders also have checkboxes on the left side; check those to also include files stored in the disk's root directory or selected folder in the report. You can use the 'Macros' key to perform operations on many items at once. All macro commands available apply to currently selected item in the tree.

Select report columns

Each item is presented in report with one line, and each line can have many columns with detailed information about that item (for example, for file items, there are columns with filename, file size, date, time, attributes...). You can select by yourself which columns you want in report, and in what order. In the bottom right part of Report Generator dialog, you will find list of columns available for currently selected report type. Check all columns you want in report, and adjust column order in the list as desired.

Select report destination

Report can be generated to print or preview on screen, or to export as an ASCII file. Select the appropriate option in Report Destination group. If exporting report to ASCII file, you can choose the column delimiter mode, being either space aligned (best for visual appearance), or separated with TAB or comma characters (best for importing to other programs, like spreadsheets).

At this point, you should be able to print or export your report. If you would like to preview the result first, select 'Print Preview' option (this is only available if destination is set to printer, so you may want to temporarily select printer as destination when exporting to ASCII file).

Many other settings such as paper size, fonts, and colors are also available to adjust in Report Setup dialog, allowing you to customize the look and feel for your reports.


Using Search Dialog

Search dialog allows you to search for items (files, folders, or disks) by many different criteria, stand alone or combined. In general, Search dialog is divided in two sections, each is available as a separate tab.

Quick Search

Quick Search is the fastest way to find items by name, description, or both. Enter in the edit box part of the text you are searching for, and set options accordingly if you want to search by item names and/or descriptions, or if you want your search to be case sensitive. If searching by file names, you can also enter file masks, for example "*.txt", while searching by descriptions allows you use a special sound-ex feature that can help locate items with part of description that at least sounds like text you are searching for.

To search by more than one criteria, you can separate your entries with commas, for example "apple, banana" to search for either word "apple" or word "banana". If searching for expression that includes comma character, include the whole expression in double quotes (") to avoid it being handled as two separate expressions.

Advanced Search

Advanced Search is a powerful search tool that will allow you to write and use complex search expressions, using full Boolean logic and all search criteria groups WhereIsIt has to offer, such as searching by names, descriptions, sizes, dates, times, attributes, categories, flags, disk locations,...

The main part of Advanced Search is the Expression Editor, where you can assemble your search expression. Basic building block for search expressions are search criteria, logical operations (and, or, xor, and not), and parenthesis to assign priority. Each search criteria is presented in a form of readable text that describes your criteria. Note that this text is handled as a whole in editor - you can not edit or delete part of it, only the whole criteria at once. To edit criteria, double-click the text, or move the caret into the text and click the "Edit Criteria" button. Boolean operators in search expression are displayed in bold, to make the expression easier to read. The same as with search criteria, text for Boolean operators is handled as whole as well.

When your search expression is completed, you can use the "Validate" button to check for errors, such as invalid use of operators, missing parenthesis etc. You can load or save your search expressions with the Options button.

Other Search Settings

Before you start searching with either Quick or Advanced Search, you can limit your search to only part of data, and setup some other details about how searching will be performed.

With the Limit Search button you can select to search either in entire catalog, only in selected disks in catalog, in previous search results, or through items currently on User List. The last two options allow you to use sequential searching, every next search further limiting down results from the previous one. On the same spot you can also limit the number of hits before searching will stop – this is always a good idea to have set, especially if working with very large catalogs, as it will prevent heavy memory load on too unrestrictive searches. Another option that may come in handy is the ability to limit the folder depth that will be searched. This option would be used if you are only interested in files or folders appearing in the root of your disks, for example.

The Settings button allows you to select what kind of items are you searching for - files, folders, disks, or any combination of them. You can also select not to search inside compressed files, how to handle items with alias names when searching by names, and whether or not to clear results from previous search when starting a new search.


Using the User List

You can think of user list as a special sort of clipboard. It is a place where you can gather all items of interest, and then perform an operation over items in this list. For example, if you would like to print report with only specific items on it, you could gather these items in the User list and make report with User list as a source.

Another common example where user list may be of help is when you would like to select many items at once to perform a common task on them, like setting a category. The problem is, most items come from different folders, and you can not select all of them at once in the main window. The solution is to get all items listed on the same list – gather them on the user list, select all listed items and perform the operation for all selected items at once, like setting a category, copying actual files to a common location, etc.

You can add and remove items on user list using the “User List” set of commands. Generally, the commands are available as a submenu when right-clicking an item, or as a special button ( [image]) with a popup menu on a toolbar. You will find these commands available in most parts of the program where dealing with items, including the Search window - this way, if you need to add some specific items to user list, you can search for them first, and add them from the Search Results list.

There are for commands available for adding and removing items on user list. Besides most often used “add” and “remove” commands, there are also “keep” (keeps selected group of items on user list and removes the rest) and “keep list difference” (adds on user list items that appear either in selected group of items or on existing user list, but not on both).

User list behaves like any other list of items, you use right-click to access item's available commands, you can sort listed items by clicking on the appropriate column while list is in detail view, etc.

User list will only remember its contents while program is running, unless it is saved. If catalog is closed while items from that catalog are still listed in the user list, they will be removed from list while closing the catalog.

Users of the full WhereIsIt version can save user list the catalog file itself. Internally, program uses a method very similar to flags to mark items in catalog that are assigned to an user list. When user list is saved, the appropriate items are marked in the catalog. As each saved user list can have its own name, there can be more than one user list saved in the catalog. When recalling a saved user list, just select its name in the user list window and the program will perform a quick search through opened catalogs to gather items marked for selected user list.


This window presents you with results of comparing. Files are divided into relevant groups, each group is presented as a list. You can switch between available groups by changing selection of 'List Type' combo box, or by clicking appropriate tab on the bottom of displayed list.

Most operations such as sorting, printing, etc. are available, but only for files already in the catalog.


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Copyright (c) 1997 - 2000 Robert Galle

All Rights Reserved

Last updated: August 1st 2000

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. Registration and purchase

2. Installation

3. Using the program

4. Troubleshooting

1. Registration and purchase

Q: Why should I register?

A: WhereIsIt? is not a free software, a lot of time and effort has been invested in making of this program. WhereIsIt? is released as shareware, allowing you to test it for a limited period of time (14 days). If you plan to continue using the program after that period, you are required to register. Evaluation version also has some limitations that are removed when the program is registered and unlocked.

Q: How can I register WhereIsIt?

A: The fastest way to register WhereIsIt is to use the online registration form and pay with your credit card. Orders are handled by DigiBuy, using a secure connection. You can expect to receive your registration details by e-mail within the next 24 hours. Regular mail delivery is also available. More details and link to online ordering form can be found on WhereIsIt's home page: http://www.whereisit-soft.com, in the help file, or in the Order.txt file, included in WhereIsIt package.

Q: I don't have a credit card, or don't want to use it. Can I still register?

A: Yes, some other ways are available, too. Most often used are sending a personal check (cheque, in some countries), or cash, by regular mail directly to the author's address. Both e-commerce vendors collecting orders for WhereIsIt, ShareIt! and DigiBuy, can accept either credit card orders (online and offline), as well as some other payment types, such as checks, bank/wire transfers, purchase and money orders etc. You can find more details in the Order.txt file, or you can consult the "How to Order" wizard in the Help menu, describing in detail all available options for registering WhereIsIt.

Q: Do I need to re-register new versions of WhereIsIt?

A: No, you don't have to, you license is valid for all future versions of WhereIsIt as well. If I am in any way forced to change this policy, it will not be done without discussing it with currently registered users first.

Q: I'm a registered user of previous major WhereIsIt release, how can I unlock the current version.

A: Each major WhereIsIt version uses its own registration system and a different set of license keys. When a new major version is released, all registered users are e-mailed a new registration package, which includes the appropriate license for the new version as well. If you are a registered user and you did not receive yours, please contact the author for more information, and don't forget to include your current serial number.

Q: I'm working for a company and we would all like to use WhereIsIt. Are there site licenses available?

A: Yes, site licenses are available for WhereIsIt. When placing an order, just include the appropriate number of licenses in your purchase, and select that you would like to have them issues as a single site license for specified number of users. Discounts are available for purchases of 5 or more licenses at once. You can find more details about placing orders and pricing in the Order.txt file.

2. Installation

Q: Should I uninstall previous version of WhereIsIt? before installing a new one?

A: This is not necessary if you will install new version in the same folder. Just run the setup program, and program will upgrade itself. If you would like to install program to different location, then uninstalling is recommended. Please note that your catalogs will not be deleted while uninstalling, but you will have to configure the program again since old settings will be removed.

Q: How can I uninstall WhereIsIt?

A: Just open the Control Panel, select "Add/Remove programs" option, and double-click WhereIsIt's entry on the list. If you have created program group for WhereIsIt when installing, you can achieve the same by clicking the "Uninstall WhereIsIt" icon in WhereIsIt's group.

Q: Can I be notified about new versions?

A: Yes, you can, if you have a valid e-mail address. A free mailing list is available for all WhereIsIt users - notifications about new versions and current development news are posted there. You can add or remove yourself from WhereIsIt Mailing List at any time from WhereIsIt's home page, located at: http://www.whereisit-soft.com.

3. Using the program

Q: Does WhereIsIt run on Windows 3.1, or Windows NT 3.5x?

A: No, sorry, WhereIsIt? relies on technology not yet provided with these operating systems. You will need at least Windows 95, or Windows NT 4.0 to run WhereIsIt.

Q: How can change order of disks, displayed in left tree pane?

A: The same way as you would change order of files or folders - by sorting them in the right pane. Select the parent catalog entry in the tree view, so your disks are displayed on the right side, and sort them by clicking the appropriate column header. Changes in disk order will be reflected on tree view, too.

If you are using WhereIsIt 3.00 or newer, you can also use drag&drop to manually reorder your disks on the list, or your can use the Ctrl+Alt+ <Up> or <Down> to move selected disk(s) on the list.

Q: Can I delete specific files or folders from catalog if I don't need them?

A: Not in the older WhereIsIt 1.xx, but version 2.00 and newer do support such modifications, too. Older WhereIsIt 1.xx honors the data integrity in catalog, always assuring that data as stated in catalog resembles as much as possible the real data on your media. The only exception are hidden files, or special items like Recycle Bin, that can be set to be skipped during the disk scan. Version 2.0 will allow you to freely remove any selected item from catalog, although overusing this feature is not recommended.

Q: How can one print an alphabetical list of all files in the catalog?

A: The easiest way to do that is to use searching in combination with report generator. First, you have to get a list of all items that you would like to print - searching for all files with "*.*" mask should do the trick in this case. Sort resulting list by file names, and click on report generator button. Be sure to selected the "Print data in list 'as is', no sorting" option, in order to preserve items order as they are in search results list (nicely alphabetically sorted). Just select the columns you want in report, and that's it.

Searching in combination with report generator is a very powerful and adjustable tool for making all kinds of reports. You can do a lot with it, but you will need to get a bit creative. For some more examples you can check out the How to... section in the help file.

Q: Can I export my database to be used in some other program?

A: Exporting cataloged data is a part of report generator, meaning you can select yourself which data and in what details will get exported. Report generator supports a few different export destinations, including text files (regular ASCII files, tab-separated, or comma-separated), MS Excel tables, RTF documents, HTML documents,...

Q: I have set the Description Assistant to import text files as descriptions, but this doesn't work.

A: Auto-importing descriptions is not what Description Assistant (DA) does. DA is an interactive tool, designed to help you when manually editing your descriptions. For more details about DA, consult the help file and be sure to read the next question, too. A plugin to import user-defined text files as description as also available, however due to some considerations with this functionality it is not distributed as a part of WhereIsIt and is not officially supported. You can download it as a separate package from program's home page.

Q: How can I get the program to import my own descriptions during disk scan?

A: WhereIsIt 2.xx and never address this problem with description plugins, working over Description API. Basically, it is a way to provide users with ability to include or even write their own description plugins, extending program's ability to handle other, currently unsupported description and thumbnail sources. For example, if you would like to import your *.txt files as descriptions, you could write a simple description plugin for this task. It will be plugin's responsibility, however, to provide the text to be used for description in any way it can. As far as WhereIsIt is concerned, it will just say to your plugin during the disk scan: "Hey, you said you can get me description for parent folder from *.txt files, so here is a folder with some .txt files in it, let me have up to 32 kB of description text then".

The full documentation and a sample about DescAPI and writing description plugins is available in the <WhereIsIt>\DescAPI folder.

4. Troubleshooting

Q: Icons in Settings dialog and some icons in the main menu are missing. I'm using a Matrox display card.

A: There is a known bug in some Matrox video drivers (released around April 1999) that can cause some images to be missing in WhereIsIt. It is recommended to use the latest *certified* video drivers. Reportedly the Matrox PowerDesk v5.13 display driver suite an newer no longer exhibit missing icons in WhereIsIt. A similar situations may apply to other video drivers or video cards as well.

Q: My computer locks up when I try to display the Settings dialog, and there are no icons visible in main menu's Settings options.

A: Please make sure you are using the latest final release of your video drivers - this is a known problem with an older beta version of ATI Rage Pro drivers.  It may occur with other video cards as well. For ATI Rage Pro based video cards, the latest video drivers were reported to solve the problem.

Q: I have problems with scanning certain media, what can I do about it?

A: Such problems are usually a result of damaged media that can't be read correctly (a scratched CD-ROM, for example), as well as of damaged, corrupted or otherwise invalid files on the media. In case of damaged media there is not much program can do about it, but with corrupted files you can temporarily turn off some advanced scanning features like browsing inside archive files and description plugins. You should be able to catalog any readable media, in worse case by turning off all advanced features and let the program do just a simple scan of media contents.

Q: No descriptions are imported when scanning my media, what can I do?

A: Check if description modules are loaded and enabled, and check if description plugins are enabled and in suitable priority order. Also, make sure that you are not using any option that is reserved for special cases  only - for example, the "Import existing descriptions from other disks in catalog" should be disabled by default as it requires a lot of resources and can in worse cases even cause problems or instability during scanning.

Q: The CDDB plugin doesn't seem to be working, only generic description are imported.

A: There are two plugins that can handle Audio CD tracks, the CDDB plugin and generic Audio CD plugin. Make sure that CDDB plugin has assigned more priority than Audio CD plugin, or CDDB will never get to be used in the first place. Generic descriptions can also be assigned if CDDB plugin was not successful in retrieving descriptions - because of there is no Internet connection, your audio CD is being used by some other application and CDDB plugin can't access it, or just because it is not listed in CDDB database or results returned were not reliable. Please also note the fact that if you are updating disk image in catalog, existing descriptions are always kept unless specifically instructed otherwise.

Q: I can't get the program to accept my license key file.

A: Make sure that your key file is named "License.key" if you are using WhereIsIt 3.xx, or "WhereIsIt.key", if using WhereIsIt 2.xx. The key file must be located in the same folder as program's .exe file (NOT, for example, in the same group on your desktop where you have a shortcut to WhereIsIt...)

Q: I think I have found a bug. Where and how can I submit reports about found problems?

A: You can e-mail description about any problem you find to the author (bug.report@whereisit-soft.com). Please be sure to check if you are using the latest version of program, problem may already be fixed at that time. When describing your problem, try to include as much information as possible for author to be able to repeat the problem - reproducing the error is the first and most important step to solution. Please also include a short description of your computer, and WhereIsIt and OS version that you are using.

Q: Can I make a suggestion for a new feature?

A: Sure, new suggestions are always welcome. All of them will be at least considered, and many have made it into the program already.


Description plugins

Description plugins are special add-ons to WhereIsIt that can take

care of importing descriptions for files, folders and disks during disk

scan. Description plugins can be developed independantly from the

main program, and anybody with some programming knowledge

can develop his own plugin to handle descriptions from not yet

supported source.


How to - Index
How to... Index

...start working with the program

...use the right mouse button on items

...select multiple items on the list

...use item coloring

...handle columns in item lists

...search by more than one criteria at once

...search by narrowing down the results

...search for items that do NOT match certain criteria

...prepare a report containing only items matching certain criteria

...prepare a report with all items in catalog

...prepare a report containing only items from specific disks

...export catalogs to some other format


How to use the right mouse button on items

back to "How to..." Index

The right-mouse button in WhereIsIt is, in full compliance with Microsoft's recommendations, used to display selected object's popup menu with all available commands that apply to that item. This is often the fastest way to access a command to perform some operation on selected items(s). In WhereIsIt, every cataloged item has its own popup menu, as well as some other parts of user interface (for example, drive buttons in Add/Update dialog). Using the right mouse button can make your task easier in many cases, so get used to it.


How to select multiple items on the list

back to "How to..." Index

Often you need to select more than one item at once on the list to perform a common operation on all selected items. In WhereIsIt this is done the same as in other Windows applications, by using the SHIFT and CTRL buttons while selecting.

Normally, when you just click an item on the list, previously selected item is deselected and just clicked item is selected instead. To keep previous item selected as well, hold the CTRL key when selecting the next item. You can repeat this as many times you want. To deselect already selected item, just click it again with holding CTRL key. To select single item again, just click it without holding the CTRL key.

The SHIFT button is used for range selections. Click normally the first item you want to select, scroll the list to the last item to be selected, hold SHIFT and click it. You can combine using both CTRL and SHIFT buttons as well to allow you selecting items with more than one range selection.

In addition to the above standard selection support WhereIsIt also offers quick items selection based on same methods as in popular Norton Commander. To invert current selection, press the * key on numerical part of keyboard - this one is often used to simply select the whole list with one key press. Additionally, you can use + and - key, both on numerical part of keyboard only, for selecting or deselecting specified items by their names. For example, to quickly add to selection all files with .doc extension, press the + key on numerical keyboard and type *.doc as the file mask.


How to use item coloring

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By coloring cataloged items WhereIsIt offers a possibility to visually mark displayed items based on their properties. There are a few predefined criteria how items can be colored (by their type or file name, assigned category or flags, or by their disk locations).

Currently active coloring criteria can be quickly changed or turned off using the coloring mode button on the main toolbar.


How to search by more than one criteria at once

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You can use advanced searching to set more than one criteria to search for. Basic searching allows you to search for parts of text including either in file names or in descriptions (or in either of them), which is the most common way how items are searched in WhereIsIt, but sometimes you may need to be more specific than that. By selecting the Advanced Search tab in Search dialog you can specify any number of criteria and combine them with logical operators, such as AND, OR, XOR, and NOT. Each such search expression can be saved to be retrieved and reused later.

Sometimes, writing the whole expression is too complicated, or you don't know in advance what exactly will you need to search for until you have at least some partial results. In such cases, you can use the method of narrowing down your search results, or you can add additional hits by combining the results of two independent searches. Both methods are very simple to practice and can be used with both quick and advanced searches. To narrow down your search results you only need to set the program to search through your current search results instead of through catalog ("Limit Search" button, "Search in current search results list" option), and to add additional hits of new searching to your existing list, just turn off the option to clear previous search results under the "Settings" button.


How to search by narrowing down the results

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Narrowing down search results mean that your previous search has returned more items that you wanted to, and you need to apply additional criteria to get more exact results. You can do that either by going back and make your original search criteria stricter so it will return less hits the next time, or you can choose to take the current results list as a base for a new search.

To do the latter, you just need to set current search results list as a source for searching - click the "Limit Search" button and select the "Search in current search results list" option. Now you can setup an entirely new search criteria that will only keep wanted items on this results list. Of course, when narrowing down the search, no new items can be added to results list.

Example:

Imagine that you would like to get a list of all your MP3 files. No problem, you set a program to do a quick search for *.mp3 using file names only. Now that you have a list of all MP3 files, you see there are too many, it would be better if list would only include files newer than two weeks. You can just switch the program to search in your current search results only, set a new search criteria to return only files modified during the last two weeks, and that's it.

Of course, there are plenty other ways how you could reach the same goal. For the example above, it would be probably faster and easier to just sort the list by dates, select MP3 files starting with first and down to the last one older that two weeks, and manually remove them from the list (DEL key). Or alternatively, you could just go back and define a new search to search for both MP3 files and files newer than two weeks at the same time. As it is often case in WhereIsIt, it's really up to you to decide which is the easiest way to go in your specific case, program's job is to allow you making this choice.


How to search for items that do NOT match certain criteria

back to "How to..." Index

To search for items that do not match certain criteria you will have to use the advanced searching. Just prepare your search expression as you would normally do, put the whole expression in parentheses, and put the NOT command at the front.

For example, to search for all files that are not .DOC or .TXT documents, your expression will look something like that:

not ((File Mask = "*.doc") or (File Mask = "*.txt"))


How to prepare a report with all items in catalog

back to "How to..." Index

This can be done in two ways, either using Custom Report option in Report Generator, or by using search capabilities first and prepare a report from search results list. The first option is faster although not necessarily easier, the second one is more adjustable. Please note that such reports can include A LOT of items if we are talking about large catalogs, there can be a few hundred thousand files involved.

If using custom reports, you have to select all items to be included in custom report - that means expanding the entire catalog tree to include all folders, and settings all checkboxes to include all files as well. You can do both very quickly by using options available under the "Macro" button. That's about all there is to it, you can only select if you want to have all items listed in one big list or you want to include some disk or folder headers as well.

The second approach may seem more complicated, but will generally give you better results, especially by offering more control over report contents and layout. First, you use searching to find all items in catalog (just search for *.*, and make sure you have enabled searching for files, folders and disks). This will give you the list of all items in your catalog, you just have to get it on the report. You can either sort the list right here in search results list and tell report generator to keep the same order of items as found on source list (this allows you, for example, to get a report of all items in the catalog, sorted alphabetically), or you can let the report generator to sort it by catalogs, disk, folders, or any combination of those and include appropriate headings. Once you have your list ready, you just need to call up Report Generator and tell it to take the search results list as a source for your report. Feel free to play around with other options Report Generator has to offer to fine tune your report.

The advantage of the latter option with searching is mostly in the fact that you can decide for each file, folder or disk separately if you want it in the report or not (if not, just remove it from the list), and there are some more options available about formatting the report layout itself that may not be accessible with custom reports, such as keeping sort order as it appears on source list. Custom reports are generally not very often used, using report generator in combination with searching is often a better choice.


How to prepare a report containing only items from specific disks

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This task is again done easiest if you use searching to locate your items before starting up the Report Generator itself. For example, if you are interested only in items from the two disks last added to catalog, and would only like in the report items that have some description assigned, you only need one simple search: use the advanced searching to search for all items with any description, and limit searching using the "Limit Search" button to search only inside two wanted disks in the catalog. This search will give you a list of all wanted files and folders, so it is only left to start Report Generator, set search results list as a source for your report, and check out the results.

Sometimes you can use the Custom Report option instead of searching to limit included items in report to specified disks only, however your options are much more limited this way - using program's search capabilities is the recommended way to go in such cases.


How to prepare a report containing only items matching certain criteria

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The most often used way of preparing reports is to use either program's search capabilities to collect wanted items to include in report, or manually collect them using the User List (or even by using a combination of both, if gathering wanted items is a complex enough process). If your items in report are expected to match certain criteria, using searching is the obvious idea.

Let's say for example, you want to create a catalog of all of your audio files. First, you need to collect all such files - a simple search can do that very easily, you just set it to quick search for "*.mp3, *.wav, *.mid" and select searching in file names only. This will get you a list of all your audio files collected on search results list - you can now use this list as a source for Report Generator. To have all files listed alphabetically, sort them in search results list before starting the Report Generator, and just tell report generator to keep items ordered the same way as found on the source list. When your list is ready, start the Report Generator, select search results list as a source for your report, and try out the print preview to check how it looks. Feel free to use additional settings available in Report Generator to fine tune your report, for example by instructing it to sort items by their source and include appropriate disk and/or folder headers to get your report more organized.


How to export catalogs to some other format

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You can use the Report Generator to export catalog or just a part of it with selected items and details to some other format. The procedure is exactly the same as with preparing a regular report, except that you select one of supported target formats as a report destination. Most commonly used are exporting directly to Excel via DDE (program creates a new table in Excel, containing your report details), export to ASCII file, preferably comma-delimited (you can import comma-delimited ASCII file in just about any spreadsheet or database program), or export it to HTML format to be put on your web site.


How to handle columns on item lists

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Each list of items operating in details mode (default) displays a number of columns to present details about listed items. Program offers some special functionality to handle those columns.

Resizing columns

You may have noticed that columns are changing their size based on their contents visible - you can also manually resize each column by dragging its right border on column header. Columns have their own popup menu that can be accessed by right clicking on any column header. With options available on popup menu you can quickly resize all columns to fit their contents visible on screen, or call up a special dialog to setup the columns.

Hiding and reordering columns

Sometimes, there are too many columns to fit in the window and some of them are not really needed, or you would rather have them in different order as they are now.  Each item list in the program (main window, user list, search results, compare results) can have its own columns settings defined.

You can setup columns by calling up a special dialog by right-clicking any column header and selecting the Setup Columns option. You can reorder columns there the way you want them, or you can uncheck some column you don't need at this time and want to hide them.

All these operations can be performed faster as well, without using the special column setup dialog. To reorder columns, you can simply grab the column's header and drop it at the wanted location - you will notice the indicator marking current drop location between two columns while dragging the column around.

To hide a column, grab its right border and drag it to the left to close the column completely. Program will remember that column width was set to zero and handle such column as hidden. To unhide the column, the easiest way is to use the column setup dialog and uncheck it there, although if you know where hidden column is located, you can grab with the mouse just right of the column border and drag the column open again.


Network Support
Using WhereIsIt Lite in Network Environment

Saving and loading catalogs on network drives

Loading catalogs from network drives is fully supported, either by accessing them by assigned drive letters, or using the UNC addressing in a form of "\\SERVER\SHARE\". Just make sure you have the proper access rights to read and/or write to selected network drive.

Sharing catalogs with other users

WhereIsIt Lite allows simultaneous usage of the same catalog file, browsing catalogs in multi-user environments is fully supported.

Locating cataloged network drives

When program needs to access actual files on the media, program is able to search for needed media on the network as well. This feature, however, has to be specifically enabled, due to limitations of network environment. When searching for any media, program will always scan all available local drive letters first - if program is looking for a network drive and  you have it mapped to a drive letter, this is the best and most efficient way to make it easily accessible to the program. Only if media is not found among local drive letters, program will consider searching the network as well. This can be useful, for example, if a CD-ROM needed is currently inserted in a shared drive on some other computer on the network, and program can find and use it from there. If the disk image in catalog was cataloged as a network drive using a UNC address, this address is also stored in the catalog and program will try to access it directly - chances are that the same drive is still available on the same UNC location. If media was not found this way, program has no other choice but to scan the entire network for possible matches.

Please note that searching the network for available shared drives can be a slow process, a few seconds are needed per computer available on the network. If you have a fairly large network, searching for media may take a few minutes and more. For this reason mostly, scanning the entire network for matching drives is DISABLED by default and must be specifically enabled with special command line switch when program is started. Specify the -scannet parameter to enable browsing the network, for example:

C:\Program Files\WhereIsIt Lite> WhereIsIt_Lite.exe -scannet

This is more or less a temporary solution for the time being, in the next major version program will handle this issue itself via user interface setting, for example with an option is program's settings and/or by asking user whether to proceed searching the network if media is not found in local drives.

You will want to turn on scanning entire network if your network is fairly small, and you have a reasonably lot of cases when the media in catalog is available as a shared drive on the network. In most cases, however, it is recommended to leave browsing the network disabled due to heavy performance impact and quite noticeable delays every time program tries to find a media and it can't locate among the local drives.

Disabling UNC network support

If you have a large network or it responds slowly, just accessing basic network functions like checking if it is available can take a few seconds and cause unwanted delays. For this reason mostly you can disable all network support that requires program to browse the network directly, by using the -nonetwork parameter, for example:

C:\Program Files\WhereIsIt Lite> WhereIsIt_Lite.exe -nonetwork

Even if you use this parameter you will still be able to catalog and use network drives, however they will have to be assigned a local drive letter in order to be accessed from WhereIsIt.


Disk Groups

Disk groups serve as containers for disks and other disk groups.

They allow you hierarchically organize your disks inside catalog,

or just group certain disks together and handle them as one. Using

disk groups is optional.


Thumbnail plugins

Much like description plugins, thumbnail plugins are add-ons to

WhereIsIt that can take import smaller versions of images, so

called thumbnails. While the primary source for thumbnail plugins

are image files, anybody with some programming knowledge can

develop his own plugins to import or generate thumbnails from

other, not yet supported sources.


Templates

Similar to catalogs, but without contents, templates are used

as a base for creating new catalogs, containing predefined

categories, flags, disk location, custom icons, etc.


Alias Names

Alias names are optional, internal names used only inside

catalogs for files and folders. They allow you to "rename"

files or folders, and would be usually used when the real

file or folder name is a bit too cryptic.

Example:

Real name:	EIF62_02.MP3	(name on the media)

Alias name:	Eiffel 62 - Blue.MP3	(displayed in catalog)

Alias names can be assigned to items either in their Properties

dialog, or by renaming them directly on file lists (press F2, or

click the item's name twice with a short pause in between). To

remove alias names, you can delete them in Properties dialog,

or use the Remove Alias Name command.


Check to make toolbar visible, uncheck to hide toolbar.


Check if toolbar should be visible in a separate window instead of docked to one of the main window's borders.


Adjust the size of buttons in toolbars. Use this if you think buttons are too small or too large.


Check if you don't like the new border-less buttons. If checked, buttons in toolbars will be normal, raised buttons instead, like in old programs.


Choose the border where toolbar will be docked in main window. This option has no meaning if toolbar is floating in a window of its own.


Check to display status bar at the bottom of the main window.


Check to display "Previous Folder" item, commonly known as ".." folder. This item represents the parent item, and can be used to return one level up if double-clicked or selected.


Check to display item's descriptions as too-tips. If item has a description, and you leave a mouse over this item for a moment, the description will pop-up in a separate window.


Adjust how long to wait before description will pop-up, in seconds.


Adjust how long description will stay on screen if not manually removed, in seconds.


Selects how compressed archive files should be regarded when sorting items. They can be treated either as other files or as folders. If this checkbox is checked, archive files will be sorted together with folders, instead of together with other files.


If checked, one of random selected tips about using this program will be displayed each time you run the program.


If this option is checked, program will save modified catalogs by itself on every "n" minutes. You can select the "n" to be between one minute and 240 minutes.


Double-clicking a file can have one of the supported meanings. You can select your desired action here.


Click this button to run the Quick-Setup Wizard instead of this dialog. Setup Wizard is more suitable for beginners and does not include all the options available here, only the most important ones.


Closes this dialog and saves any changes you have made.


Closes this dialog box without saving any changes you have made, and cancels all changes.


Saves and activates all the changes you have made without closing this dialog box.


Selects how file and folders sizes will be presented in columns. If not checked, sizes will be displayed as plain numbers with decimal separators (default), for example 665.795. If checked, sizes will be translated to appropriate units instead, for example 650.2 kB.


If checked, program will create backup (.BAK) file when saving a catalog. If catalog already exists on disk when modified catalog is saved, then the old catalog file is renamed with .BAK extension, and the newly saved catalog takes place of the old file. If this option is not checked, old catalog file is not preserved.


Select a default path where program would store and load catalog files from. You can use the 'Browse' button to select the appropriate folder.


Selects internal ASCII viewer for viewing files.


Selects external program as an ASCII viewer. In the edit box enter a full path and file name of your favorite viewer program (this can be, for example, Notepad) - this program will be launched every time you will select to view a specific file. Command line can include any number of parameters you wish to add, or any parameter macros provided by WhereIsIt (%1 in command line will be replaced by select item's filename, while %2 represents folder's filename).

You can use the Browse button to help you select the external program.


In this window you can customize the main toolbar layout. Buttons and separators are displayed in the same order as they appear on toolbar; you can change order with Up and Down buttons. To insert a separator after the selected button, press Add Separator button, and to remove button or separator from toolbar, press Remove button. Unused buttons are collected at the end of list, in a special section. To add button back to toolbar, select it and press Add button.


Moves selected button or separator to front of toolbar.


Moves selected button or separator to back of toolbar.


Adds selected button to toolbar, if unused button is selected, or removes selected button or separator from toolbar.


Adds a new separator line after currently selected button.


Indicates that adding unused button to toolbar is in progress. Click with your mouse to a place on toolbar list where you would like to insert selected button, or move selection with your cursor keys and press Space. if you would like to cancel adding button to toolbar, press Escape.


Check to display keyboard shortcuts inside button tool-tips. If the function assigned to some button is available via keyboard shortcut, this shortcut will be appended after button's description.


Check to always use short filenames as parameters when running external program. This option can be useful if program is not able to handle long filenames properly, like old 16-bit Windows programs.


If checked, program will disable smooth scrolling of tree window while expanding or collapsing nodes. Both operations will be performed at once, instead of displaying animated effect, causing sometimes unwanted delays. Smooth scrolling is only available on systems with newer version of Comctl32.dll library installed (included with Internet Explorer 4.0, for example)


Selects optional external shell program, to be used instead of Windows Explorer with 'Open in Explorer' command. In the edit box enter a full path and file name of your favorite Windows shell program (for example, Windows Commander). Command line can include any number of parameters you wish to add, or any parameter macros provided by WhereIsIt (%1 in command line will be replaced by select item's filename, while %2 represents folder's filename). The default command line used by WhereIsIt to start Explorer is EXPLORER.EXE /select, "%1". To use Windows Explorer again (default setting), leave the edit box empty. You can use the Browse button to select external program.


Check to automatically remove description pop-up window after specified period of time.


Reloads language data from language file. You can use this button to force program acknowledge changes you made to language file since program is running.


Selects one of available languages to use. Press Apply button to activate new language after selecting.


Runs the Language Editor, where you can make your own translations or change existing language data.


Select the part of user interface to change the font for. You can set a different font for each part of program listed here.


Use your custom font for selected part of user interface. Click on 'Select Font' button to choose your custom font.


Use the system default font for selected part of user interface. Program will use the same font as other programs do.


Choose your custom font for selected part of user interface. Currently selected font is displayed on the right, and font sample is available under this button.


Here you can see a font sample for currently selected font.


Select the sources where to import descriptions from during disk scan, and select priority if description is available from more than one source (higher is more priority).


Move selected description source higher, to assign it more priority.


Move selected description source lower, to assign it less priority.


Check this option to truncate all descriptions longer than "n" lines while importing. Only the first "n" lines will be imported.


Keep this option checked to preserve existing descriptions on disk scan - only if item does not have description already, program will try to import it from media. If option is not checked, all current descriptions will be deleted and new descriptions will be imported from media.


If this option is checked, program will suggest old disk name from catalog as media name. If not checked, default name will always be media volume label.


If checked, do not catalog any hidden files on the media, just ignore them.


If checked, do not catalog any hidden folders on the media, just ignore them.


If checked, do not catalog Recycle Bin folders and their content, just ignore them.


Sometimes many disks can have the same serial number and properties, and program can not tell them apart. With this option checked you allow the program to change disk's serial number if another disk with the same number is found in the catalog. This way, program will be able to tell apart those two disks the next time.


Before trying to change the disk's serial number, ask the user first if that is OK.


After cataloguing disk, eject media from drive. This option may not be supported for all drives, but should work with most removable drives and CD-ROMs.


If checked, program will open each of supported archive files and catalogue its contents, too. Archive file will be presented as a folder, and compressed files inside the archive file will be visible as folder contents. Note, however, that using this option may produce noticeably larger catalog files due to extra data and disk scan will take longer to complete.


Check or uncheck each of supported archive file formats. Only selected file formats will be checked for their contents during the disk scan.


If this option is checked, program will not import archive file's contents, only look inside for description files. This way, archive file will be presented as any other file, but if description is compressed inside, it will be imported.


When updating existing data in the catalog, program can speed up the process by using quick scan on archive files. If file has not changed since it was last catalogued, it will not be browsed again, but previous data will be preserved instead.


Sometimes program needs to extract files from archive file for viewing, launching etc. Enter a full path to folder when such files can be extracted to (default is Windows temporary folder).


Select in folder tree the folder to extract temporary files to.


When extracting entire archive file, check this option to restore entire folder structure from archive file if available.


If program extracted some temporary files while running, these files will be still on disk when program exits. You can choose what to do with them: should program clean after itself and delete this files from temporary folder, should it just leave them as they are and exit, or should it ask you what to do.


Enter here filename or file mask to add to the list. Some common examples are 'file_id.diz' or '*.txt'.


This is the list of files and file masks that will be considered interesting when looking for description files. All files matching at least one of criteria listed here will be on the description-files list in Description Assistant. The order of files will be the same as is the order of items in this box.


Click on this button to add the filename or file-mask in the left field to the list.


Moves selected item(s) higher on the list.


Moves selected item(s) lower on the list.


Deletes selected files or file masks from the list.


When Description Assistant looks for files, it can look in sub-folders of current folder, too. To enable searching in sub-folders, check this option. You can also limit how deep in sub-folders should it search.


Check to enable auto-loading catalogs. When program starts, catalogs listed below will be loaded and ready to use. (Only available in registered version)


This is the list of catalogs that will be loaded on program start-up, if auto-loading is enabled. Catalogs will be loaded in the same order as listed here.


Moves selected catalogs higher in the list.


Moves selected catalogs lower in the list.


Adds a new catalog to auto-load list.


Removes selected catalogs from auto-load list.


Enter the title of your report here. Program will try to set it by itself, based on the current report contents.


Create report from one of the lists available, like search results, user list, compare results, or current contents of the main window.


Create custom report, by visually selecting which disks, folders or files to include in the report.


Select here the target for your report. You can print it on any print-capable device on your system (includig fax), preview it on screen, or export it as various forms of ASCII file, Excel table, rich-text, or HTML document.


Click this button to setup settings for currently selected report location.


Prints or exports your report, whatever is currently selected as report target.


Shows you the report as it would be printed on paper.


Opens a new dialog to customize your report. You can select printer, paper size, fonts used for report etc.


Closes this dialog and returns you back to where you selected printing report.


Selects one of the lists as the source for report. Program will auto-select this setting, based on where you have selected printing report from. Note that only lists that are actually available at this moment will be enabled for selection.


Selects how columns will be generated when saving report to ASCII file:

• space-aligned columns are normal reports, with columns separated by one or more spaces to provide alignment.

• report with TAB (ASCII code 9) character separating the columns can be very useful if you plan to later import this report to some other program, like spreadsheets or MS Word. It will not look very nice when viewed as ASCII file, though.

• reports with columns separated by comma character (,) are also often used as a source to import data in some other database format.


Shows you the printer currently selected for printing reports. To change the printer or its settings, click on this text, or click the 'Report Setup' button.


Check to include specific headers in report. If items in report are sorted by their source, program can group and mark by headings all items originating from same catalog, disk, or folder.


Select this option to replace all TAB or comma characters, if you have selected TAB or comma-separated columns in report. This option will replace all separator characters that would normally appear somewhere in the report with whatever you enter in the following box (max. 5 characters).


Select columns and their order, as you want them to appear in report.


Moves selected column one step higher, so it will appear more on the left side.


Moves selected column one step lower, so it will appear more on the right side.


Includes all columns on the list in the report.


Removes all columns from report, leaving it empty.


Copies the order and state of columns from the source list. This way, reports will appear in the report the same way as you can currently see them on screen.


Generate report with items ordered the same way as they appear in the source list, no sorting other than present is applied.


Check to sort items in report by their source. Items, originating from same catalog, disk, or folder will appear listed together, and equipped with folder, disk, and catalog headings. This option is disabled if sorting items by source doesn't make sense (for example, if generating report for contents of Main Window, all items have the same source).


In this tree, you can visually select the layout of your custom report. In short, disks and folders that are visible in this tree will be included in report. Most disks and folders also have checkboxes on the left side; those select if files directly located in this folder will also be included in report. You can use the "Macros" button to perform larger operations on selected item, like expanding to specific level, or including files in sub-folders.


Here you can find a few useful macro commands to perform on the currently selected item. Those include expanding "n" levels ob sub-items, collapsing all sub-items, and including or excluding files in the next "n" levels of sub-items.


Loads previously saved custom report layout from a file. Please note that the catalogs used in saved report must already be loaded.


Saves currently selected report layout to a file.


Check to disable Excel's input and refresh during export. It is recommended you keep this option checked, exporting will be much faster this way.


Check to disable table formatting in Excel. Normally, program would not only export data, but also set fonts and cell sizes as well. You can disable this if you don't want formatting, and exporting will be noticeably faster, too.


Check to hide borders in exported HTML table.


Check to shade rows in exported table. Every other row in table is shaded in slightly different shade of gray, to allow easier reading.


Check to ignore colors set for reports, and always export report in default HTML colors.


Check this option if you would like to limit the maximum allowed size for exported HTML file, and specify that size. If the size is exceeded, WhereIsIt will export multiple HTML files, each holding a "page" of data.


Opens the standard Print Setup dialog, allowing you to adjust your printer settings and select which printer to use.


Selects the units used in this dialog for margins and paper size.


Set the margins used when generating the report.


Select paper size to be used for generating the report. Make sure this size is set the same as the actual paper size, supported by printer. Generally, it is better to select paper size here than leave it to the default setting.


Width of currently selected paper. Read-only field.


Height of currently selected paper. Read-only field.


Selects portrait or landscape paper orientation for your reports.


Selects if currently selected section will appear in reports. Here you can remove sections you do not want in your reports.


Selects the font and color to be used for selected report section.


Selects the background color for currently selected section. Using this option, you can produce colored bands for titles etc. Default is 'White'.


Selects the font color for selected report section.


Selects one of the available report sections to setup. For each section, you can select if it will appear in reports or not, and choose its appearance (font and color).


Check this option to include icons in the report.


Check to force a page break before this section starts. For example, if you have selected the Disk Heading section and checked this option, every disk heading will begin on a new page.


Check to use thumbnail images instead of regular associated file icons in the report, for items that have thumbnails available.


Enter complete path to folder with files to compare against catalogued data.


Browse for folder with files to compare against catalog data.


Check to include all sub-folders of selected folder in compare procedure, too.


Select disks and catalogs to include in compare procedure. Please note that selecting too much data (more than one catalog) can mean a lot of processing, and may take a long time to finish.


Includes all currently opened catalogs in compare procedure.


Excludes all data from compare procedure, allowing you a fresh start with selecting disks and catalogs.


Selects when two files are considered to be the same. Check data options that must match for two files to be considered the same (at least filenames must always match). Data left unchecked will be ignored when comparing files. For example, if files are to be considered the same when they have the same name, size, and date, check the options for size and date/time and leave the rest unchecked.

Note: the CRC condition is applied a bit differently as it is - unlike the rest - optional and may not be available for all files in catalog. CRCs will be used where available, however if it is not available in catalog, match is not required for file to pass checking. The exception is where matching CRCs are the only condition besides the default matching by file name - in this case, all matching files are required to have CRC available and matching in all files.


Starts searching selected catalog data, comparing it against files in selected folder. Button is disabled when dialog selection is incomplete.


Check if all matching files must have the same path on the media. For example, if one file is located at "\DIR1\DIR2" and the other in "\DIR3", and this option is checked, those two files are not considered to be the same, even if other conditions that may be selected are matching.


Displays the Properties dialog about selected location in catalog to export description from.


Check to export descriptions in all subfolders, too. For example, if you have selected disk's root folder to export descriptions from, checking this box will export descriptions for all files and folders on that disk as well. If it is not checked, only descriptions from selected location will be exported.


Selects to export descriptions to 4DOS/NDOS format, using Descript.ion files. This option will create a Descript.ion file in each folder on the media, listing available descriptions for that folder. Please consult program's help file ("Technical information" section) for detailed information about supported description formats.


Selects to export descriptions to Files.bbs format. This option will create a Files.bbs file in each folder on the media, listing available descriptions for that folder. Please consult program's help file ("Technical information" section) for detailed information about supported description formats.


Selects to export descriptions to File_id.diz format. This option can be used for exporting folder descriptions only. A File_id.diz file will be created inside each folder with assigned description. Please consult program's help file ("Technical information" section) for detailed information about supported description formats.


Selects to export descriptions to HTML format, using FileDesc.htm files. This option will create a FileDesc.htm file in each folder on the media, listing available descriptions for that folder. Please consult program's help file ("Technical information" section) for detailed information about supported description formats.


Check to keep existing files and descriptions on media. For example, if exporting descriptions to Files.bbs format, and such file already exists on media, all current description will be kept and only new ones will be added to the file. If not checked, a new Files.bbs will be created instead, containing only descriptions from catalog.


Check to limit line length for exported descriptions to specified number of characters. Lines longer that this value will be truncated.


Check to limit number of lines allowed per exported description. If description contains more lines of text, the remaining lines will be skipped.


Check to add or update exported description files in catalog, if cataloged image of target drive is available.


Exports descriptions to media, according to selections.


Selects to export descriptions to Index.txt format, often used by FTP servers. This option will create a Index.txt file in each folder on the media, listing available descriptions for that folder. Please consult program's help file ("Technical information" section) for detailed information about supported description formats.


If checked, creates links in exported FileDesc.htm files to all listed files. As FileDesc.htm files list the contents of a single folder, they need to be placed in that same folder in older for links to work.


Lists all missing items on the current media. These are items that you selected for copying, but were not found on the real media (this would indicate that your catalog data is out of date). Items listed will be skipped.


Continues with copying the rest of selected items. Items listed in this dialog will be skipped.


Aborts any further copying. Items copied so far will stay on destination location, but all items left to copy will be skipped.


Starts searching by specified criteria. This button will be disabled if no criteria are set at the moment.


Cancels searching currently in progress. Items found so far will remain on the Found List.


Closes the Search dialog, but does not clear current settings or Found List. If search is in progress, it will continue to run in the background. You can show the Search dialog again by clicking appropriate option in the main window.


This is the list where found items are added to. You can use this list to browse through items you were searching for, or use it as a source for printing reports. Items can be sorted by clicking on column headers, and many operations can be performed on items using buttons above the list.


Pressing this button will show a dialog where you can set general search settings.


This button will show a dialog where you can limit searching, or select where to search.


If this option is checked, program will search for specified text in file names.


If this is checked, program will search for specified text in items' descriptions.


Check this option to search for items with part of descriptions that sound similar to specified text. This is so-called soundex algorithm, and it works best with English language.


Enter here the text to search for. Program will search for items that have specified text occurring in names, descriptions, or either of them, according to settings below. If searching in item names is enabled, you may also specify file masks, like "*.txt". You can specify more than one condition, by separating them with commas (i.e. "*.txt, *.zip").


Check to enable searching for files.


Check to enable searching for folders.


Check to enable searching for disks.


If this option is checked, program will not look for files that are compressed inside archive files.


If checked, all items will be removed from Found List before a new search begins.


This button will add a new criteria (or update the selected one) to expression editor, as set above, and close this window. If settings are currently not valid, this button will appear disabled.


This button will cancel all changes to search criteria and close this dialog.


Selects one of available ways to search by filenames. Most often you will want to search by part of filename, or by file mask.


Enter here data to search for in filenames. Actual data depends on what type of filename searching is selected - for example, if you are searching by part of filename, enter here text that must be included in found filenames. You can specify more than one condition, by separating them with commas (i.e. "*.txt, *.zip").


In this box are listed all known file types, registered in your Windows system. You can choose one of them to search for files of selected type.


Check to make searching case sensitive. If unchecked, program will regard capital letters and small letters as equal.


Sets searching by file attributes. Each check box can have three states - grayed check box means that attribute will not be included in search. If attribute is checked, program will search for files with this attribute set, and if it is cleared, program will search for files without this particular attribute.


Enables searching for items with any description.


Enables searching for items that include specified text somewhere in their description.


Enter here part of description you are looking for. You can enter more than one condition, by separating them with commas (i.e. 'microsoft, windows' will search for either "microsoft", or "windows" as a part of description). If you would like to have comma as a part of text to search, include entire expression to act as one condition in double quotes.


Check to make searching by descriptions case sensitive. If unchecked, program will regard capital letters and small letters as equal.


Enables searching for items without description.


Check on this list all categories you wish to search for. Program will locate all items that are set to belong to one of the selected categories. This window will appear disabled when no categories are defined in any opened catalog at this moment.


Check on this list all flags you wish to search for. Program will locate all items that have at least one of specified flags set. This window will appear disabled when no flags are defined in any opened catalog at this moment.


Select here how item's size will be compared to specified size.


Enter here the size you are looking for. Don't forget to set appropriate units, too. For example, setting 10 KB is the same as setting 10240 Bytes.


Set here the units for selected size.


Check to allow tolerance when searching by file size. If tolerance is set, program will allow item's size to be lower or higher for a specified tolerance value compared to search settings.


Selects what type of date are you looking for. You can search for files that were created, modified, or accessed compared to specified date. Please note that on some file systems the only available date is modified date.


Select here how item's date will be compared to specified date.


Enter here a date you are looking for, as specified by other options. Click on the "down" button on the right side to visually select date from a calendar.


Check to allow tolerance when searching by file date. If tolerance is set, program will allow item's date to be older or newer for a specified number of days compared to search settings.


Selects what type of time are you looking for. You can search for files that were created, modified, or accessed compared to specified time of day. Please note that on some file systems the only available time is modified time.


Select here how item's time of day will be compared to specified time.


Enter here a time of day you are looking for, as specified by other options. Select hours, minutes, or seconds, and type in a desired value (you can also use the up/down buttons on the right to change value).


Check to allow tolerance when searching by file time. If tolerance is set, program will allow item's time to be older or newer for a specified number of minutes compared to search settings.


Here you can select disk and catalogs that will be included in search. By default, program will search in all opened catalogs, but you can tell it to skip specific disks or catalogs. Check in this window all items you want to be searched, and clear checks by items that you want to skip. Grayed check box by catalog means that only some disks in this catalog will be searched, as specified.


Selects all catalogs and disks currently opened to be included in searching, by settings check marks to all items in the tree.


Clears the check marks by all items in the tree, excluding all disks and catalogs from searching.


Puts a check mark by all items on the list.


Clears the check box by all items on the list.


If this box is checked, all duplicate files are required to have the same file name to be regarded as duplicates.


If this box is checked, all duplicate files are required to have the same size to be regarded as duplicates.


If this box is checked, all duplicate files are required to have the same modified date and time set to be regarded as duplicates.


If this box is checked, all duplicate files are required to have the same attributes set to be regarded as duplicates.


Check this option if you want to match only category names, but full category paths are allowed to differ. Since categories can be organized in tree structure, just matching category names may not be enough if parent categories differ. For example, you can have categories "Programs / Win98" and "Games / Win98" - they both have the same name, "Win98", but their parent is not the same and their full paths differ. If this option is checked, only category name will be checked for match, and if it's not, their full category paths must match as well.


If this box is checked, you can limit number of hits to specific number. When this number of found items is reached, searching will stop and skip the rest of items still left to be searched. You can use this option to terminate search prematurely if there will be too many hits for results still to be useful.


Check on this list all disk locations you wish to search for. Program will locate all items that are set to belong to one of the selected disk locations. Files and folders are considered to have the same disk location as disk, on which they reside. This window will appear disabled when no categories are defined in any opened catalog at this moment.


Select this option to search through all currently loaded catalogs (default).


Select this option if you would like to exclude some disks or catalogs from searching. In the tree below you can check all disks you would like to have searched.


Select this option to search through results of previous searching. This way, you can narrow down results by performing more than one search, every next narrowing down results from the previous one.


Press this button to insert new criteria to expression editor. This button will give you a list of available search criteria groups, and provide a dialog to specify your search condition after selecting appropriate group.


Allows you to edit and modify the criteria at the cursor position. If cursor is currently not inside criteria, this button will appear disabled.


This button will validate your search expression, checking it for syntax errors like invalid operations, missing ")" etc.


Press this button for available commands for search expressions. Here you can load or save search expression, or clear the expression editor and start on fresh.


Enables searching for all duplicate files and folders.


Selects searching for duplicate files and folders that match in name the criteria below.


Check to search for items without assigned category.


Check to search for items without assigned flags.


Check to search for items without assigned disk locations.


This button will insert in search expression the indicated operation at cursor location. Click the Validate button to check if your expression is valid.


Select this option to search through items currently on the user list. This option allows you to actively combine user list with searching.


If this box is checked, duplicate files are checked for CRC values, where available. As CRC values in catalog are optional, this setting is ignored if either of two files being compared is missing CRC data. For those that do have them, it can make sure that their contents is in fact the same.


Check to enable searching for disk groups.


If this option is selected, searching items by name will include alias names only, where available. Only if item does not have alias name, the real name will be used to evaluate search condition.


Select this option to search by real names only, as used on the media, and ignore all alias names.

Note that if you have alias names enabled in program and shown on lists, using this option can result in files being displayed on search results list that don't seem to match your filename search condition (as you are looking at their alias names, but their real names do match).


This option allows either alias name (if available) or real name to match your search condition - either will do.


Selects how to look for the speficied part of item's path. Based on this option the path must either include specified text anywhere in between, it must begin or end with, or it has to match it exactly.


Enter here a part of the path you are looking for. All items that have the specified text as a part of their path, matching the condition set on the left, are considered to be matching this condition.


Check if folder's name is considered to be a part of its own path, added at the end. For example, if there is a folder "Test" located in the root of the media, its path can be "\Test" (this option cheched) or "\" (unchecked).


Here you can see the textual description of your current search settings, including active search limitations. If your search did not turn out as you have expected, here you can quickly check the summary search settings.


This from shows you detailed information about selected item, and offers you a quick access to details about its parent items, if available.


Select here a tab with details about selected item, or its parent items.


Shows file attributes for selected item. Read-only field.


Click to display which categories is this item assigned to.


Opens the Catalog Setup dialog to edit defined categories, flags and disk locations in current catalog.


Click to display which flags is this item assigned to.


Shows description of the current item.


Shows if file is stored in compressed form on the media. Some file systems like NTFS support internal file compression.


Click this button to get more information about selected media.


Enter here a new disk name, if you would like to rename disk in catalog.


Enter here a name of the catalog.


Change disk number, assigned to selected disk. Each disk can have unique disk number assigned, ranging from 1 to 65535. To remove assigned number, leave this field empty.


Select here the location where you keep your media. Available disk locations listed here are defined in item's catalog. To edit disk locations, click the '...' button on right.


Maximizes the description edit area for easier viewing. To return dialog to normal state, click this button again.


This button shows item's alias name, if one is available in catalog. Alias name is the name of a file or folder under which it is known and shown in catalog, although this may not be its actual name on the media.


Click to open the Catalog Setup dialog. There you can set up categories, flags, disk locations, and custom icons, available in selected catalog.


This window shows all currently loaded catalogs. You can check all catalogs that you want to see included in statistics calculation, available below.


This from shows you detailed information about all selected items.


Click to check assigned categories of all selected items. If some categories are marked as grayed, some of selected items have it assigned and some not.


Select here the location where you keep your media. Available disk locations listed here are defined in item's catalog.


Click to check assigned flags of all selected items. If some flags are marked as grayed, some of selected items have it assigned and some not.


Shows the common description of all selected items, if available. In case items have different descriptions, this field is left empty.


Selects of available list views in program to setup its columns. Current list view is already selected when this dialog is displayed.


Displays available columns in selected list view. Column will appear in the same order as displayed here (to change order, selected desired item and use up/down buttons on the right). To hide certain columns, clear the check mark beside it on the list. Only checked columns will appear in the list view.


Moves selected column higher on the column list, forcing it to appear more to the left in the list view.


Moves selected column lower on the column list, forcing it to appear more to the right in the list view.


Saves and applies all changes to the list view, showing the results immediately, without leaving this dialog.


Cancels all changes made in this dialog and reverts to current settings of selected list view.


Selects one of available item lists, grouped by compare results type.


Closes Compare Results window, and returns you to program's main window.


Enables the usage of extended Open Catalog dialog. Extended dialog can display some details about catalogs before they are opened in the program, such as descriptions and contents preview.


Check if you want to have your catalog entries expanded in the tree view when catalog file is loaded. This way, all disks inside loaded catalog are immediately visible. If you have many catalogs opened with a lot of disks inside, you may want to disable this option.


Check to enable adding most recently used catalog files to the File menu for quicker access. You can also set here how many such entries would you like to keep.


Check this option if you don't want to load any catalogs when program starts.


Check this option to automatically open the same catalogs as they were opened the last time program was running. (Only available in registered version)


Selects to open files for viewing with Quick View (Plus), external program specialized for viewing many different types of files.


Check for lists to operate in "normal" mode. With mouse click you can select item, and double click starts default operation on clicked item.


Check to use "single-click mode" in file lists. Pointing items with mouse cursor will select them, while clicking item starts default operation on the item.


Select to disable any kind of underlining items in lists.


Select to underline item (simulating a hyperlink) currently pointed with mouse cursor.


Select to underline all items in lists, as if they were hyperlinks.


Check to enable flat buttons in dialogs. Flat buttons are lower by default, and will raise slightly when mouse cursor is moved over them.


Check to play specified wave sound file when long operation (more than 10 seconds) completes. If file name is left empty or is invalid, the default system sound will be played instead.


Check to allow folders to have en extension. Often folder names contain a period, for example "WhereIsIt 1.26". Normally, the part after the last period (".26") would be considered as name extension, but you can disable this behavior by unchecking this option.


Check to display full category path in Category column. Categories can be organized in levels, and checking this option will display all parent categories as well (for example, "Programs / Shareware / Games"). Since this may produce very wide columns, it is recommended to only display category name (in previous example, "Games").


Check to hide file extensions in file names if separate column showing extensions is also visible in item list. This will prevent file extensions to be displayed twice. If this option is checked, it is recommended that extension column is right next to item name column.


Select the criteria to color items by, or disable items coloring.


Enter here a comma-separated list of file names or file mask to assign them a common color. For example, to display all text documents in blue, enter in this Field "*.txt,*.doc", add it to the list, and assign the entry a blue color.


This is the list of entries, prepared for coloring by item names or item types. Some entries are predefined (item types, like folders, disks, catalogs), and you can add your own lists of file masks to assign them a common color. For example, to color all music files in red, type "*.wav,*.mid,*.mp3" in above edit box, add it to this list, and assign it a red color. Entries that are higher on the list have more priority in case a file would fit more than one entry.


Evaluates and adds the text in the left edit box to the list.


Allows you to change current entry in the list.


Removes current entry from the list.


Moves current entry in the list higher on the list.


Moves current entry lower on the list.


Changes assigned color for currently selected entry.


Allows to convert imported description into more readable form if it uses special characters. Usually recommended to be enabled, but can cause interference with some languages.


Check to redisplay "Add/Update Disk" when scanning of current media completes. This allows you easier and faster handling if you plan to scan multiple media in a row.


Check to allow importing file information about files compressed inside archive files. Note that enabling this feature will likely significantly slow down disk scan operation since files have to be decompressed to temporary location. Unless you have a good reason for enabling this options, it is recommended it is left disabled.


Here are listed the main groups of options for WhereIsIt. Select one of the groups to display available settings for this group.


Uncheck to prevent showing program's introduction window when program starts up, and the shutdown message window when program is terminating.


Check to auto expand / collapse nodes in tree view when browsing catalogs. Child nodes in currently active node are expanded automatically, while other, non-related nodes are collapsed. Enabling this option can help you to browse catalogs easier and with less clicking.


Select here the group of plugins to be displayed on the above list. Description plugins handle importing textual descriptions, formatting plugins will additionally process text imported by description plugins, while thumbnail plugins import thumbnail images.


If checked, WhereIsIt minimizes to system tray instead of to task bar.


Check to show grid lines (columns and row dividers) in all file lists.


Selects the antivirus program to use when checking files, folders, or disks for viruses. In the edit box enter a full path and file name of your favorite antivirus program - this program will be launched every time you select the command to check for viruses. You can add to the command line any number of parameters you wish to include, or any parameter macros provided by WhereIsIt (%1 in command line will be replaced by select item's filename, while %2 represents folder's filename).

You can use the Browse button to help you select the external program. The antivirus commands will show in the program when the appropriate antivirus program to use is selected in this field.


Check to ignore the font size as defined in language file, but use your system default font size instead.


This is the list of available drives or folders. Select your target folder, and click the OK button. Click the "+" sign to show more choices.


Accepts your choice and exits this dialog.


Cancels selecting folder and returns without any changes.


Refreshes the list of drives and folders. Use this button if dialog failed to detect changed drives or folders.


Puts a check mark to all items.


Clears the check mark on all items.


Creates new folder in currently selected location.


Renames selected folder.


Deletes selected folder. Note that it is only allowed to delete folder from this dialog if it is empty.


Selects current folder to act as a virtual root of scanned drive, or cancels virtual root setting if one already set. The check box on button indicates if a virtual root setting is currently active. Virtual root allows you to scan only a small part of folder subtree, as if it would be a separate drive.


Select here all folders that you would like to include in disk scanning and store in catalog. If folder is not checked, it will be skipped during disk scan. To scan only a part of folder structure starting with a single folder, you can use the virtual root feature below.


Check this box if you don't want to store the contents of the media in catalog. This way, the program will only create a disk entry. You can use this option if you don't care which files and folders are on the media, and would like to save some catalog space on it.


This is a description of currently selected catalog.


This box is checked if catalog file is password protected.


This is quick preview of currently selected catalog file, showing disks available in this catalog.


This window shows the network as visible from your computer. Select one of the available network drives to be scanned and added to catalog. Note that network permissions may apply, you may not have access to particular network resource, or access can be limited, for example to certain files and folders only.


Instead of selecting the wanted disk from the window above, you may also enter its network UNC address in this field. Usually, the address would be in the "\\SERVER\DISK" format.


Select one of the available catalogs on this list.


Displays the list of available categories in current catalog. Check all categories that you want to assign to item(s). If working with multiple items, categories marked as grayed indicate that some items have them assigned and some not - they will remain unchanged.

Available categories in catalog can be set up with the Catalog Setup command.


Collapses currently selected level in categories tree.


Expands currently selected category, showing its sub-categories, if available.


Type here a few starting letters to quickly locate the wanted category in the above tree.


Displays the list of available flags in current catalog. Check all flags that you want to assign to item(s). If working with multiple items, flags marked as grayed indicate that some items have them assigned and some not - they will remain unchanged.

Available flags in catalog can be set up with the Catalog Setup command.


Read here one of the tips on how to better use the program.


Closes the dialog.


Shows the next tip.


Shows the previous tip.


Check this option if you want to see a random tip each time the program starts. Only available in registered version.


Displays the standard Find dialog, allowing you to search for text. Only available in ASCII view mode.


Click to switch to ASCII view mode (text view).


Click to switch to HEX view mode (binary view).


Opens current file in QuickView, if installed. QuickView (Pro) can recognize and show many different file formats in their native form.


Sets the font used in ASCII view mode.


Enabled or disables word wrap mode. When enabled, long lines are wrapped into multiple lines. Only available in ASCII view mode.


Exists the internal File Viewer.


Displays the contents of current file in HEX view mode. This is how the file actually looks inside, byte per byte. This view mode is mostly intended for expert users only.


Displays the contents of selected file in a text form. If file is not an ASCII text file, contents will appear as random, garbled text, possibly truncated as well - such files can be viewed in HEX view mode.


Shows the full name and path to currently viewed file.


Open Catalog

Opens exiting catalog from your hard disk or other media. You will be prompted to select your catalog file in a standard open-file dialog box.

Hint: most recently used catalog files are listed at the end of the File menu. Choosing one of those is the same as opening this catalog manually by using Open Catalog command. You can also access the most recently used list by clicking the arrow on the right side of the button.

Other ways to open a catalog in Where Is It? include running the program with command-line parameter(s) as catalog filename(s), or using drag & drop to drag a catalog file from Explorer or other program to Where Is It?'s window.

Button:

Menu Command:   File / Open

Shortcut:       Ctrl-O


Catalog Info
Catalogs Info

Displays statistics for all currently loaded catalogs (how many disks and files are stored, used and free storage space for all disks in catalogs together, etc.) You can manually choose which of loaded disks will be included in statistics.

Button:         (none)

Menu Command:   File / Catalogs Info

Shortcut:       (none)


Report Generator

Opens the Report Generator dialog box. Report Generator is used to create, print or export reports about your cataloged data.  Usually, using Report Generator is the last step only,  in most cases you will want first to collect the data to be included in report, using program's search capabilities and/or user list.

Button:

Menu Command:   File / Report Generator

Shortcut:       Ctrl-R


Export Descriptions

Opens the Export Descriptions dialog box. Descriptions can be exported into one of the supported native description formats, which include file_id.diz description files, 4DOS/NDOS compatible description.ion files, index_00.txt files (commonly encountered on FTP servers), files.bbs files (often used on public Bulletin Board Systems), and filedesc.htm files (HTML format).

Button:         (none)

Menu Command:   File / Export Descriptions to Media

Shortcut:       (none)


Exit program

Ends your WhereIsIt? session and terminates the program. If some of the opened catalogs were modified and not yet saved, you will be prompted to save changes before program is closed.

Button:

Menu Command:   File / Exit

Shortcut:       Alt-F4


Compare to Media

Compares the data for specific media or folder in catalog to real data on the media. This way you can find out what has changed since you have last catalogued the data.

You will be asked to insert the media where selected disk or folder in catalog originates from, so have it ready. When comparing is complete, you will be presented the Compare Results window with four different file lists, showing you what is new, changed, deleted, or which files stayed the same.

Button:

Menu Command:   Search / Compare to Media

Shortcut:       (none)


Search
Search for Items

Displays the Search window. This is the place to do all the searching based on currently opened catalogs. You can search for files, disks or folders by many user-defined criteria (name, description, size, date, categories etc.) Search can be limited to only specific catalogs or disks, or to number of hits. Similar to regular  searching, but with a different goal, is searching for duplicate items in your catalogs.

There are also special commands available if you want to search only in the specified catalog, disk, or folder, or if your would like to find copies of selected items.

Button:

Menu Command:   Search / Search for Items

Shortcuts:      Ctrl-F, F3


Scan for Duplicates

Opens the Search window in a special, duplicate-searching mode. Here you can search for duplicate items (files, disks and/or folders) in currently opened catalogs. You can search for certain type of files only, searching range can be limited only to certain disks or catalogs, and you can define what properties have to match for two files to be considered the same.

Button:         (none)

Menu Command:   Search / Scan for Duplicates

Shortcut:       Ctrl-D


Compare Files to Catalog

Checks if files from specific disk or folder on your system appear in one of the opened catalogs. This feature enables you to detect in advance which files may become duplicated on multiple disks if they would be stored. For example, if you are making backup copies of files stored in some folder to your CD-R drive, and you don't know which files had been already written to CD-R, this option can tell you that.

In a Results Window, you will get three lists, telling you which files are new compared to catalog, which have stayed the same, and which files match by name, but differ in other properties, like size or date.

Button:         (none)

Menu Command:   Search / Compare Files to Catalog

Shortcut:       (none)


Sort Items

Sorts items in current view. The buttons are available for the first four, most basic sort criteria, but you can sort by any other data using the menu commands, or by clicking the appropriate column header while in Details mode. Sort order can be reversed by enabling the reverse sort option (you can also quickly reverse it by clicking on column header already sorted by).

Hint: data listed when displaying contents of catalog (disks) is different from data when displaying files or folders. This is why there are TWO separate settings for sorting. You can have your disks sorted by one criteria, and files or folders by another.

Another hint: compressed archive files are presented as folders if they have information about their contents included in the catalog. This files can be sorted either as normal files or as folders; you can select how in program's settings.

Buttons:          (for files and folders)  - or -

                  (for disks)

Menu Command:   View / Sort Items / (sort by)

Shortcut:       (none)


Reverse Sort Order

Reverses sort order. Normal sort order is from smallest items on top to largest on the bottom; using Reverse Sort option, you turn that around.

Button:

Menu Command:   View / Sort Items / Reverse Sort Order

Shortcut:       (none)


View Type

These four buttons allow you to select one of the four view modes for items pane, very much like you can in Windows Explorer. The default mode for WhereIsIt? is the Details View (last button) which gives the most useful presentation of you catalog data.

Buttons:

Menu Command:   View / View Icons, List, Small Icons, or Details

Shortcut:       (none)


Columns Setup

Brings up the dialog to customize how columns are displayed when in Details View mode. You can rearrange column order, or choose to hide some columns by default.

Hint: you can customize your column order faster if you just drag&drop columns while in Details View mode. Just grab a column by its header and drag it to new position.

Button:         (none)

Menu Command:   View / Columns Setup

Shortcut:       Drag and drop column headers, right-click on column's header area when in Details View mode


Display Toolbar

Displays the toolbar on screen, if checked. With this option you can quickly show or hide the toolbar.

Button:         (none)

Menu Command:   View / Toolbar

Shortcut:       Right-click toolbar handle, select option


Display Status Bar

Displays or hides the status bar at the bottom of main window.

Button:         (none)

Menu Command:   View / Status Bar

Shortcut:       (none)


Back One Level

Returns focus to the parent item in catalog tree, usually to parent folder.

Button:

Menu Command:   Actions / Back One Level

Shortcuts:      BackSpace, Escape, Ctrl-PgUp


Open in Explorer

Opens the currently selected item in Windows Explorer, part of Windows operating system, or in an external shell program, as defined in program's settings. There you can perform all operations regarding this item, like copying, deleting...

If selected item is located on a media, not currently available, you will be prompted to insert this media first.

Button:

Menu Command:   Actions / Open in Explorer

Shortcut:       (none)


View File

Opens the selected file in the selected viewer, to display its contents. Viewer can be either internal, built in Where Is It?, Windows' own Quick View (Plus), or external program, as set in program's options.

If selected file is located on a media that not currently available, you will be prompted to insert this media first.

Button:

Menu Command:   Actions / View File

Shortcut:       (none)


Launch File

Launches selected file in program that is associated with file's extension (for example, Notepad is usually associated with .txt files, so when launching Readme.txt file, Where Is It? will run Notepad with Readme.txt file loaded).

If selected file is located on a media, not currently available, you will be prompted to insert this media first.

Button:

Menu Command:   Actions / Launch File

Shortcut:       (none)


Add To User List

Adds selected items to User List. Each item can only appear once on the User List, and duplicated items will be skipped automatically.

See also:

Remove from User List, Keep on User List, Keep List Difference

Button:

Menu Command:   Actions / User List / Add To User List

Shortcut:       Ctrl-L


Remove From User List

Removes selected items to User List. If only some of selected items are currently in User List, others will be simply ignored.

See also:

Add to User List, Keep on User List, Keep List Difference

Button:

Menu Command:   Actions / User List / Remove from User List

Shortcut:       (none)


Properties

Brings up the item's properties dialog, with all details about selected item available in the catalog. You can also edit descriptions and alias names, assign custom icons, set categories, flags, or disk locations, rename disks, or setup catalog protection in this dialog.

Button:

Menu Command:   Actions / Properties

Shortcuts:      Ctrl-P, Alt-Enter, F4


Extract To...

Extracts selected archive file or selected compressed files inside archive file to a folder of your choice. You will be presented with dialog to choose the folder to extract files to.

If selected archive file is located on a media, not currently available, you will be prompted to insert this media first.

Please note that extraction is only meant as a quick-to-access tool, and some extended features like multi-volume archive files may not be fully supported. Use your favorite compression program to handle such archive files (if archive file's extension is registered, you could just use the launch command to open archive file with the appropriate program).

Button:

Menu Command:   Actions / File Management / Extract To...

Shortcut:       (none)


Copy To...

Copies selected files and folders in catalog to some other location of your choice, like hard disk. This operation performs on actual files, not only on data in catalog. You can use this option when you have just located files you wanted in the catalog, and now you would like to make a copy of them to some other media. This option can be used together with other features in the program; for example, you can find files and folders to copy by using search capabilities, or you can gather all wanted items in User List before copying.

During copy operation, program will prompt you to insert necessary disks, check that selected files and folders actually exist on media, prompt to replace files if found on destination etc. If target disk is also available in one of currently loaded catalogs, you can set WhereIsIt to add or update just copied files in catalog as well.

Button:

Menu Command:   Actions / File Management / Copy To...

Shortcut:       (none)


Move To...

Moves selected files and folders in catalog to some other location of your choice, like hard disk. This operation performs on actual files, not only on data in catalog. During move operation, program will prompt you to insert necessary disks, check that selected files and folders actually exist on media, prompt to replace files if found on destination etc. You have a choice of deleting files on source media by moving them to Recycle Bin (this will still allow you to restore them), or you can completely delete files from source media. If target disk is also available in one of currently loaded catalogs, you can set WhereIsIt to add or update just moved files in catalog as well.

Button:

Menu Command:   Actions / File Management / Move To...

Shortcut:       (none)


Program Settings

The entire Settings menu is dedicated to setting up program's options. Every option in the first section will open the same Settings dialog box, but select the different section by default (once in the dialog, you can easily switch between sections by choosing appropriate groups on the left, and inside each group tabs at the top). In Settings dialog, you will find many detailed options to adjust and tune the program to your own needs and expectations. Detailed help is provided for each available setting in the Settings Dialog - click on the [image] button in dialog's title bar, and point and click the settings you need help with.

Hint: If you are not ready to go through all available options here, you may want to use Quick-Setup Wizard instead.

Button:         (none)

Menu Command:   Settings / (entire first section)

Shortcut:       (none)


Quick-Setup Wizard

This Wizard is a shortcut for all those who do not want to spend time browsing through all available settings this program has (Where Is It? is a very adjustable program...). Instead, Quick-Setup Wizard can guide you step-by-step through the most important options only, making sure you save time and don't miss anything important. Later, you can still select normal program's settings to adjust some options not present in this Wizard.

Button:         (none)

Menu Command:   Settings / Quick-Setup Wizard

Shortcut:       (none)


View User List

Opens the User List window. User List is a special window where you can put together items of interest (those may be disks, folders or files). User list is often used as a source for making reports on specific, but otherwise unrelated items. You can add or remove items on the User List by using a dedicated set of commands, such as

Add to User List, Remove from User List, Keep on User List, and Keep List Difference - all of them are commonly available in all windows and popup menus.

Button:

Menu Command:   Window / User List

Shortcut:       Ctrl-U


Show Compare Results

Opens the window with last Compare to Media, or Compare Files to Catalog results. If no results are available yet, this option will be disabled.

Button:         (none)

Menu Command:   Window / Compare Results

Shortcut:       (none)


Help Index

Brings up the main help screen. This is the default starting point for your help session.

Button:         (none)

Menu Command:   Help / Help Index

Shortcut:       F1


"What Is This?" Help

This is a special type of help, allowing you to inquire about specific part of user interface, like a checkbox or a button. To get information about that item, click on the button with icon as showed bellow. Cursor will change into an arrow with question mark, allowing you to point and click the item you want to get help for. A help window will open, showing you details about the item you have selected.

You can find this option in the program's main window, as well as in top-right corner of some dialogs that already support this option.

Hint: use this type of help often since it is the best and shortest way to get the help you need. If you are not sure what some option or button is for, this is the way to find out.

Button:

Menu Command:   Help / What Is This?

Shortcut:       just right-click the control


More Tips

Brings up the dialog with tips about using this program. Usually, one random selected tip is displayed when you start the program. If you have disabled this feature and would like it back, you can re-enable it in Program Settings (the General Settings group, General tab).

Button:         (none)

Menu Command:   Help / More Tips

Shortcut:       (none)


How to Order Wizard

This wizard is intended for all users who are interested in registering the program, but are not sure how to do it. Wizard will present all available options to you how to register and send registration fee, including with detailed pro and contra description of each option. Based on your decision wizard will guide you either to appropriate Internet page to place your order online, or print the filled Order Form to be mailed later together with check or cash.

Please note: You are not in any way obliged to purchase the program just by using this wizard, until you actually place the order outside this wizard. Fell free to browse around available options just to get to know about what your choices are, and perhaps print an order form with complete fee calculations based on your selections.

Button:         (none)

Menu Command:   Help / How to Order Wizard

Shortcut:       (none)


About Where Is It?

Displays the About Box, with current program version and some system information.

Button:         (none)

Menu Command:   Help / About

Shortcut:       (none)


Menu File

Click on menu option to find more details about it.

Return to main window...


Menu View

Click on menu option to find more details about it.

Return to main window...


Menu Search

Click on menu option to find more details about it.

Return to main window...


Menu Actions

Click on menu option to find more details about it.

Return to main window...


Menu Options

Click on menu option to find more details about it.

Return to main window...


Menu Window

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Menu Help

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Menu File Management

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Menu User List

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Tree Window

In the left side of program's main window you will find catalog tree window. You may consider it as an index for your loaded catalogs. Its content is hierarchically organized, with catalogs on first level, disks in catalogs on second, and disk's contents on third and lower.

Every item it the tree can show or hide its subitems, if present (for example, if a folder has subfolders, they can be either visible under parent folder, or hidden). If subitems are hidden, their parent has a [+] sign displayed, indicating that its contents can be expanded. The same goes if subitems are already visible: a [-] sign indicates the part of tree can be collapsed, hidden. You can make either action happen by clicking on this sign.

When an item in the left pane is selected, the window next to it, List Window, displays the contents of selected item (for example, if you select a folder, the right window will show files and folders in the selected folder, as they are on the real media).

Note:

Every item displayed in either Tree Window or List Window has its own pop-up menu, accessible by right-clicking the item. This pop-up menu is the shortest and fastest way to reach all commands that apply to the selected item. You are strongly encouraged to use this menu as much as possible.


List Window

The List Window is located on the right side of Tree Window, displaying the contents of currently selected item in the Tree Window. For example, if catalog is selected in the left pane, this window will show disks stored in selected catalog.

List Window can be displayed in one of the four view modes. Usually you will want to use the Details Mode, where data is displayed in columns, showing as much information as possible. Some special management of displayed data can be performed in this mode (not others), like sorting items by data in one of the columns (just click the column header), or arranging columns order (drag&drop column headers to new location, or right-click on any column header for a special dialog).

Note:

Every item displayed in either Tree Window or List Window has its own pop-up menu, displayed by right-clicking the item. This pop-up menu is the shortest and fastest way to reach all commands that apply to the selected item. You are strongly encouraged to use this menu as much as possible.


Status Bar

Status bar is divided in four sections:

The first one contains the status of currently selected catalog. It may be either 'loaded' or 'modified', where the later will appear when catalog has been modified and not yet saved.

The second section contains the details about currently focused item.

In third section is the sum of all selected items, displaying their number and total size.

At the end of status bar are two lights, displaying current program status. Green light is on when program is idle and awaits your input. When program is busy, red light is displayed, normally accompanied by hour-glass cursor. At that time, you have to wait for program to finish its current task before you can continue. When search is in progress, yellow light will be lit. This means that some options are disabled, program will respond slower, but you can still work and browse in the main window while program is searching.


Locate in Catalog

Locates currently focused item in the catalog. This button will switch to main window, open item's parent in the treeview, and select item on the list. This can be useful to check out other files in the same folder, for example.

Button:

Shortcut:       Ctrl-T


Delete Items

Deletes selected items from the list. This option does not delete items from catalog, they are just removed from the current list.

Button:

Shortcut:       Delete


Clear All Items

Removes all items from current list, leaving the list empty. Items are not actually deleted from catalog, they are just removed from the list.

Button:

Shortcut:       Shift-Delete


Stay On Top

Forces this window to always stay on top, even if it is not active at the moment. With this button set, you can always have your User List window, or Search window displayed on top, even if working in the main window at the moment.

Default behavior is that active window is always displayed on top, hiding parts of other windows, if necessary.

Button:

Shortcut:       (none)


Maximize Found List

Maximizes the found list size to full extent, temporary hiding upper part of search window where you can select search criteria. This enables you to maximize number of items on the list you can see at once.

Button:

Shortcut:       (none)


Set Coloring

This button will show a pull-down menu where you can select or disable item coloring. Items in catalog can be displayed in different colors, based on their names, types, assigned categories, flags, or disk locations. All colors are user defined, and can be set in either Program Settings (coloring by item names and types), or in Catalog Setup (colors used for categories, flags, and disk locations).

Button:

Menu Command:   (none)

Shortcut:       (none)


Close All Catalogs

Closes all currently opened catalogs. If some of the catalogs were modified and not yet saved, you will be prompted to save changes before this catalog is closed.

Button:         (none)

Menu Command:   File / Close All

Shortcut:       (none)


Browse by Catalogs/Categories

Selects the way how you can browse your catalogs. WhereIsIt's default and native way is to browse by catalogs, presenting cataloged data in a way similar to Explorer. Data is presented in a form of cataloged disk images and their contents. This is the recommended mode and the one you would be normally using.

Alternatively, you can have your cataloged data organized by categories, and other properties such as flags and disk locations. In this case, the catalog tree view in the left-side window is replaces with the categories tree, allowing you to directly browse items assigned to selected categories, flags, or disk locations. Note that this way of representing data is not native to WhereIsIt, and has to be specifically prepared when selected for the first time - program has to scan the entire catalog and prepare appropriate lists sorted by categories and other properties

Please note:

Browsing by categories can require a notable amount of memory and system resources compared to regular browsing, especially so if your catalogs are extensively overusing categories or flags. One of the most common problems is to needlessly assign the same category or flag to all files and folders on a media, even if there are a couple of thousands of them. This will not only put a strain on your system when browsing by categories, but also produce uselessly long lists of items belonging to selected category. Assign your categories and flags sparingly and only where actually needed, marking parent folder or media is almost always more than enough.

Button:         (none)

Menu Command:   View / Browse by Catalogs or Browse by Categories

Shortcut:       (none)


Show Alias Item Names

Select to show alias names in file lists, where available, or deselect to always display real file and folder names, as they are stored on the media. This option lets you quickly turn alias names on or off, right from the main window toolbar. Note that you can also set items coloring to display alias names in different colors as real names, to be able to quickly tell them apart. This can be especially helpful if you can't find the wanted file on the media, as you are looking at its alias name in catalog.

Alias names can be assigned to items either in their Properties dialog, or by renaming them directly on file lists (press F2, or click the item's name twice with a short pause in between). To remove alias names, you can delete them in Properties dialog, or use the Remove Alias Name command.

Button:

Menu Command:   View / Show Alias Item Names

Shortcut:       (none)


Find on This Disk/Catalog/Folder

Searches for items inside currently selected catalog, disk, or folder. This function is basically the same as regular Search function, but is predefined to a limited search range, based on selected item. For example, it is the fastest way to find a certain file, if you know it is on the media but not exactly sure where.

Button:         (none)

Menu Command:   Search / Find on This Disk/Catalog/Folder

Shortcut:       (none)


Find Selected Items

Finds copies of selected items in loaded catalogs. It works in a similar way as searching for duplicates, except searching is limited to selected items only. Use this function if you want to quickly find copies of certain file(s) or folder(s), possibly on other cataloged disks as well. Just as with searching for duplicates, you can select the range of disks where searching will be carried out, as well as define conditions when are two files or folders considered to be the same.

Button:         (none)

Menu Command:   Search / Find Selected Items

Shortcut:       (none)


Scan For Viruses

Calls up the external anti-virus program to scan selected disk or folder for viruses. Before this option is available, you have to select the external anti-virus program to be used in program's settings (General Settings / External Programs). The program is called out with a command line parameter specified the full path to the disk or folder to be scanned.

Button:

Menu Command:   Actions / Scan For Viruses

Shortcut:       (none)


Keep on User List

Keeps selected items on the User List, and removes the rest. This is the equivalent of the intersection operator. A typical use of this command would be in complex, repetitive searches, where you need to narrow down search results. You can assign the resulting list from the first search to the user list, perform the second search, select all found items and issue the Keep on User List command. This way, only those items from the first search that also appear on second search's results list will be kept on the user list.

See also:

Add to User List, Remove from User List, Keep List Difference

Button:

Menu Command:   Actions / User List / Keep on User List

Shortcut:       (none)


Keep List Difference

Keeps on the user list all those items that are not present among both current user list, and selected items. This is the equivalent of negative intersection - items that will end up on the user list are either there already or are currently among selected items, but not both.

See also:

Add to User List, Remove from User List, Keep on User List

Button:

Menu Command:   Actions / User List / Keep List Difference

Shortcut:       (none)


Next Window

Brings up the next open window in WhereIsIt. By using this function, or better, its Ctrl+F6 shortcut, you can cycle between already opened, but currently invisible or background windows. Such windows can be the main window, search window, user list window, and compare results window - use Ctrl+F6 to quickly switch between them.

Button:          (none)

Menu Command:   Window / Next Window

Shortcut:       Ctrl+F6


View Description Window

Check this option to show the description window, or uncheck it to make it disappear. The description window shows a description and thumbnail of currently selected item and can be either docked to the main window (beneath the right-side list view), or it can be freely floating. It the case of the latter, it can also handle items selected in other windows, such as search results or user list windows.

Button:          (none)

Menu Command:   Window / Description Window

Shortcut:       (none)


Where Is It? on the Web

Opens WhereIsIt's home page on the Internet. Select one of the target destinations in its submenu, and WhereIsIt will call up your web browser targeted to the appropriate URL address on WhereIsIt's main home page. WhereIsIt's home page is your main source of information about WhereIsIt, including the latest news, ordering information, available updates and enhancements such as plugins, language files etc.

Note:

If you are looking if there is a newer version of WhereIsIt or its standard add-ons available, you can also use the Check for Update Wizard.

Button:          (none)

Menu Command:   Help / Where Is It? on the Web

Shortcut:       (none)


Description Window

The description window is a small, optional window that offers a quick access to the description and thumbnail of currently selected item. It's a quick and handy way to check out or even edit item's descriptions while browsing your catalogs. If available, it also shows item's thumbnail, making it ideal for browsing through graphics collections.

The window can be either docked inside the main window, or freely floating on its own. To dock it into the main window, grab it with your mouse by its header and drag it right under the right-side list view in the main window. A rectangle will show when it is in position to dock. Alternatively, you can just double-click its header. You can vertically resize a docked description window by moving the mouse cursor right above its header lines, until it changes into resize shape.

To undock description window, grab it with mouse by its header and drag it away - a rectangle will show, indicating a new size and position of undocked window. Alternatively, you can also just double-click its header with the same result. When the description window is not docked, it stays on top of all other child windows and provides feedback for their selected items as well - this way, you can use the description window in windows other than the main window, such as search results or user list.


Delete Files

Deletes selected files and folders on the media. This operation performs on actual files, not only on data in catalog. During delete operation, program will prompt you to insert necessary disks, check that selected files and folders actually exist on media, prompt to replace files if found on destination etc. You have a choice of deleting files by moving them to Recycle Bin (this will still allow you to restore them), or you can completely delete files from your media.

Button:

Menu Command:   Actions / File Management / Delete

Shortcut:       (none)


Rename File

Renames file on the media. This is not equal to renaming a file in catalog, you can use alias names for that, this command will try to rename the actual file on the media.

Button:

Menu Command:   Actions / File Management / Rename

Shortcut:       (none)


Close Catalog

Closes currently selected catalog, or the catalog of currently selected item.

Button:

Menu Command:   File / Close

Shortcut:       Ctrl-F4