The concept behind File Freak is pretty simple. When you want to open a file on your computer, you usually know its name (or at least part of it) and what kind of file it is (program, picture, movie, etc). I always thought that the easiest way to open a file would be to just start typing the name and have a list of matching files displayed in front of me, so I created this program.
• Fixed a memory leak
• Now FF writes the prefs file after any significant action instead of just when quitting
• Thumbnail icon for X
• Many smaller bug fixes
File Freak 3.4 requires Apple's CarbonLib v1.1 or later. Mac OS 9.1 comes with CarbonLib v1.2. If you don't have Mac OS 9.1 yet, but you are using Mac OS 8.6 or later, you can download CarbonLib from here and install it. Fully compatible with Mac OS X.
File Freak is fairly self explanatory. The basic idea is that you start typing the name of the file you're looking for. A list of available files will quickly minimize in the list below. You can then use the arrow keys, the page up/down keys, or the mouse to select and open the file. The best way to get to know it is to launch it and play around a bit. Then come back here to learn a few tricks and shortcuts.
File Freak works quickly by keeping a static database of the files on your hard drive. The first time you open it, File Freak will scan your hard drive and save a list of applications in your Preferences folder. This shouldn't take longer than a few seconds. It keeps a separate database for every module in the module pop-up. As you switch to the different modules for the first time, File Freak will index the drive and create the database as needed. You can set up scheduled indexing to ensure up-to-date snapshots of your files.
File Freak is designed to keep any file on your hard drive only a few keystrokes away. So you'll want to have a setup where File Freak can come to the foreground by hitting a keyboard shortcut. File Freak gives you an option to select a "hot key" key stroke to bring the program to the foreground quickly. However this will not launch the program if it's not already opened. You'll need a separate utility to do this.
If you have Mac OS 9 or later, you may already have this capability. If your Mac came with built-in USB (like the first iMacs and anything after) it should. Go to the Keyboard control panel, click "Function Keys...", and set it up. If not, check out
http://www.binarysoft.com/kqmac/kqmac.html
or
http://allmacintosh.proxad.net/preview/12545.html
If you're using Mac OS X, you can do the same with my utility Key Xing.
At the top left of the window is the text box. This is where you will type a few letters of the name of the file you are looking for. To the right of that is the modules popup menu (or the "Show Me" menu) which you can use to select the type of file you're looking for. And to the right of that is the open button.
In the middle of the window is the file browser area. This is where the results of the search will appear after you type some letters into the text box. The browser shows you the name of the file, the date the file was last modified, the version (if available), and the size. You can sort the list by any of these properties by clicking the header for that column. The list can be reverse-sorted by clicking the triangle at the upper-left corner of the browser.
Below the file browser you have additional info available about the selected file such as kind, exact size, the creation date, the modification date, and the location of the file on the hard drive. This area can be hidden by clicking the disclosure triangle.
When you start typing into the text box the list below minimizes. By default, File Freak performs wildcard matching on the string you type. So for example if you type “works” you will see “AppleWorks” (assuming you have AppleWorks installed on your computer). Wildcard searching can be changed by accessing the Module Options menu or editing the module in the Modules window. File Freak is set up to show only the latest copy of files with the exact same name. Again, this can be changed from the Module Options menu.
Tip: To clear all information out of the window, type Command-period or Esc.
If you have an unusually large number of files on your hard drive, File Freak may run out of memory. To alleviate this, quit and increase the Preferred Memory size in the Finder by at least 25%. Or if you're using Mac OS X, adjust the file limit in the Preferences panel.
Once you've selected a file in the resulting list you can:
Open the file by double-clicking or typing Return.
Open the enclosing folder by typing Command-E.
Get Info on the file by typing Command-I.
Delete the file by typing Command-Delete. This moves it to the Trash.
Tip: You can move the folder that contains the selected file to the Trash by selecting“Move Enclosing Folder To Trash” from the File menu while pressing the Option key.
File Freak organizes files by type rather than by hierarchy. By default it recognizes AppleWorks files, applications, control panels, disk images, folders, invisible files, Microsoft Word files, movies, MP3 song files, PDF files, pictures, and SimpleText files. Each of these file types are known as modules in File Freak. You can add new modules or edit existing ones by selecting Modules from the File menu (or hitting Command-M). Modules are listed in alphabetical order in the “Show Me” module pop-up within the main window.
A module consists of some combination of name, file type, or creator code, as well as the behavior of the program when using that module. The behavior includes toggles for indexing networked servers, eliminating duplicates, using wildcard searching, and quitting or hiding the program after opening the file. You can also specify if you want your favorite program to open up certain types of files or if you’d rather let the Finder decide (as if you double-clicked the file in the Finder).
The toggle options available in the Modules dialog are also available in the Module Options menu. Each is tied to the other. The options in the Module Options menu are specific to each module.
Tip: You can quickly change the module displayed in the “Show Me” pop-up menu by typing Command-] to go to the next module or Command-[ to go to the previous module. You can also type Command-1 to switch to the first module in the list, Command-2 to switch to the second module, etc.
Another Tip: If you don’t want to deal with types and creators, you don’t have to. Just drag any file into the Types and Creators area of the module window and its type and creator will be added automatically. You can also drag applications into the “Open Using” area of the modules window to specify which program you want to open those kinds of files.
The Applications, Folders, and Everything modules are special and can’t be deleted or renamed. For the Application module, you can edit its associated types and creators (you might want to add desk accessories (APPD, dfil) for example) but be careful- if you include files that can’t be launched like normal applications you’ll get an error when trying to open it from File Freak with the Applications module active.
Examples
Example 1: Say you use Photoshop a lot and you want to add its files to the list. Open the modules window (Command-M) and click the New button. In the name field type "Photoshop files". Since native Photoshop files usually have a ".psd" at the end of the name, click the File Name checkbox, switch the popup from "contains" to "ends with", and in the text box below type ".psd". This tells File Freak to index every file ending in ",psd" on your hard drive(s). Click Done and check the "Show Me" popup for the new module. The first time you select it File Freak will index the drive for these files and then you're set.
Example 2: You use FileMaker Pro and you want to make a module for FileMaker databases. Open the modules window (Command-M) and click the New button. In the name field type "FM Pro files". Unlike Photoshop, FileMaker doesn't always add a three letter extension to its files. So here you can use the type/creator method instead of searching by name. Find a FileMaker database on your hard drive and drag it into the "Types and Creators" list box in the New Module window of File Freak. File Freak extracts the file's type and creator for you, in this case "FMP5, FMP5". Click Done and check the "Show Me" popup for the new module. The first time you select it File Freak will index the drive for these files and then you're set.
Tip: You don't have to enter information for both type and creator. By leaving one blank, it will serve as a wild card. For example, AppleWorks files have a creator signature of 'BOBO', so the built-in module for AppleWorks has a 'BOBO' creator with no specified type. If you only wanted AppleWorks files that are word processing files, you would specify 'BOBO' as the creator but 'CWWP' as the file type.
Indexing is the process of searching mounted volumes for files of a certain type. When you click the Index button, File Freak indexes your local volumes (and servers if appropriate) for files of the type shown in the “Show me” modules pop-up. This is something you will occasionally want to do so that the program keeps up with where your files are. Typing Command-B will create a new index for the module selected in the "Show Me" popup. Typing Command-Option-B will index all the modules in the "Show Me" popup. If you try to open a file that has been moved, deleted, or renamed, File Freak will prompt you to re-index. Each module index is stored separately in the “File Freak DBs” folder which resides in the Preferences folder.
Indexing usually only takes a few seconds but can take longer if you have many thousands of files of the chosen type or if multiple combinations of name/type/creator are specified in the Edit Module/New Module window. For every type/creator combination listed in the Edit Module/New Module, File Freak must make a separate pass through your hard drive(s). This is why (for example) indexing Pictures can take longer than indexing Applications: there are five types of pictures (JPEG, 8BPS, PICT, GIFf, qtif) but only one type of application (APPL).
You can schedule a daily index of all enabled modules through the Preferences dialog (available from the File menu). By default File Freak schedules indexing for 3am daily. File Freak must be open for scheduled indexing to take place.
In the Edit Module and New Module window you can check or uncheck the “Eliminate Duplicates” checkbox. When Eliminate Duplicates is on, File Freak deals with files that have the exact same name by only showing the most recently modified file (based on the modification date that the File Manager stores). This guarantees that you’ll always be working with the latest version or copy of any file.
By default wildcard searching is turned on. However even if wildcard searching is turned off you can still use it by typing “*” at the beginning of the string. For example, typing “*word” would bring up a list of programs that includes Microsoft Word. If for some reason you want to see every file on your hard drive in the current module category, type “**”.
In response to popular demand I've included an "Everything" module. By default the Everything module is disabled but it can be enabled from the Modules dialog. When "Everything" is the active module, File Freak will index every single file and folder on your hard drive. Since a typical hard drive has tens or even hundreds of thousands of files, there are some things to be aware of if you want to use this module. First, the RAM requirements will be higher when dealing with this many files so you may need to increase the preferred memory partition to 40,000K or more. Second, indexing will take much longer and there will be a noticeable delay when switching to the Everything module as the database is read into memory. But if you're willing to deal with these tradeoffs, it's there for you to use.
You can drag one or more files onto applications listed in the window when the active module is Applications. File Freak will tell that application to open the file(s). You can drag files out of the File Freak window onto the Desktop, into other windows in the Finder, or wherever you want. If you hold the Option key down, the drag will create a copy of the file. In the Edit Modules window you can drag files into the Types and Creators area to add its type and creator to the list, and drag applications to the “Open using” area to specify which program you want to open files of that type.
In the General tab of the Preferences window you'll find an option to schedule automatic indexing (see above) and an option to "discard masquerading aliases." When this option is set, File Freak makes an extra pass during the indexing process to ensure that aliases aren't included in the list. Due to a bug in operating systems prior to Mac OS 9, it was possible for aliases to have the signature of what they were pointing to instead of the proper alias signature of 'adrp'. This option keeps those aliases from showing up. The tradeoff is that having this option enabled causes the indexing process to take a little longer.
There's also an option here to not show icons in the list. If you're using a slower Mac and notice performance problems, try turning this on.
If you're using Mac OS X you will see two other items in the Preferences window: a live resizing checkbox and a setting for the file limit. Live resizing is turned off by default in X because it's a little slow and ugly but if you want it, it's there. The file limit box will dynamically increase the capacity to index more files but will also increase the memory usage.
In the Preferences window you'll also find a tab labeled Filters. Here you can instruct File Freak not to index volumes with certain names, not to index applications of certain types, not to index installers, and not to index AppleScripts. You can create up to 100 filters using any combination of the above.
The Hot Key tab of the Preferences window allows you to select a key stroke which will bring File Freak to the foreground if it is open. The key stroke must contain at least one modifier key (Command, Option, Control, and Shift) and cannot use the Command key alone because this might interfere with menus of other programs. The Hot Key feature is always available on Mac OS X but with Mac OS 9 CarbonLib 1.3 or later must be installed. You can get it here.
There is a preference to ignore items in the Trash. However be aware that enabling this will significantly slow down the indexing process. This is because for every file that's indexed the entire path has to be built and checked.
A Brief Explanation of File Types and Creator Codes
On the Mac, most files have an associated file type and a creator code which are each four characters long and case-sensitive. The file type is (duh) the type of file- ‘TEXT’ for text files, ‘APPL’ for applications, etc. The creator code is a shortcut to the owning application of any given file. For example any file that Microsoft Internet Explorer creates has the creator code ‘MSIE’.
• Mac OS 9.2.1 has broken drags into Apple's DataBrowser control, which is used to show the files in File Freak. Hopefully this will be fixed in a future release.
• Getting Info on a file currently doesn't work in Mac OS X.
• The file browser displays a maximum of 500 files.
• In Mac OS X if you remove or a change a Hot Key, but then try to use it again, the program will quit. Doesn't happen after quitting and relaunching the program. This is an issue with current builds of Mac OS X that is expected to be fixed.
File Freak is $13 shareware. The program is fully functional for 20 days but thereafter will display an annoying dialog every time you launch it until it is registered. Please visit http://order.kagi.com/cgi-bin/r1.cgi?35A&& to register File Freak. Or, if you're without Internet access you can use the included "Register File Freak" program to print and mail your payment.
If you wish to distribute File Freak on a CD or through a web site, you have my permission to do so as long as the original package (including this help file) remain intact and unmodified.
Brought to you by: John Scalo
Many thanks to the File Freak beta testing group for stomping many bugs and making some great suggestions. In particular Guillaume Bernadat, John Davis, Rick Gordon, Guillaume Lessard, Cédrik Lime, Artem Melnikov, Matthew Needham, Lowell Rice and Dave Vasilevsky were of great help in making this what it is.
Icon Graphic: Nigel Pickhardt
Embedded AppleScript Widgets source code library by Michael Kisor.