Gather Items CMM is small plug-in module for contextual menus, which are implemented in MacOS 8. Its applicability is very simple - to gather files and folders you select in the Finder into one common folder. It can be very useful if you work with plenty of files and need to quickly sort them, or if you want to quickly and easily clean up a mess in the Finder.
What do I need to use Gather Items CMM?
Not much. :)
You'll need a PowerPC MacOS-compatible computer with MacOS 8 system software installed.
Operating instructions:
To use Gather Items CMM in OS 8 you first have to place a copy of this plug-in into the Contextual Menu Items folder, which is located inside your startup disk's System Folder. When the Gather items CMM plug-in is in place, restart your computer.
Once Gather Items CMM has been installed, to gather selected files or folders into a common folder you have to select several items (files, folders) and then invoke the Contextual Menu (by pressing the mouse button while holding the Control key). Then choose the "Gather Items" item from the Contextual Menu.
The selected items will be gathered into one common folder, which is named after one of the selected files or folders that has just been gathered.
As I mentioned above, you can use a modifier key (the Option key) while gathering items. Here's how it works.
First, invoke the Contextual Menu. Before selecting an item from the Contextal Menu, release the Control key (while still holding the mouse button down) and then press the Option key. With the Option key held down, choose "Gather Items" from menu and release the mouse button, and half a second later release the Option key.
If you follow the above steps, the selected items will be copied into one new folder (instead of being "gathered" by moving them), which is named after one of the selected files or folders.
This is known as "gather-copying."
This may sound a bit complex, but it is really easy when you understand how it all works.
NOTE: If you select several items on the desktop and try to "gather-copy" them (by holding the Option key), the selected items will be copied into a folder on the desktop of your startup disk, even if these items are located on different volumes.
This is not a problem with Gather Items CMM; this is simply how the Finder copies files.
What about future versions?
I hope to improve Gather Items CMM, so future versions of the module are very possible. I don't know how much time it will take to release a new version - it really depends on how much free time I will have. Check the Gather Items CMM home page in a month or two. The Gather Items CMM home page is at http://www.macintosh.ru/download/GatherItemsCMM.
All the rest...
If you have any comments about Gather Items CMM, or if you find any bugs in it (uh-oh), please contact me. My email address is mike@shaker.ru.
Thank you for using Gather Items CMM. I hope you like it!
Version History
1.0:
* the code was cleaned-up a bit, some debugging routines were removed
1.0b2:
* two known bugs were fixed: the plug-in didn't behave well when you tried to gather the Trash, or volumes on the desktop
* error checking: there wasn't any error checking in 1.0b1 at all. :-)
* added new functionality by using a modifier key (the Option key)
