customize

The Customize system is used to configure the toolbars, menus and hotkeys in Directory Opus. All the toolbars in Opus are configurable - you can edit the supplied ones or create your own. Toolbars can also be floated - opened as independent windows not tied to a Lister - for example, to be used as program launchers. Using Opus you can also configure hotkeys - combinations of keystrokes that can activate Opus commands or launch external programs.

One upshot of there being no "fixed" toolbars in Opus is that when this help file refers to accessing commands on such-and-such a toolbar or in such-and-such a menu, it refers only to the default toolbars and menus - if you've edited the defaults or turned those toolbars off then obviously those instructions will be less helpful.

Customize works as a "modal" system. When you enter Customize mode, all toolbars switch to "edit" mode and normal Lister operations are suspended. The idea is that you enter Customize mode, make your desired edits, then leave Customize mode and try out your changes.

There are a number of ways to enter Customize mode - the most common are:

  • Select Customize Toolbars from the Settings menu in a Lister
  • Right-click on an empty area on a toolbar and choose Customize from the context menu
  • Click on the window icon (the top-left icon in the title bar) in a Lister and choose Customize from the menu. This is a handy thing to remember as it always lets you get to Customize even if you have turned off all your toolbars or accidentally deleted the Customize command from your menu.
  • If the appropriate options are turned on in the Windows Integration Preferences page, you can access Customize mode from the desktop context menu.

Opus comes with four pre-defined toolbars (the default toolbar set). These toolbars are treated slightly differently to others - you can still edit them and turn them off, but you can't delete them and you can't float them outside the Lister. If at any time you want to return to the default toolbars, there are a number of ways to do it:

  • If one of the default toolbars are currently open and you just want to reset it to its defaults, you can right-click an empty area on the toolbar and choose Factory Reset this Toolbar from the context menu. Only the selected toolbar will be reset.
  • If you want to reset all toolbars to the defaults, right-click an empty area on any toolbar, and from the Toolbars sub-menu in the context menu, choose Factory Reset Toolbars.
  • You can also choose the Factory Reset Toolbars command from the Toolbars sub-menu of the default Settings menu (unless you've edited it!).
  • Finally you can reset the individual default toolbars to their original settings from the Toolbars page of the Customize dialog.

When you reset the default toolbars, any changes you may have made to those toolbars will be lost, but any other toolbars you have created will be unaffected.

More:

The Customize Dialog
Creating your own buttons