File List Sort Order

[aplman]

Igor, I have only just noticed that the option "Unsorted" has been removed from "File List Sort Order" in the View menu. I can guess that it was deemed no longer useful.

May I PLEASE beg you to reinstate it? It is very usefule to me - I have depended on it for the following reason.

I have some slideshows that were prepared using different software, before I discovered the delights of PicturesToExe. With those programs, I am able to display images in the order I want them shown, select all (or some) images, and Copy. I can them paste the image files into a FAT32-formatted drive. It has to be a FAT32 drive, as Windows insists, with the more modern NTFS format , to arrange directory entries in name order.

When I started a new PTE project, I would therefore simply show the file list (on the FAT32 drive) in Unsorted order, select all (or some) image files, and drag them into the Slide List. They are then in the order I require.

In version 7, I appear to have no way to achieve the same result.

Of course, the requirement for the Unsorted option would disappear if we could simply use Copy/Paste to place into the slide list any batch of images selected outside of PTE. I believe that would be very useful to many users.

Thank you Igor for considering this request.

Ken T (APLman)

[fh1805]

Ken,

Within the PTE File List you can use Ctrl+Click to assemble a collection of images to drag and drop into the Slide List; and also Shift+Click to select a contiguous range of images. Were you aware of these capabilities? They are not a solution or workaround but may go some way to mitigating your problem.

regards,

Peter

[aplman]

Ken,

Within the PTE File List you can use Ctrl+Click to assemble a collection of images to drag and drop into the Slide List; and also Shift+Click to select a contiguous range of images. Were you aware of these capabilities? They are not a solution or workaround but may go some way to mitigating your problem.

regards,

Peter

Thank you Peter for the reminder. Yes, those are standard Windows facilities, nicely supported in PTE.

However, the point of my suggestion (I'm afraid I did not make this obvious) is that images have been selected and arranged in the desired sequence in some other piece of software. Often a large amount of time has been devoted to getting the images in order. Since PTE does not allow pasting a group of image files that have been selected and copied outside of PTE, the only way I have found is to use a freshly FAT32-formatted drive, and paste the group of image files into that drive. Prior to PTE Version 7, the "Unsorted" option in View/File List Sort Order showed the image files in the desired order. Copying into the Slide List was then very easy.

So I am requesting Igor to reinstate the facility that was apparently deemed no longer useful. As I have indicated in my original post, pasting image files from outside of PTE would be even better.

Ken T (APLman)

[aplman]

Perhaps I should explain a little further.

"Unsorted" is not as haphazard as it sounds! It simply means that file names are presented in the order they exist in the directory. For files added to a newly formatted drive, it is the order they are added ... provided the drive has been formatted in the "old-fashioned" FAT32 way. (The NTFS file system does not work that way - it appears to keep the files in alphanumeric sequence.)

Therefore if one wants to bring into PTE's Slide List images that exist in the desired order in some other program (e.g. another slideshow program, or any program that allows manual sorting of images), then a copy of all the images (or some), followed by a paste into a suitable fresh FAT32 drive, will result in the files being placed in the directory in the desired order. Hence the need to display them in "Unsorted" order in PTE.

We oldies from the DOS days occasionally find that modern software can be just a bit too smart!

Ken T (APLman)

[davegee]

If igor can re-instate this feature then why not?

Could I respectfully suggest though, that the time spent sorting outside of pte could be diverted to sorting in the full screen view of the slide list within PTE?

If, after sorting outside of PTE, you change you mind - what then?

DG

[aplman]

If igor can re-instate this feature then why not?

Could I respectfully suggest though, that the time spent sorting outside of pte could be diverted to sorting in the full screen view of the slide list within PTE?

If, after sorting outside of PTE, you change you mind - what then?

DG

DG ... thank you for the prompt to Igor.

With equal respect, may I suggest that if the images are already sorted elsewhere, it's a bit late to "divert" the sorting effort to PTE.

Ken T (APLman).

[davegee]

Ken,

I should have said (although it should have been obvious) that I was talking about NEW projects?

Best wishes,

DG

[aplman]

Ken,

I should have said (although it should have been obvious) that I was talking about NEW projects?

Best wishes,

DG

Thanks Dave - it was obvious you were referring to new projects, and I was referring to old projects from the days before I discovered PTE.

On further reflection, I can see many reasons for doing the image selection and sorting outside of PTE.

For example, I never use Windows Explorer, always preferring Total Commander. One of the great features of TC is that is can display image file metadata, and sort images based on that data. For example, after I come home from a trip with pics from two or three cameras, I can put tham all into a single folder, and display them in date-time sequence - not the file timestamp, but the date and time of image capture. If I wanted them sorted by camera, by image size, or by aspect ratio ... that's just as easy.

From the file list displayed by Total Commander, I can select all (or some), and paste them into a fresh FAT32 folder. That's when I need the "Unsorted" option in PTE's File List - they're already "sorted" the way I want, and placed in the FAT32 folder in that order.

Ken T. (APLman)