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Universal Explorer Help


Welcome to Universal Explorer for Windows 9x/2000/NT/ME/XP.

Universal Explorer (UE) - a super turbo-charged Window's Explorer File Manager - plus more!!

It is a powerful
Windows Explorer replacement designed to replace the rather restricted features of the standard Window's Explorer file management program. It is fully featured and offers many advantages to Window's Explorer.

With Universal Explorer, you can manage your files (move/copy/paste/delete) quickly and effectively. Plus, you can also VIEW and EDIT almost any file directly in UE without launching the files native application!  View and Edit text documents, HTML, a wide range of graphic files, programming source code and more. You can even view Microsoft Word and Excel documents without launching Word or Excel.

Universal Explorer offers a full Archive Manger that allows you to create, view, edit, file and text search, convert and extract compressed files using multiple formats (bh, cab, qz, jar, lha, lzh, tar, zip, zoo). A Make .EXE option is included to turn a compressed file into a self-extracitng Window's executable (.exe) file.

In addition, UE comes fully loaded with a wide range of great utility tools: Find Files, Search Text, Replace Text, Compare Text, Line Contents, Split File, Encrypt/Decrypt, Disk Copy, Directory Size, Directory Printer, Directory Compare, Set Properties, Batch Rename, Slide Show, Thumbview, Screen Capture, Ascii List, Color List, System Information and Hex Window.


 

Universal Explorer Registration

This Evaluation Version of Universal Explorer is licensed to you for thirty (30) days for evaluation purposes only. In order for you to maintain legal use of Universal Explorer beyond the trial period, you must purchase the full End User license.

You can purchase Universal Explorer at http://www.spadixbd.com/universal

Once your payment is processed, you will receive an Email within 24 hours, containing the unlock key file that will convert the installed trial version into registered licensed version.

For concurrent, multi-user, or network use of Universal Explorer, you must purchase the appropriate licenses. At above order page, there is volume pricing and details information available for site license, corporate license, government license, institutional license, and educational license.

Upgrade

If you are a registered user of Universal Explorer you can upgrade at no charge to any newer release. Just download the latest release of Universal Explorer from http://www.spadixbd.com/universal and install it without uninstalling the previous version. This will preserve your registration.

If the registration code is no longer present on your system just re-enter it like the first time and restart the program.


Universal Explorer Screen Shots

Main Screen | Onboard Viewer/Editor | Archive Management | Special Tools



Menu Commands and Functions

This section covers the functions of the Text Menu functions. Please refer to the Toolbar Buttons Section for the functions of the individual Toolbar Button and History List.

Most of the major functions in UE are available via the Menu commands and most also have keyboard shortcuts. Below is a brief explanation of each function.

File | Edit | View | Go | Tools | Archive | Options | Show | Preview | Window | Help


File - used with the File Manager functions

New - used to create a new File/Folder or to create new Text/Image/Archive File. You must have a Drive, Folder or subFolder selected to use this function.
Open - open an existing file.
Create Shortcut - will create a shortcut for the selected item within the same drive/folder.
Rename - will put the Folder or File name into the Rename mode.
Properties - will show the current properties of the selected item.
Associate - will launch 'open with' dialog to set association of selected item.
Recycle - will delete (send to recycle bin) the selected File or Folder.
Edit File - will open selected file in Notepad.
Run DOS - will launch a DOS window.
Exit - will shut down the program.


Edit - used with the File Manager functions

Cut - used to remove a selected item(s) and place in Clipboard.
Copy - used to copy a selected item(s) and place in Clipboard.
Paste - used to paste items from clipboard into selected drive/folder.
Copy to - used to copy selected item(s) to another folder.
Move to - used to move selected item(s) to another folder.
Select All - will select all items appearing in the right side File Manager window.
Invert Selection - will reverse current selections.
Copy Path as Text - Copy Name will copy the name of selected object(s) into clipboard. Copy Path+Name will copy the complete path of selected object(s). Use Copy Current Folder Path to copy selected folder path into Clipboard.


View - used with the File Manager functions

Large Icons, Small Icons, List, Details - four methods of displaying the contents of the drives or folders.
Arrange Icons - allows you to rearrange the displayed folders or files by Name, Type, Size or Dates.

Show Grid - Show grid lines that separate the items in the list view panel.
Full Row Selection - Set entire rows to be selected in file list view panel when details view style is active.

Single Panel - Will display one double panel File Manager window.
Single Panel (stacked) - Will Display one double panel File Manager window with directory panes "stacked" vertically.
Double Panel - will display two double panel File Manager windows.

Main Toolbar, Status Bar, Other Toolbar - will toggle these displays on and off.

Thumbnails - Show image files using thumbnail icons at bottom/side panel..
Maximize File List - will expand File Manager to full screen.
Maximize Preview - will hide File Manager and give Preview windows full screen.
Refresh - will refresh the display of the selected drive/folder (which is done automatically whenever the content changes).


Go - used with the File Manager functions

Go to - will open dialog where you can type the path to the drive, folder or file you wish to access.
Go to Root - will go to the root (drive) of current folder.
Go to Drive - will open dialog where you can select a drive to browse.
Go to Path - Select and go to system defined folder.
Back - will return to the previous drive/folder displays before the current one displayed.
Forward - will go forward to the drive/folder display in the History List.
Go Up - will change display to the next highest level in the file/folder/drive tree.
Full Expand - will expand the display of the currently selected item to show every folder/subfolder and file.
Full Collapse - will contract the display for the selected item back to showing drives and Window's items only. If you had numerous folders/subfolders open on C drive - you could select C drive and the Go - Full Collapse option would close all open folders/subfolders back up to the root of C drive.


Tools - provides quick access to the many Special Tools

Universal Explorer comes with a variety of useful Tools or Utility programs.

Please see the Special Tools sections of this User's Manual for complete instructions on using each of these Special Tools.

The UE Special Tools include:
Find Files, Search Text, Replace Text, Compare Text, Line Contents, Split File, Encrypt/Decrypt, Disk Copy, Directory Size, Directory Printer, Directory Compare, Set Properties, Batch Rename, Slide Show, Screen Capture, Calculator, Ascii List, Color List, System Information and New Hex Window.


Archive - provides access to all the Archive tools for working with compressed files

Manager - launches the Archive Manager used to open, create, and edit compressed files.
Converter - used to convert a compressed file into another compressed file type.
Find Files - will search inside of compressed files for specific , individual files.
Search Text - will search inside of compressed files for files containing specific text strings.
Quick Zip - will lanuch Quick Zip window to zip selected files of file manager list and store in the default archive directory.


Options - used to set UE preferences

Configuration - used to set basic program options.
Font - used to set desired font for UE controls.
Filters - used to set what file types are opened by what type of onboard Viewing/Editing windows.
Quick Launch Bar - allows you to add popular application icons at the right side of UE main toolbar.
Save Settings - will save all setting from current session.
Clean History - will delete entire History List of drives/folders/files accessed throughout sessions.


Show - controls what file types are shown in File Manager windows

All Files - will display all files regardless of file type or extension.
Image - Spreadsheet - clicking on any of these options will display only files that match these types based on your Filters as set in the Options above.
Folder - toggle the folder show ON and OFF.

For more custom display use "Filter" box of History Toolbar.


Preview - controls Viewing/Editing windows.

No Preview - if this option is checked, than no Viewing/Editing windows will launch when clicking on individual files within File Manager.
Hex - Spreadsheet - you may toggle any or all types of Viewing/Editing windows on or off. If you have Image unchecked - then no Viewer will be launched when you click on image files.
Close - will close the currently selected (active) Viewing/Editing window.
Close All - will close all open (even minimized) Viewing/Eding windows.
Minimize All - will minimize all open Viewing/Editing windows.
Maximize All - will maximize all minimized Viewing/Editing windows.
Use ActiveX - will lanuch configuration window to set which file formats will use ActiveX/OLE technology to display it with in UE.
Multiple Instances - allows more than one Viewing/Editing window at the same time.


Window - controls the open, maximized Viewing/Editing windows

Cascade - will display multiple windows in Cascade format.
Tile - will divide the available Viewing screen among the open windows.
Arrange Icons - will arrange all minimized Viewing/Editing windows along the bottom of the viewing area.
File List - displays a list of all open (even minimized) Viewing windows. You may switch to any of the listed windows by clicking on the file name. The displayed checkmark denotes the currently active window.


Help - links for Help, Ordering and tech support functions

Index - launches the index page of Help Files.
Home Page - takes you to the Universal Explorer web site.
Tech Support - allows you to submit a tech support request via email.
Online Ordering - takes you to the Online Ordering Options page to order this product.
About - provides details about this product and version number.



Toolbar Buttons and Functions

This section covers the functions of the Toolbar buttons. Please refer to the Menu Commands Section for the functions of the individual Menu functions.

The UE Toolbar offers quick access to many functions while working in File Manager along with a History List for quickly returning to previously opened files. The functions of the Toolbar buttons are described below in the order the buttons appear and all UE toolbars use mouse-over pop-up labels for easy identification:

 

Quick Launch Buttons 

Add your popular applications icons at right side of UE main toolbar. You can set quick launch buttons using "Options - Quick Launch Bar" menu.

 

The History Toolbar

The left side of the History Toolbar contains the Folder History List.  The currently selected folder will be displayed in this area.  

You can filter file listing by entering file extensions in Filter box. Default is *.*
For multiple extensions separate them by semicolon and press ENTER.

The right side of the History Toolbar contains the File Preview History List.  The currently selected file that is open in a Viewing/Editing window will be displayed in this area.  

You may instantly re-launch any file in this list by clicking on it in the History List.

You may clear the entire History List via the Options - Clean History menu item.  This will clean both the file History List and the File Manager History List.

The Drive Toolbar

The Drive toolbar contains all drives of your system.


Overview of Major Features

Universal Explorer (UE) - a super turbo-charged Window's Explorer File Manager - plus MUCH, MUCH More!!

With Universal Explorer, you can manage your files (move/copy/paste/delete) quickly and effectively. Plus, you can also VIEW and EDIT almost any file directly in UE without launching the files native application!  View and Edit text documents, HTML, a wide range of graphic files, programming source code and more.  You can even view Microsoft Word and Excel documents without launching Word or Excel. UE has bulit-in full Archive Manager to create and manage Zip files in numerous formats - even create an executable .exe file from a zip file.

In addition, UE comes fully loaded with a wide range of great utility tools such as:

Find Files - UE offers any combination of four methods by which to find files on any hard drive and/or folders on your local computer or mapped drives on your network.

Split File - The Split File function allows you to split a large file into smaller files and create a standard .bat file that can be used to reconstruct a copy of the original file.

Set File Properties - The Set File Properties function allows you to set or reset certain file properties such as Created, Modified, or Accessed Date and to mark a file as Archive, Read Only, Hidden or System (or remove such settings).

Batch Rename - The Batch Rename function allows you to quickly rename multiple files into a sequence of file names.

Encrypt/Decrypt - The Encrypt/Decrypt function allows you to keep private files private by using a special password encrypting algorithm to render files useless until they are decrypted.

Line Contents - The Line Contents function allows you to display a file contents line-by-line in a grid. This works only on any text based files like .txt, .rtf, .htm(l), .cgi, .pas, .c, etc.

Disk Copy - A very fast and easy way to copy removable media using your system's RAM instead of its hard drive.

Search Text - The Search Text function allows you to find any/all files that contain specific word(s) or phrases.

Compare Text - The Compare Text function allows you to compare the exact text, word for word, line by line between two files. This works only on any text based files like .txt, .rtf, .htm(l), .cgi, .pas, .c, etc.

Replace Text - The Replace Text function allows you to replace a single word or entire blocks of text in a single file or every file on a drive/directory.

Directory Size Data - The Directory Size utility is extremely useful in determining the total size of all files in any given directory or subdirectories.

Directory Printer - The Directory Printer utility allows you to print a listing of every subdirectory and/or file contained within a directory and/or subdirectory.

Directory Compare - The Directory Compare utility will compare all files within two separate directories based on file size, name, data, and actual content and present a comparison report. This is great for keeping two copies of a directory up to date.

Graphic Slide Shows -The Slide Show Utility allows you to instantly create a slide show of all graphic files within a selected directory. Once activated, the Slide Show will be presented full screen with numerous options for speed, background color and more.

Screen Capture - The Screen Capture utility allows you to do a screen shot of either the active window or your entire desktop. Once captured, the image is auto-launched into a UE Image Viewer/Editing window.

Calculator - Choose from either a standard 10-key calculator or a professional formula calculator.

ASCII List - Presents a list of all ASCII characters and their binary, hex and decimal equivalents. Great for programmers and HTML design.

Color List - The Color List utility lets you quickly select desired colors and convert their values to Hex, Decimal and RGB.

System Information - The System Information utility is a great way to view a great deal of data about your computer. The System Information screen displays data about the registered user, the computer, the processor, the drives and the paths used by Windows.

Hex Binary Window - The New Hex Window function will take what ever file you currently have open in any other UE Viewing window and open a new Binary/Hex Window with that same file.

Although every aspect of using UE is covered in this User's Manual - each and every toolbar for all the UE tools utilizes the mouse-over pop-up labels making them easy to learn and use.

See screen shots of all special tools


Using File Manager

Please Note: This page offers an overview of the File Manager features. For complete instructions on using these features, please refer to the How Do I? - Move/Copy/Delete Files section.

Universal Explorer is identical in appearance and functions to Window's Explorer.  Universal Explorer allows you to move, copy, rename, and delete files.  The major difference between Window's Explorer and Universal Explorer is that when you left-click on any individual file, that file will be opened into a Viewer/Editing window directly within the UE program.  You can assign any file extension to specific types of Viewing/Editing windows (Text, Browser, Graphic, Source Code, Binary/Hex, or Word or Excel Viewers).

The standard File Manager right-click options available in Window's Explorer are fully functional when using UE. Additionally, when you installed UE, it added a Universal Explorer option to the right-click menu when clicking on drives or directories (for quick access to launch UE) and it also added an Open with Universal Explorer option when right-clicking on an individual file while using other File Manager type programs. You may remove these listings in the Options - Configuration settings.

One of the great features in the UE File Manager system is the ability to display Split Screens by "View - Double Panel" menu commad. This is similar to opening multiple instances of Window's Explorer - except in UE, both File Manager windows open in the same screen - one above the other.  This allows you to quickly manager your files when working with different drives or directories.  The UE File Manager system fully supports Window's networks giving you access to your local drives along with all network drives.

Please Note: This page offers an overview of the File Manager features. For complete instructions on using these features, please refer to the How Do I? - Move/Copy/Delete Files section.


Viewing/Editing Files

Please Note: This page offers an overview of the Viewing and Editing Files features. For complete instructions on using these features, please refer to the appropriate How Do I? section.

What sets Universal Explorer apart from the standard Window's Explorer (besides the dozens of extra tools and special features) - is the ability to View and Edit almost any file on your system or network without having to launch the file's native application. In other words, if you are trying to find a specific text file you created - with Window's Explorer you would have to open each possible text file into Notepad or Wordpad - look at it and then repeat the procedure again and again until you found the desired file.  If you wanted to quickly find a specific Word or Excel document - you would have to open Word or Excel and then open each possible file.  Click on a graphic file in Window's Explorer and your designated graphics program will launch.  NOT ANY LONGER!

The onboard Viewing/Editing "daughter" windows in Universal Explorer quickly launch virtually any file directly in the main UE screen. You can assign any file extension to specific Viewing/Editing windows when you set up your preferences. To launch a file into the onboard Viewing/Editing windows, simply do a single left-click on the file name in the UE File Manager.  If you wish to launch the file into its native application (launch a .html file into your default browser instead of the UE Browser) - just double left-click on the file name.  The special, full-featured UE Viewing/Editing windows include:

Text Viewer/Editor - This would include .txt, .rtf - any file that is text based (except source code files that will open in the source code viewer).  This viewer has full editing capabilities.

Browser window - The onboard Browser system supports most web pages including Frames (no java support).

Graphics Viewer/Editor - that supports .bmp, .cur, .dib, emf, .gif, .ico, .jpeg, .jpg, .pbm, .pcx, .pgm, .png, .ppm, .rle, .tga, .tif, .tiff and .wmf file types and offers a full range of editing features. UE also offers a graphics Slide Show and Thumbnail Viewer.

Source Code Viewer/Editor - This color syntax defined window is idea for editing source code files such as HTML, Perl, and also supports source code written in C, Java, Pascal, Python, SQL and Visual Basic.

Multimedia Viewers - UE includes onboard players for multimedia files including .au, .avi, .mid, .midi, .mpeg, .mpg, .wav.

Binary/Hex Code Viewer/Editor - Every wonder what's inside an .exe file?

Word and Excel Viewers - View even complex Word and Excel documents without actually launching those programs.

Please Note: This page offers an overview of the Viewing and Editing Files features. For complete instructions on using these features, please refer to the appropriate How Do I? section.

Screen shots of all Viewing/Editing window


Zip / UnZip / Make .exe

Universal Explorer offers a full Archive Manger that allows you to create, view, edit, file and text search, convert and extract compressed files using multiple formats (bh, cab, qz, jar, lha, lzh, tar, zip, zoo).  A Make .Exe option is included to turn a compressed file into a self-extracitng Window's executable (.exe) file.

Not sure if your intended recipients have an Unzip program? Not a problem - you can take any of the UE created archives and make a self-extracting Window's executable file.  All your recipient's) need do is double-click on the .exe file you created and the files will be extracted for them:

Please Note:  This page offers an overview of this feature, please see the How Do I? - Work with Archives section for complete details.

 

See more Archive related screen shots


How Do I Set My Preferences?

Universal Explorer has two major functions (not including all the Special Tools) - to allow you to easily manage the files on your system/network and to allow you to view/edit almost any file without opening the file's native application.

There are a multitude of Preferences that can be set in Universal Explorer to make the program work better with the way you intend to use it.  The main preferences can be set from the Options menu item and it is important to set these the first time you use UE.

Configuration | Font | Filters | Quick Lanuch Bar | Other Preferences


Configuration

Configuration - General

Move icon to system tray when minimized - if checked, will move UE to system tray when minimized.

Allow only 1 copy of Universal Explorer running at a time - if left unchecked, multiple instances of UE can be run at the same time.

Flat user interface (tool buttons) - if checked, all toolbar buttons will appear flat without any shadows or "button" appearance.

When starting, always open the following folder first - if checked and entered folder is exist, UE always opens this folder first.

Open folder on single click - if checked, folder will open on single click in UE file manager.

Configuration - Preview

When preview, skip file size over - when checked, you can specify a maximum file size to be launched into an associated Viewing/Editing window.  For instance, if you specify 50KB - any file under 50KB will be automatically launched into a Viewing/Editing window - while those larger will not.

Maximum number of preview - you can also designate a maximum number of Viewing/Editing windows to allow at one time.  The default is "0" or Unlimited.

Auto Preview Delay - when using Auto Preview, you can set the amount of time UE will wait between previewing of files. You set it by number of seconds. Default value is 3 seconds.

Document Font - the default font used to display text based documents - click the "!" button to change. The Default font is Windows system font.

Configuration - Other

When using Windows Explorer instead of Universal Explorer, options to launch Universal Explorer from the right-click menu are added. You can remove these options by unchecking the appropriate boxes.

The default path for any temporary files you open is the standard C:\windows\Temp directory. You may change this path if desired by clicking on the "!" button.  It is recommended you leave the "When exit, delete temporary files" option checked. This will automatically delete all temporary files placed in this directory by UE when it is closed.

When making changes to the Options - Configuration options - make sure the Save Settings option is checked so your changes are saved for future UE sessions.

Configuration - ActiveX

UE version 3.0+ supports ActiveX technology. So you can view Word/Excel files within UE without launching Word/Excel. Although it is slow but gives you accurate and exact display. To enable this feature, check "Word" and "Excel" options.

UE native HTML viewer can perfectly display most of the html files, except Java. So you can leave uncheked the "Internet Files" option.

 


Font

Here you can set program font and it reflects file manager panels, all list views, etc. The default font is MS Sans Serif.

 


Filters

By default, any file extension not defined in the Options - Filters will be opened in a Binary/Hex window. The filters in UE are pre-configured with the most popular file extensions assigned to the proper Viewing/Editing windows.

However, there may be certain file types you use that are not designated by default.  For instance, if you work with .csv files (comma delimited text) - that particular file extension is not setup as a default and therefore will open into a binary/hex window.  To correct this, go to the Document tab and place your cursor in the New Extension box - the dot "." will automatically appear - and type the new extension and click Add.  Now, every time you select a *.csv file in the UE File Manager - it will be launched into a Text Viewing/Editing window as it should be.

Note: If extension is not pre-defined, UE version 2.2+ auto checks first two lines of file's contents and opens the file in Text Editor if checked contents is plain text, otherwise opens in Hex Editor.


Quick Lanuch Bar

Use this dialog box to add popular application icons in the right side of UE main toolbar. You can add up to 10 icons here. When UE launched first time, it takes program icons from desktop. You can change default icons using this dialog. Always click Save button after you modify the list. If you do not wish this feature, delete all icons/titles from list and click Save button.

Note: if you are using 640*480 screen resolution then you will not be able to see quick launch bar icons.


Other Preferences

The other preferences you may wish to change from the default settings are accessible via the Show and Preview menu items:

The Show menu controls what file types (associated in the filters) are displayed in File Manager and the Preview menu controls which Viewing/Editing windows will be launched when associated file types are selected in File Manager. By default, all files type will be displayed and launched.


How Do I Find/Move/Copy/Delete Files?

This section contains details on using the File Manager functions of Universal Explorer. For a summary of such functions - please see the Major Features - File Manager section.

Universal Explorer is designed to replace the rather restricted features of the standard Window's Explorer file management program. It is fully featured and offers many advantages to Window's Explorer.

By default, when first launched, UE will display the standard File Manger windows (one on the left for drives/directories and networks, one on the right to display individual folders or files of the selected drive/directory). The UE File Manager system offers almost identical right-click options as you would have using Window's Explorer.

In addition, you can view a second set of File Manager windows on the same screen by using the View - Double Panel menu option. This second panel will appear directly under the first. All windows in File Manager are resizable to better fit your screen resolution. Adding the second panel can make it easier to move or copy files between drives or directories because you can have different targets open in the separate sets of panels.

Again, by default, the File Manager panels will take up approximately 30% of the horizontal UE screen leaving the remainder for Viewing/Editing windows that will be launched when you single-click on any individual file. You may resize the File Manager panels with your mouse or you may extend them to full screen by using the View - Maximize File List menu item. You may return the panel to its original size by unchecking that option.

This section will cover the basics of Finding, Moving, Copying and Deleting files using your mouse and keyboard. There are many other options for working in File Manger available via the Menu and/or main Toolbar.  Please see those sections of this manual for details.

Finding Files: Navigating through the File Manger windows is identical to Window's Explorer. Simply double-click on any Drive/Folder/Subfolder in the left panel to expand it to view the contents. Individual files will be displayed in the right panel. Single-clicking on an individual file will launch it into the associated Viewing/Editing window. Double-clicking on an individual file will launch it into its associated Window's application. For example, a single-click on a .txt file will launch the UE Text Viewing/Editing window, while a double-click on the same file will launch it into Notepad, Wordpad or whatever you have associated with that file type in Windows.

Universal Explorer also offers many Special Tools to help you locate a file when you are unsure of its name or location.  Please see the sections on Find Files, Search Text, Graphics Thumbview and Slide Show.

Auto-Refresh: By default, UE will automatically refresh the listings on any open panel when a change takes place within the displayed content.

Moving Files: The default action when dragging files in UE File Manager depends on the Source and Destination Drives. If you highlight a file(s) or folder and left-click, hold, drag and release to another location on the SAME DRIVE - the selected file(s) will be MOVED to the new location. If you highlight a file(s) or folder and left-click, hold, drag and release to another location on a DIFFERENT DRIVE - the selected file(s) will be COPIED to the new location.

To manually MOVE the desired file(s) or folders when working with different drives use the following procedure:

To manually COPY the desired file(s) or folders when working within the same drive use the following procedure:

Copying Files: This is the default action when dragging files in UE File Manager (see above). You may also use the Copy & Paste options of the right-click menu.

Deleting Files: This function works identically to Window's Explorer. Simple selected the desired file(s) and hit your keyboard Delete key or right-click on the selected file(s) and choose the Delete option. The "Move to Wastebasket" dialog box will appear.

Again, there are many other options for working in File Manger available via the Menu and/or main Toolbar. Please see those sections of this manual for details.


How Do I View/Edit Text Files?

All standard text based files are pre-configured to use this viewer with the exception of many file types that are better viewed and edited in the Source Code viewer such as .htm, .html, .pl, .c and other programming language source files.

The Text Viewing/Editing window has all the editing features of WordPad or any good Rich Text File (.rtf) editor allowing you to adjust fonts, font color and the like.  As a safeguard, if you open a plain text (.txt) file and add Rich Text File options such as font color - and "Save" the file - all RTF options will be removed when saved.  To save a .txt Text file that you have added RTF options to - use the "Save As" option and Save As a Rich Text File in the File Type options of the Save As dialog box.

 

Depending on the width of the Viewing/Editing window - all the Toolbar buttons and options may appear on one line or broken up to fit on two lines as above.  The basic functions from top left are:

Font: Use the drop-down box to choose any font installed on your system.

Point Size: Use the up/down arrows to adjust font size.

Save Button:  Will present the option to Save or Save As.

Bold/Italize/Underline: The B, I, and U buttons toggle their respective characteristics.

Undo/Cut/Copy/Paste: Standard editing functions.

Left/CenterRight Justify:  Will justify the selected text to the selection.

Edit Items: Provides access to all editing functions plus Select All, Word Wrap and more.

Bullets: Adds bullets to selected lines.

Font Color:  Presents Window's Color picker.

Font:  Allows you select a new font for selected items.

Find: Presents the standard Windows Find - Find/Replace dialog box.

Print:  Options are Print, Print Preview and Print through Application.

Open Default Application:  Will launch the file into its Window's associated application.


How Do I View/Edit HTML Files?


The files types or extensions opened with this UE viewer are any files associated with this viewer in your Options - Filters. A single left-click on any file in File Manager will launch that file into an associated UE viewer while a double left-click will launch a file into its associated Window's application.

Also, most of the Viewing/Editing windows use the Universal Explorer printer preview printer drivers or can be printed directly through the files associated Window's application. Please see Printing Files for details.

As with all Toolbars on all UE windows, the button's label will appear when moused-over.


By default, selecting a web page file as associated in the Options - Filters will launch that file into a UE onboard Browser window. While not supporting Java or Java Applets, the UE Browser window is full featured and allows instant access to both the Source Code editor and your default browser.

The Universal Explorer Onboard Browser

The UE Onboard Browser window is completely resizable and provides the following Toolbar buttons:

Back/Forward: These arrow become active once you begin navigating through a hard-drive copy of a website.

Reload Page: Used to reload the currently displayed page after changes have been made to the source code.

Document Source: This will launch the source code of the web page into the source code editor. To quickly make and confirm changes to a web page, the source code will be launched into a separate source code window. You may make changes to that code, save the changes, then return to the Browser window and Reload the page to view the changes.

Copy: Will copy any selected text on the web page or copy all text on the page if none is selected.

Find - Find/Replace: Launches the standard Windows Find - Find/Replace dialog box.

Print: Offers Print, Print Preview and Print through Application option (see Printing Files).

Open in Application: Will launch the current page into your default browser.

History: Shows all pages you have had open in this window during the current session.

Right-clicking anywhere within the Viewing/Editing window will present the following options: Copy, Select All, Find, Print, Document Source.


How Do I View/Edit Graphic Files?


The files types or extensions opened with this UE viewer are any files associated with this viewer in your Options - Filters. A single left-click on any file in File Manager will launch that file into an associated UE viewer while a double left-click will launch a file into its associated Window's application.

Also, most of the Viewing/Editing windows use the Universal Explorer printer preview printer drivers or can be printed directly through the files associated Window's application. Please see Printing Files for details.

As with all Toolbars on all UE windows, the button's label will appear when moused-over.


The onboard Graphics Viewing/Editing window supports the following file formats:

 .bmp, .cur, .dib, emf, .gif, .ico, .jpeg, .jpg, .pbm, .pcx, .pgm, .png, .ppm, .rle, .tga, .tif, .tiff and .wmf.

The viewer also supports animated GIF files.

The editing features include rotate, flip, resize, resample along with full Color Adjustment and Special Effects.

As with all the Viewing/Editing Toolbars - the toolbar buttons may appear on one line or multiple lines depending on the horizontal size of the window. Below are brief descriptions of the toolbar functions and it should be noted that all available options are available via a right-click menu inside the viewing window.

Zoom Slider and Drop-Down Control:  The displayed image may be sized anywhere from 1 to 2000 percent of the actual size. By default, it will appear at 100 percent or actual size. You may adjust the size in three ways: Moving the Slider control left or right, using one of the preset sizes via the Percent drop-down box or by selecting the currently displayed percentage in that box and retyping any desired size.

Save: Presents both the "Save" and "Save As" options.  The "Save As" option allows you to save the current graphic as a variety of file types.

Undo: Undo becomes active after you perform any action on the graphic and will undo the previous action.

Cut, Copy, Paste: When your cursor is over the displayed graphic, it will change to a "+" crosshairs. You may then left click and drag a selection area. Cut will remove that section of the graphic and put it in Clipboard leaving a "hole" where the selection was. Copy will copy the selected area to Clipboard. Paste will expand the canvas and paste the selected area next to the original graphic - you must place you cursor outside the original graphic and click before using paste.

Edit Items: Provides the following options:

Rotate: Allows you to rotate the graphic by degrees.

Flip Horizontally: Will flip the graphic left to right.

Flip Vertically: Will flip the graphic top to bottom.

Color Adjust: Launches the Color Adjustment functions (see below).

Effects: Launches the Special Effects functions (see below).

Animate: When animated gif files are loaded - only the first frame will appear in the viewing window. Clicking the animate button will launch the animation of the graphic.

Print:  Print, Print Preview and Print through Application options (see Printing Files).

Open in Application: This will launch the file into its native Windows associated application.

 

Color Adjust

The Color Adjust function allow you to modify the full spectrum of colors applied to your graphic. It provides a real-time preview window of what effect your modifications will have.  To apply any changes to the graphic - click the double arrow button between the Source preview and the Result preview and then click OK.

 

 Special Effects

The Special Effects function lets you apply Special Effects to your graphic such as Blur, Find Edges, Emboss and more.  To apply any changes to the graphic - click the double arrow button between the Source preview and the Result preview and then click OK.

You may also save specific settings to a *.flt file that can be later loaded and used with any graphic without having to reset all modifications again.

 

Convert Image Files

 

To Convert/Save image - click "Save As" icon of image window toolbar - set "Save As" image format type and click "Advanced" button to set various parameters.


How Do I View/Edit Source Files?


The files types or extensions opened with this UE viewer are any files associated with this viewer in your Options - Filters. A single left-click on any file in File Manager will launch that file into an associated UE viewer while a double left-click will launch a file into its associated Window's application.

Also, most of the Viewing/Editing windows use the Universal Explorer printer preview printer drivers or can be printed directly through the files associated Window's application. Please see Printing Files for details.

As with all Toolbars on all UE windows, the button's label will appear when moused-over.


The Source Code Viewing/Editing window is especially helpful to programmers and web page designers because it uses color-coded syntax text colors when displaying the contents of associated files. This makes it easier to find specific instances of coding. The graphic below shows a Java source file opened in Source Code windows.

 

 

You can designate which file extensions to open in the Source Code windows via the Options - Filters menu item.

You may edit the extensions for each type of source code by selecting the source program and editing the extensions that appear in the Edit Extension line at the bottom of the screen.  For instance, you may have some Perl files on your system with the .cgi extension.  This would have to be added to the Perl line.  

Each program type can use a different color scheme for program-specific syntax.  To edit these settings, simply right click anywhere on the main Source Code Viewing/Editing window and choose the Options selection.  

The various supported program types can be selected via the Language drop-down box. The particular types of syntax available in that programming language will appear in the Element box. Simply select any of the Elements and click on the desired color to have that color used for that Element in the Source Code windows.


How Do I View/Edit Other Files?


The files types or extensions opened with this UE viewer are any files associated with this viewer in your Options - Filters. A single left-click on any file in File Manager will launch that file into an associated UE viewer while a double left-click will launch a file into its associated Window's application.

Also, most of the Viewing/Editing windows use the Universal Explorer printer preview printer drivers or can be printed directly through the files associated Window's application. Please see Printing Files for details.

As with all Toolbars on all UE windows, the button's label will appear when moused-over.


Along with specialized Text, HTML, Archive, Graphics and Source Code Editors, Universal Explorer also includes either Viewing windows or Viewing/Editing windows for Multimedia files, Word/Excel files and Binary or Hex files:


Multimedia Viewers - UE includes onboard players for multimedia files including .au, .avi, .mid, .midi, .mpeg, .mpg, .rmi, .wav.

Once a supported file is loaded into the appropriate player it should start automatically.  If not, you may use the control buttons along the bottom (Start, Stop, Pause) or the slider control to move back and forth through the file.

 


Word and Excel Viewers - View even Word and Excel documents without actually launching those programs. UE has native unformatted viewer for Word and Excel files. Please Note: Some extremely complex documents may not load or appear properly formatted in the Viewing windows. However, these windows are mainly used to help you locate desired files without having to launch Word or Excel.

Note: UE version 3.0+ supports ActiveX technology. So you can view Word/Excel files within UE without launching Word/Excel. Although it is slow but gives you accurate and exact display. To enable this feature, go to "Preview - Use ActiveX" menu and check Word and Excel options.

See screen shots of Word/Excel viewing windows (native and default)


Binary/Hex Code Viewer/Editor - Every wonder what's inside an binary file?

UE will display files in Hex Window if file extension is not associated with another viewer in the Options - Filters setup. The Hex window is mainly useful to view and edit binary files.

It can handle different byte-per-line, different byte-per-column values and multiple undo.

Hex Window displays a file as a series of hexadecimal (base 16) numbers together with the corresponding ASCII character equivalent. The first 8 digits on each line represents a hex address which indicates the offset (or position) of the corresponding line in the file.

This is followed by up to 16 hex numbers (or bytes) which correspond to the file data. The right hand side of the view consists of the ASCII character representation of the corresponding file data. If the hex byte does not correspond to a printable ASCII character, it is displayed as a "." (dot). Lines in Hex Window are never wrapped.

Toolbar buttons:

Save: Presents both Save and Save As options.

Backup copies will me made automatically if file is modified and saved. (i.e., a copy of "iderty.exe" will be named as "iderty.bak" ). Backups will not be made if the Save As option is used to save the file as a different file name.New addition in Hex Window:

Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo: Standard editing features.

Edit Items:  Presents many of the editing options as menu items.

Grid View:  Puts columns and lines into a grid.

ASCII->ANSI: Converts corresponding ASCII character to ANSI and vice versa.

Jump:  Input the jump amount to jump backward or forward. It should be in range of 1..total file size

Go: Goes to file position as specified in the "Go to File Postion" input box. To enter an amount in hex, use a prefix of 0x or $.

Line Size: How many bytes should each line contain? Here you set different byte-per-line value. (Supports 3 values of 16, 32, 64; 16 is default)

Column Width: How many bytes should be collected to one column? Here you set different byte-per-column value. (Supports 3 values of 1, 2, 4; 1 is default)

Offset Display: How to display first 8 digits (offset) on each line? Possible values: Hex (default), Decimal, None.

Find: Launches the standard Find - Find/Replace dialog box. However, only the Find operation will work in the Hex window.


How Do I Print Files from Viewing Windows?

Most of the UE Viewing/Editing windows use the UE printer driver which offers many printing options. Additionally, in most of the windows, when you click on the Printer icon you are given three options:

 

 

Print: Sends directly to your default printer using the default or previous UE driver options.

Print through Application: Will launch the file into its native application and send to the printer using any special settings as may be set in that native application.

Print Preview: Launches the UE Print Preview and Options window.

Top Toolbar Buttons and Controls:

Print:  Prints the file with the current settings.

Prev/Next: If your file contains multiple pages - you may navigate through the pages.

Display Area Drop-Down box: This effects the Print Preview display only - not the printed page.

Fit to Page: Will adjust the display to show the entire page.

Fit to Width: Will adjust the display to use the entire width of your screen.

Grid: Will superimpose a grid over the printing area to assist in verifying alignment of graphics, etc.

Unit of Measurement:  Dictates whether margins are in Inches or Centimeters.

Zoom: Click to change cursor to Zoom tool - left-click on an area of preview to enlarge (can be done multiple times), right-click on preview to Zoom out (can be done multiple times).

Grab and Move:  Used instead of scroll bars when the preview is enlarged and only a portion is displayed.  Click on this button to change the cursor to the "hand", then left-click and drag on preview to move the preview to other sections of the document.

Single/Double Page Display:  If a multi-page document - you can click on the "2" button to display 2 pages at one time.

Close: Will close the Print Preview dialog without sending the file to the printer.

The Bottom Navigation Toolbar:

If the preview is of a multi-page document, you may navigate through the preview using these buttons:

First Page:  Takes you to the very first page of the document.

Previous Page:  Go back one page.

Next Page: Go forward one page.

Go To Page:  Launches the Go to Page Number dialog that allows you to jump to a specified page number.


How Do I Work with Archives?

Universal Explorer offers a very full range of Archive tools giving you the ability to create, edit, view, convert, and search compressed files.  You can even create a self-extracting Window's executable file (*.exe) from an Archive.

The basic utilities used when working with Archives are reached via the Archive menu commands:
Manager: Allows you to open archives, create new ones, edit existing ones and gives access to other features.
Converter: Used to convert an existing archive into another compressed format.
Find Files: Allows you to search for specific files within any compressed file on your system.
Search Text: Allows you to search for instances of specific text contained in files within a compressed file anywhere on your system.
Quick Zip: will lanuch Quick Zip window to zip selected files of file manager list and store in the default archive directory.

Archive Manager | Add File dialog | Making .Exe file | UUEncode | Archive Converter | Archive Find Files/Search Text | Quick Zip


Archive Manager

Archive Manager can be used to open existing archives, create or edit existing ones and provides access to most other archive features.  The following menu commands are available:

File:
New Archive - Used to create new archives. Once clicked, the Open/Save file dialog box will appear allowing you to choose the directory and file name for the new archive. After that, the Open/Save file dialog box will reappear allowing you to select the base files or folders to add to the new archive. You may edit this list in the Add File dialog that will appear after this and is better described under the Add File section.
Open Archive - Displays the Open/Save file dialog so you may locate the archive you wish to open. Once selected, all the files within the archive will be displayed in the main Archive Manager window.  You may use the Preview menu to select large or small icons, list view or details view.
Convert Archive - Will launch the Convert Archive dialog allowing you to convert an archive into a different compressed format such as bh, cab, gz, jar, lzh, tar and zip.
UUEncode - Allows you to UUEncode or XXEncode archives. This is used when your Email client does not offer such conversions automatically on attachments (most later version Email clients do). See below for details.
Filter Archive - Allows you to view only specified file types that may be in the archive. Nothing will be changed within the original archive unless you Save or Save As after setting a filter.
Close - Will close Archive Manger

Action:
Add - Will launch the Open/Save file dialog box allowing you to add additional files/folders to the open archive via the Add Files dialog box as described in that section below.
Delete - Will delete selected files from the archive.
Extract - Allows you to actually extract all compressed files into a designated drive/directory.
View - You may use the View option to launch any selected file within an archive into the associated application.
Select All - Will select all files within the archive.
Select None - Will unselected any and all selected files.
Invert Selection - Will reverse the current selected/unselected choices.
Make .exe - Will create a self-extracting Window's Executable (*.exe) file from the open archive. The .exe file will be created in the same directory where the open archive resides.  See the Making .Exe files section below for more details.
Check integrity - Will extract the archive into RAM and check the integrity of each file and display the results in an Output window.
Refresh - Will refresh the file list view.

Show:
Preview - Checked by default, this will launch every selected file within an open archive into its associated UE Viewing/Editing window.
Blank Directories - Toggle to show or not to show empty directories that may exist within the open archive.
Elasped Time - Will display the elapsed time on any action such as extracting, compressing or converting archives.
Last Output - Will display the Output window with the contents of the last output you performed.
Large, Small, List, Details - Controls how the list of files in an open archive are displayed.

Many of the above options are available via a right-click menu when you are in the main Archive Manager screen.


Add Files - Creating New or Editing Archives

The Add File dialog box appears after the Open/Save file dialog box when ever you create a new archive or wish to edit an existing one.  If you choose a file or folder in the Open/Save file dialog box, that file or files (including directory structure) will appear in the Add File display area. You can add additional files or folders by using the Add Folders and/or the Add Files buttons to use the basic procedure to add additional items which will also appear in the file list display area.

CREATING A NEW ARCHIVE: Use the File - New Archive menu item in Archive Manager. This will launch the above allowing you to select the files you desire to include into the new archive. You may remove undesired files by selecting them and using either the Remove Selected or Remove All options in the right-click menu.

Once you have all the desired files included, you may select your other options and create the new archive.

Method:
Deflate - This will compress the files into their smallest file size according to your selection under the Compression area.
Store - This will simply store all the files into an archive without compressing them.

Action:
Add (and Replace) Files - This will Add new files to archive or Replace existing files.
Move Files - This will actually Move the selected files from their current location into the archive.

Stored Dirs:
None - Regardless of where the files come from (Drive/Directory) - no file path data will be stored in the archive. Therefore, all files will be extracted in a single user defined directory when extracted.
Absolute - Will store absolute file paths for the compressed files. This could cause a problem if such paths include Drives that do not exist on another machine which the archive is extracted to.
AbsoluteNoDrv - This will store multiple directory file paths but not Drive letters. It can be used to create multiple new diretories on the user defined drive when extracted.
Relative - This will only store directory/folder path that are relative to each other such as subdirectories. This is useful for creating archive when the subdirectory data is necessary such as an archive of a website where all the graphics are contained in a /images subdirectory under the root directory that contains the HTML files. The files in the root directly will not contain any directory/path information - only the subdirectories under the root will contain this data.
RelativeStoreStart - Same as above except even the files in the root directory will contain the root directory name.

Date Attribute:
FileDate - This will maintain the original date of each file in the archive.
SystemDate - This will change the file date of every file in the archive to the current system date of your system.
MaxFileDate - This will use the latest (the newest file date) as the date for all files in the archive.

Compression:

The Super fast, Fast, Normal and Extra settings control the amount of time it takes to compress all the files into an archive (and somewhat how long it will take to extract them). This setting also controls the amount of compression put on each file.  The faster the speed - the less compression.

Password:

If desired, you may password protect your archive so that it may not be extracted without the proper password.

EDITING EXISTING ARCHIVES:

When in the Archive Manager, you may delete files directly as described previously. However, if you wish to add files or folders to the open archive, you would use the Action - Add menu item which would launch the Open/Save dialog box and then the Add File dialog as described above.

Any files/folders you add to the Add File dialog will be added to the open archive and the entire archive will be recreated using the other settings as described above.


Making .Exe files

This great utility will take the open archive and create a self-extracting Windows Executable (.exe) file. This file can be distributed and extracted on any other Windows computer even if such machines do not have any type of Zip/Unzip utility program.

To use this utility you must have an existing archive open in Archive Manager. You can activate this feature through the Action - Make .Exe menu item or the right-click menu while in Archive Manager.

By default, the .exe file will have the same root file name as the archive file and be saved into the same directory. Once created, the archived files can be extracted simply by executing the created *.exe file.  


Using UUEncode

UUEncode/XXEncode can be used if you intend to send archives via the Internet as Email attachments and your Email program does not provide automatic encoding of attachments. Most later versions of all popular Email programs do automatically encode (either MIME or Base64) attachments so it would not be necessary to use the Archive Manager UUEncode feature.

To encode an archive, first you must select the desired archive by using the "!" button next to the Read File input line. You may also choose the Write File path if the default path is not the desired path.

Encode Method:  This feature supports both the UUencode and XXencode methods. UUencode is selected by default.

Please Note: Encoding may not be done properly if filename contains spaces. For example encoding "New uezip file.zip" will produce "New uezip file.xxe" or "New uezip file.uue". However you may have a problem decoding. But encoding of "New_uezip_file.zip" or "NewUeZipfile.zip" works fine. You may change the desired Write File name to meet the above requirements in the Write File input line.

Max kbytes per file: Used to specify the maximum file size of the encoded file. If the encoded size exceeds Max KBytesPerFile, subsequent volume(s) are created each time the volume reaches the size of KBytesPerVolume. If KByesPerVolume equals 0 (default) then the encoded file is not split into multiple volumes.

Write decode table to file-header: If checked, decode table will be inserted to the file header. This table contains a series of ASCII characteristics generated during encoding process. (It is an optional setting. Nothing happens if this setting is unchecked.)

Decoding an UUencoded or XXencoded file: If using Universal Explorer, you single click on a *.uue or *.xxe file in File Manager, the Archive window will auto-launch and display the message "Decode archive to temp folder and open it." Clicking yes will decode the file and display files in the Archive Manager window. At that point you may use any of the Archive Manager features on the decoded files.


Archive Converter

The Archive Converter can be reached through the Main Archive - Converter menu item or the File - Convert Archive menu item in Archive Manager.  In essence, this utility will convert an archive of one type into another. For instance, it allows you to convert a .zip archive into a .tar archive.

In Archive File - If you have an archive open in Archive Manager and select the Convert Archive options - the open archive will automatically be selected as the In Archive File - or the file to be converted. You may use the "!" button to launch the Open/Save dialog box to choose any other archive file on your system.

Out Archive File - This is where you designate the path and file name for the new converted file. Again, you may use the "!" button to select this path/name.

Out Archive Type - This selects the file type for the newly converted file. The Out Archive File extension will be automatically matched to the file type selected.

Out Archive Method - The default is Create New which will create a new file while leaving the original file intact. The Add files option is used to add the files of an existing archive into an already existing archive of a different type.

Date Attribute - Dictates what File date will be applied to the files when they are converted.

Integrity Check - Will double check each file after the conversion to insure there was no corruption.


Archive Find Files / Search Text

Unlike the basic Windows Find Files or Search Text (also available as enhanced UE Special Tools) - the Archive versions actually perform their searches on files contained within compressed archives. You can activate these special searches via the Main Archive menu.  Please see the Special Tools section on Find Files and Search Text for the basic uses of these dialogs. They are pretty intuitive and easy to use as shown below:

 

Archive Find Files:  Used to find specific files (based on file type or name) that may exist in compressed archives. The screen shot below is set to find all Text (*.txt) files that may exist within .Zip files on the C: drive. The recurse subfolders option will look into all subfolders on C drive as well.  The Recurse nested archives will look inside compressed archives that may exist inside of other archives.

Archive Search Text: Used to find instances of specific text strings that may exist within files contained in a archive. The screen shot below indicates a Text Search for the word "Install" that may exist in any type of file in any type of archive on the C: drive. The additional filtering options  of Recurse Subfolders, Find First Entry Only, and Case Sensitive are available via the Options tab.


Quick Zip

It allows to zip selected files of file manager list and store the zip file in the default archive directory.

To activate this function, select the desired files in the middle pane of file manager and then click "Archive - Quick Zip" menu or press shortcut CTRL+Q. Now in Quick Zip window, enter a zip file name or click "!" button to get a random file name by number or date/time. Enter default archive folder in next "Save in Folder" box. Finally, click OK button.

Please note that: this Quick Zip window supports only .ZIP file format and will store relative file path in zip file. If you need more features, use regular Archive Manager.

 


Find Files

UE offers any combination of four methods by which to find files on any hard drive and/or folders on your local computer or mapped drives on your network. Each method is briefly described below.

PLEASE NOTE: UE even offers the capability to find specific files with compressed files such as Zip, Cab, Tar, and the like.  See the How Do I? - Work With Archives section.

You can access the Find Files option from the main menu of Tools - Find Files menu.

 

 

Find Files by Location using Criteria.

This is the default screen for Find Files and both a Criteria and a Look In (or drive) must be selected. The Date, Size, and Attributes screens allow you to further refine your search.  The * is used as a wildcard meaning include anything and everything where the * is used.  For instance, the screenshot above shows a search of the C: drive and all subfolders for any and all .doc (Word Document) files. However, a search for *contract.* would conduct a search for all files (regardless of file extension) that have the word "contract" before the "." but may have different prefixes such as newcontract.txt, oldcontract.doc, badcontract.rtf - all such files would be shown in the search results window.

The drop-down arrow next to the default drive letter of C: will show all local and mapped drives connected to your computer. You can also use the Browse button to navigate to any specific drive and folder for your search.

The Recurse subfolders option will search all subfolders or directories under the specified drive or folder. The Include all drives option will conduct the search across all available drives currently connected to the computer.


Refining Your Search by Date

If desired, you can refine your search by specifying specific dates or periods of time for the file dates. By default, All files is selected. However, if you are looking for a file that you know you created a couple of weeks ago - you could refine your search (using the main criteria you selected on the Location tab) by selecting the "during the previous x month(s) option and using the default 1. This would exclude all files (even if they match the Location criteria) that were not created or do not have a file date within the previous 30 days.  If, for instance, you wanted to see every file (regardless of type) you have created or installed on your machine during the last 15 days, you would enter *.* on the Location Criteria screen and choose the "during the previous 15 days" on the Date screen.

Since *.* means any and all files, this search would result in any and all files that have file dates within the previous 15 days.


Refining Your Search by File Size

You can further refine your search by narrowing it to only files that match the Location Criteria and have a specified file size. To activate this option, check the box next to "Size is" and enter in the size desired such as the 4KB above.  You also need to specify whether you are looking for files that are equal to 4KB, greater than or smaller than 4KB.


Refining Your Search by File Attributes

By Default, the Any attributes box is selected on this screen. However, you can further refine your search by narrowing your search to only those files with special attributes such as Archive, Read Only, System or Hidden.


Split File

The Split File function allows you to split a large file into smaller files and create a standard .bat file that can be used to reconstruct a copy of the original file.

This function is useful for breaking large text files into more usable segments or for breaking a file into segments to fit on multiple diskettes (although the Zip function in Archive Manager can significantly reduce the size of many files).

To activate this feature, go to the Tools - Split File menu option.

 

 

PLEASE NOTE:  The original file is left intact - the "split" files are created from the original.

First select a File to split.

By default, the directory in which the file is contained will be chosen as the Save pieces in folder option. You can change this by clicking on the "!" button.  

Bytes per file:  This is where you select the maximum size of the resulting files. For example, if you have a 4 MB Word Document that you wish to put on diskette - you may wish to select the 1.44MB option from the size drop-down box.  This would split the file into 3 segments and also create the .bat file needed to restore the files to the single original.

Template for splitting files:  By default, this is the file name for the file you selected before launching this function. HOWEVER, since this function uses a DOS based .bat file to reconstruct the split files - it is imperative that the Template file name conforms to DOS file name limitations. You should limit the Template file name to 8 characters with no blank spaces or special characters.

Generate batch file for merging: By default, this option is selected because without the .bat file, there is no way to restore the created segments into a copy of the original - it is recommended you leave the default.

After clicking the OK button - the selected file will be split into the desired directory and file size using a simple numbering system for new file extensions.  For example, the split of massive.txt will result in massive.1, massive.2, massive.3, etc. and, of course, the massive.bat file that is used to reconstruct the segments into a copy of the original.  All of the file segments and the .bat file must be in the same directory in order for the .bat to be run and function properly.


Set Properties

The Set File Properties function allows you to set or reset certain file properties such as Created, Modified, or Accessed Date and to mark a file as Archive, Read Only, Hidden or System (or remove such settings).

To activate this function you must have one or more files selected in the File Manager windows. You can use the Ctrl+left click or Shift+left click to select multiple files.  The first file selected will open in the designated Viewer window unless you have Previews disabled. Once the desired file(s) are selected, go to the Tools - Set Properties menu option to activate the above dialog box.  All selected files should appear in the main window showing the file name and size.

 

 

Select All: To change the properties of a single file simply highlight that file - or use the Select All button to highligh all files (by selecting more than one file - any options you change will be applied to all selected files).

Properties:  If a single file is selected - the current Created, Modified and Accessed Dates will appear along the bottom of the dialog box along with checks in the appropriate attributes options. To double check on the File Attributes, you can click on the Properties button that will display the Window's Properties dialog box.

Current Date: When first launched, the New Date/Time settings will be from your computer's system clock.  If you wish to reset the date/time to the very moment - click the Current Date button.

New Date/Time: The default settings of the computer's system clock that will be applied to the selected files can be adjusted in the following manner. To adjust the date, click on the down-arrow - this will display a calendar from which you can select a new Month/Date.  To adjust the time, first highlight the portion of the time you wish to adjust such as the hour - then use the up/down arrows to adjust.  To adjust the minutes - first highlight such and use the same arrows to adjust, etc.

Modify Date(s): Click in the checkbox(es) to select which Date/Times you wish to change - Created, Modified and/or Accessed.

Attributes: By checking or unchecking the Archive, Read Only, Hidden, and/or System options - those attributes will be applied to the file(s) upon clicking the Apply button.


Batch Rename

The Batch Rename function allows you to quickly rename multiple files into a sequence of file names.

To activate this function, go to the Tools - Batch Rename menu.

If you selected files from the File Manager windows, they will appear in the left window. Or you can use find file option at the bottom part.

By default, this function will take the first file name and use it as the Template or new file name. Use the following functions to set up the Batch Rename:

 

Template: You may designate any file name to be used as the template for the new file names (oldfile as in the example above). The "#" symbol is used to designate where the digital sequence will be placed (after oldfile above) - if the template was set for #oldfile - then the sequence numbers would appear at the start of the file name. The "#" can be placed anywhere before, within, or after the desired filename.

Start at: This setting will be used for the first number in the sequence of new file names.

Increment by: If set at 2 with the start at number at 1 - then the new file names would be xx1, xx3, xx5 and so on.

Capitalization: Your choices here are Keep as is, all lower case, ALL UPPER CASE

Extension: This controls the file extension of the new files names. Your choices here are Keep as is, Remove, all lower case, ALL UPPER CASE.

Caution:  Once the Batch Rename is Applied - it can not be automatically undone.


Encrypt/Decrypt

The Encrypt/Decrypt function allows you to keep private files private by using a special password encrypting algorithm to render files useless until they are decrypted. This can be applied to files on your own computer, your network or for files shared between other Universal Explorer users.

To activate this function, you must first select the desired file(s) in the File Manager windows. The first file selected will open into the selected Viewer window unless you have Previews disabled. If you wish to encrypt multiple files within one directory you can hold down the Ctrl key while left-clicking on multiple selections. You may then go to the Tools - File - Encrypt/Decrypt menu option to activate the dialog box. The name of the selected file(s) and the file(s) size will be displayed in the main window.

 

Password: If desired, you may assign a password that must be used to decrypt the file(s). If no password is assigned, then the file(s) can be decrypted by anyone having access to UE.

Delete source files(s) after encrypt: This option is selected by default. If left selected, the original unencrypted file(s) will be deleted after the encrypted versions are created with the .encr extension added after the file names.  For protecting files that will remain on your system - this is the best option because to create an encrypted version while leaving the original in place defeats the purpose.  However, if you wish to send a sensitive file to another UE user, you may wish to uncheck this option thereby creating a duplicate of the original file - except encrypted.

Compress Data: When creating encrypted files to put on diskette or send via the Internet - you may wish to check this option which will use standard compression algorithms on the file along with the special encryption.  This can significantly reduce the file size for easy transport or transmission.

To Decrypt files, you may select them (they will have the .encr extension) in File Manger. The first file selected will open in the Binary Viewer window regardless of original file type because it is encrypt and not readable as any standard file type.  After you have selected the desired .encr file(s) - go to the Tools - Encrypt/Decrypt menu option. This will launch the Decrypt dialog box with the selected files ready to decrypt.

Password: If the file was encrypted with a password - that EXACT password must be used to decrypt it. If multiple files are selected for decryption - they ALL MUST HAVE BEEN encrypted using the same EXACT password.  If the files were encrypted using different passwords - they will have to be decrypted individually using the proper password for each file.

Delete encrypted file(s) after decrypt: Selected by default, this will delete the .encr version of the file after it has been successfully decrypted.


Line Contents

The Line Contents function allows you to display the contents of a file line-by-line. This works only on text based files like .txt, .rtf, .htm(l), .cgi, .pas, .c, etc..

 

By default, to launch the Line Contents function, you can choose a file in the file manager panel and use the Tools - Line Contents menu item to launch the Line Contents window. OR, If you wish to select a file that reside in different directories, then just launch it without selecting any file in file manager panel and use the "!" button to the right of File text box to select other file any where on your system or mapped network.

Once you selected the file and clicked Show button, the complete contents of the file will be displayed line by line showing line numbers in left side. If you use the "!" button to select a different file - you must then click on the Show button to reanalyze the file.

 


Disk Copy

The Disk Copy utility offers a very fast and easy way to copy all or part of a diskette (or other removable media) to another diskette (or other removable media).

 

The Disk Copy utility works by copying all selected files from the Source drive directly into your systems RAM instead of to the hard drive.  Once all files have been copied, you will be prompted to insert a new diskette into the drive (assuming the Source and Destination drives are the same). Once new media is ready, the files are then copied directly from RAM onto the removable media.  

WARNING! While this utility will work on any removable media such as ZIP drives, JAZZ drives and the like - it is highly recommended that you use caution when using Disk Copy for anything but 1.5 MB diskettes. This is because, unlike ordinary disk copy procedures that copy the Source onto your hard drive, then transfer that data back to a new diskette, the UE Disk Copy utilizes your systems RAM which makes it much faster. However, if the amount of data being copied exceeds the amount of available RAM currently available - it could cause your system to hang-up or crash.

When launched, the Disk Copy dialog box will appear with your A:\ drive being chosen by default.  You may change the drive letters as desired - but read the Warning statement above before doing so.

Source:  This is the drive containing the removable media containing the desired files to be copied.

Destination: This is the drive where the files will be copied. If both Source and Destination drives are the same - you will be prompted to insert a new diskette into that drive after the selected files have been copied into RAM.

Mask:  The default "*.*" will copy all files on the Source media.  You can limit the files to be copied by using a Mask. For instance, if you only want to copy HTML files - you may use a mask of *.htm or *.html.

Select Files:  This button next to the Mask input area will launch the Open or Select Files dialog of the Source drive and let you select specific files to be copied.

Include Subfolders: Selected by default - this will include any subfolders and the files within those subfolders.

Copy empty folders: Selected by default - this will copy even empty folders to the destination drive.


Search Text

The Search Text function allows you to find any/all files that contain specific word(s) or phrases.

PLEASE NOTE: UE even offers the capability to search for specific text contained in files within compressed files such as Zip, Cab, Tar, and the like. See the How Do I? - Work With Archives section.

 

 

The Search Text dialog box has both a General and Options tab. Results from your search are displayed in the bottom windows.

General - Location: Clicking on the drop-down arrow to the right of this box will show all local and mapped drives. You can choose a specific drive or use the Browse button to choose a more specific folder or subfolder.

General - Text: This is where you enter the specific word, phrase, or any text you are searching for. The drop-down arrow will contain any previous search words you have used since UE has been open for the current session.

Genral - Mask: You can refine your search to specific files by using a Mask. The *.* as shown above means any and all files. The * is used as a wildcard so *.doc would limit the search to only Word Documents while contract.* would limit the search to only files named contract but that may have different extensions such as .txt, .rtf, .htm, .wps, etc.

Options Tab:  You can use these options to further refine or expand your search.

Recurse subfolders: Check this box to search subfolders on a drive or within a parent directory or folder. If you selected C:\All Websites on the General Location - and you DID NOT have this option checked - the search would be limited to the root directory of C:\All Websites and all subfolders under this one would not be searched.

Include All Drives:  Selecting this option will conduct the search on all available drives (either local or mapped via a network).

First Entry Only:  Selecting this option will stop the search after the first matching file is found.

Case Sensitive: Selecting this option means the target text must match what you entered on the General Text line ExAcTLy.

Once a search is complete, the matching files will be displayed in the middle window. You can double click on these files to launch them into their native application.  When expanded this window will show the following data about each file:

Name, Directory, Match(es)-the number of times the target is contained in the file, File Size, File Type, Modified Date

The bottom window will show the same files. However, this screen shows the full file path to each file and the exact position the first instance of the target string was found.  You can select a file by single-clicking on it. If you double-click on a file in this screen, it will be launched into the UE Text Editor window and the first instance of the target string will be highlighted.

 


Compare Text

The Compare Text function allows you to compare the exact text, word for word, line by line between two files. This works only on text based files like .txt, .rtf, .htm(l), .cgi, .pas, .c, etc..

 

By default, to launch the Compare Text function, you can choose two files in the same directory by selecting the first file with a single click and then using the Control (Ctrl) key and a single click to select the second file. The first file selected will be launched into the selected viewer unless you have Previews disabled. Once two files are selected, you may then use the Tools - Compare Text menu item to launch the Compare Text dialog box. OR, If you wish to compare files that reside in different directories, then just launch it without selecting any file in file manager panel and use the "!" button to the right of either of the files to select other files any where on your system or mapped network.

Once launched, the complete text of both files will be displayed line by line with identical lines showing in Blue. Lines that contain differences will be in Black. If you use the "!" button to select a different file to compare - you must then click on the Compare button to reanalyze both files.

 


Replace Text

The Replace Text function allows you to replace a single word or entire blocks of text in a single file or every file on a drive/directory.

 

This feature can be launched via the main screen Tools - Replace Text menu option. This is an extremely useful tool for replacing words or entire blocks of text throughout multiple files within a drive or folder/subfolders.

Using the Text Block windows - it is fairly easy to replace very specific words or sentences or blocks of text in files that may contain similar - but not exact instances. You can narrow the specific replacements by what is contained before and after the target string.

Find What:  This is where you enter the EXACT target string you wish to find in the file(s).  In the example above, the target to replace is actually "http://softwaresolutions.net/forms/ordernow.htm". However, my HTML files may contain many instances of that URL that I DO NOT wish to replace.  I can narrow it down to exactly which instances to replace by including the line contained above the target instance. In this case, "<H1>Secure Order Form</H1>". Using this parameter, the only instances of "http://softwaresolutions.net/forms/ordernow.htm" that would be replaced would be the ones directly below "<H1>Secure Order Form</H1>". All other instances of the target URL would be ignored.

You can use Copy and Paste across multiple Viewer windows to make sure you are entering EXACTLY the proper text (including spaces, tabs, etc).  Simply open a target file in a Text Viewer window (if you have chosen the HTML Viewer as the default viewer for HTML files - you would then use the View Source button on the HTML Viewer to launch the source code into a Source Code Viewer window. Once in a Source Code Viewer window, you can highlight the necessary amount of text as the target string - use the Ctrl+C keys to copy (or the right-click - Copy function) - then switch to the Replace Text window and place your cursor in the Find What box and use the Ctrl+V key (or the right-click - Paste function) to paste that exact text into both the Find What and the Replace With windows (assuming you are only going to replace a portion of the target string).

In Folder: Once your have either pasted or typed in both the Find and Replace text - you must choose what drive, folder or subfolder(s) are the targets for this function.  Use the "!" button to select this.  Checking the Recurse subfolders option will include all subfolders under the selected folder in the Find and Replace.

Mask:  Since this function works on almost any type of file - it is wise to use the Mask option to limit the Find and Replace to specific file types.  For example, you may have a mixture of .htm, .txt, .cgi files in the target Drive/Folder/Subfolders - but you wish to Find and Replace only on the .htm files.  You would then use the wildcard of "*" and .htm to designate all .htm files.

Options: Several options are available to refine and safeguard this feature.

Match Case:  By default, the Find What target will be matched by either upper or lower instances - Secure, SECURE or SEcUre will be considered a match for "Secure" entered into the Find What box.  Checking the Match Case Option insures that the Find What targets match EXACTLY what you have designated in that box.

Match whole word only: If the only word present in the Find What box is "Hot" - this would be matched by any instance of those letters in the target files such as "Hot", "HotBot", "Hotly" and the like - in which case if your Replace With was "Warm" - your target files would end up with words such as "Warm", WarmBot", "Warmly".  You can avoid this by checking this option.  This option usually is not necessary if using entire sentences or blocks of text in the Find What box because they will be unique within themselves.

Confirm Save: After the Replace All button is clicked, each designated target file will be quickly opened in a Text Viewer window and you will see the actual Find What strings being replaced by the Replace With strings.  If the Confirm Save box is checked, you will be presented with the Confirm Save File dialog after each file is modified.  The next file will not be modified until you respond to this dialog box.  But it is useful if you want to manually scan the edited file to make sure the proper changes were made before saving.

Make Backups: Checking this option will make backup files of the original, unedited files with a .bk extension before saving the modified version as the original file name.  For example, if the Find and Replace modifies 12 files in a directory - the originally 12 files (before modification) will be saved in the same directory with the added .bk extension.  This can be useful is doing complex Replacements and you want backups of the original files in case of error.


Directory Size

The Directory Size utility is extremely useful in determining the total size of all files in any given directory or subdirectories. This function can be launched via the Tools - Directory Size menu item.

With the Standard Windows Explorer, it is impossible to determine the actual disk space used by a folder or directory unless you go into each subfolder contained in that directory and manually add up all the file sizes. This great feature of UE allows you to quickly determine the exact disk space used by any directory and/or subdirectories. It will also show you the size of the Hard Drive, the amount of space used, the amount of space free, and the amount of space the selected directory is using and the percentage of the Hard Drive that is.


Directory Printer

The Directory Printer Utility allows you to print a listing of every file contained within a directory and/or subdirectory(ies).

 

This feature may be activated via the Tools - Directory Printer menu item.

The result displayed in NotePad or default text editor as "dirprint.txt" file. This file is created in UE installtion folder, each time you click "Start" button.

Options:

Check Recurse Sub-directories option to see a complete list of all subdirectories and all files in all directories.

The Lowercase Filename option will force all file names into lowercase regardless of the actual file name.

Dos style filename option will limit the file name length within 8 chars.

Display Sub-directories will result in a list of all subdirectories contained under the selected directory along with a list of all individual files contained under the root directory.  It will not list all subdirectories or individual files contained in the main subdirectories.  To see a complete list of all subdirectories and all files in all directories, you would check the Recurse Sub-directories option and click on the Start button. This would rewrite the"dirprint.txt" file using the new options.

You can limit length file names so that they fits properly in list. By default this value is 35 chars.

You can check/uncheck Display Size, DateTime and Attributes option to list/unlist the file size, modified date/time and file attributes (a - Archives, r - Read Only, s - System, h - Hidden).

 


Directory Compare

The Directory Compare utility will compare the contents of two directories and present a list of duplicate files contained in both directories based on file size, name, date or actual binary contents. This feature can be launched from the Tools - Directory Compare menu item.

 

After launch, you must first designate which two directories you wish to compare. Use the Browse button next to the Source Folder and the Compare Folder input lines to select the desired directories.

The Include subfolders options will include all subfolders in the comparison. You can designate specific file types to be compared in the Mask input area.  *.* would be all files while *.htm would only compare all .htm files.

The default measure of comparison is file size. However, you may also select other criteria in the Options tab as shown below:

The Compare Contents option will actually compare the binary contents of each file to provide an digital fingerprint to see if the files are exact matches.

Once you have your directories selected and options set - click the Compare button to produce the report which will be displayed in the main window.

View1: view selected file of source folder.

View2: view selected file of target folder.

Delete1: delete selected file of source folder.

Delete2: delete selected file of taget folder.

Compare Text: open Compare Text function to compare text of both files (source and target).

 


Slide Show

The Slide Show Utility allows you to instantly create a slide show of all graphic files within a selected directory. Once activated, the Slide Show will be presented full screen with numerous options for speed, background color and more.

To activate this function, you first must select a directory/folder or subdirectory/folder which contains recognized graphic files in the File Manager windows. Once the directory/subdirectory is selected, all the contained graphic files should appear in the right File Manager window.

To activate the Slide Show, go to the Tools - Slide Show menu option. Once clicked, a dialog box will appear allowing you to specify specific file types or names to be included in the Slide Show with the default being all graphic files. Once selected, the slide show will appear full screen. You may right-click anywhere on the main screen to change several options and navigate through the selected directory as shown above.

Slide Show ToolBar: By default, the Slide Show Toolbar will appear at the bottom left of the screen allowing you to quickly navigate through the graphics. All UE toolbars have mouse-over pop-up labels. The order of the buttons in this toolbar are Play, Pause, Stop, First, Previous, Next, and Last.  The name of the current graphic being displayed will be shown to the right of the Toolbar.

Right-click Options: Right-clicking anywhere on the main screen will activate the right-click menu which allows you to change many options and navigate through the Slide Show. Many of the available options have keyboard shortcuts which are shown next to the option. For example, you may use the keyboard Spacebar to toggle the Toolbar on and off. The "C" key will activate the color selector allowing you to change background colors for the Slide Show and so on.

File Name: The top of the right-click menu will show the file name of the current file being displayed. Clicking on this file name will return you to the UE main screen and auto-launch that file in the Graphic Viewer/Editor window. However, the Slide Show will remain open just below the bottom of the main UE screen allowing you to quickly return to the Slide Show and repeat the above with additional graphics.

Play List: Clicking on the Play List option will launch a new dialog box showing all the graphics currently included in the Show. This dialog box allows you to add, remove or modify the position of included graphics. You may also save the file list as a standard text file and open previously created Play Lists to run in the Slide Show.

Timed Slide Show: Use the "T" key to toggle this off and on. When selected, each graphic in the play list will appear on the screen for the number of seconds set in the Timer Value.

Timer Value: Controls the number of seconds each graphic is displayed. To adjust this value, click on the Timer Value line in the right-click menu and adjust the number is the resulting dialog box.

First, Previous, Next and Last Image: You can click on these lines to go to the corresponding image in the Slide Show or use the associated keyboard shortcuts.

Fit to Screen: Clicking on this option will expand the displayed graphics to fill the screen horizontally.

Change Background: This useful option allows you to choose any desired color as the background for the Slide Show. You can click on this line in the right-click options or use the "C" key. Either will present the Window's Color Picker allowing you to select any color supported by your system.  This is useful when viewing graphics that will appear on a specific web page background color for instance.

Print: This will send the currently displayed graphic to your printer.

Show Toolbar: Selected by default when the Slide Show is launched - this option toggles the toolbar off and on or you may use the Spacebar during the Slide Show to do the same.

Switch to Main Window: This will switch you back to the main UE window while leaving the Slide Show open in the background. The bottom portion of the Slide Show will show under the main UE window so you can quickly return to it.

Close Show:  Clicking this line will close the current Slide Show.


Screen Capture

The Screen Caputre utility allows you to do a screen shot of either the active window or your entire desktop. Once captured, the image is auto-launched into a UE Image Viewer/Editing window.

To activate this feature you must have another program open - such as a browser or graphics program. This feature can be launched from Tools - Screen Capture menu item.

To use with UE in the maximized mode, first have your other program open and active on your desktop. Then launch or maximize UE. UE will appear full screen and hide the other open program. Restore that program which will appear on top of UE. Go to the Tools - Screen Capture menu and select either Window or Desktop. Your screen will briefly show just your desktop while it is captured then UE will reappear and place the captured image into a Graphic Viewer/Editing window.

To capture the entire Desktop - simply click on the Screen Capture - Desktop option. The entire desktop will be captured, UE will maximize and the Desktop will appear into a Graphics Viewing/Editing window.

To capture only the active window - To capture a specific window that is currently open on the desktop, you must do two things. First, right-click on the minimized UE icon to open the options menu (this will make all open windows on the desktop inactive). Then click on the Screen Capture - Window option and then immediately click on any portion of the desired desktop window to make it active.

The now active window will be captured and auto-launched into a UE Graphics Viewing/Editing window.

 


Calculator

Universal Explorer offers both a Standard (10 Key) calculator and a Professional formula calculator. The UE Calculators are availble via the Tools - Calculator menu item.

The UE Standard 10-key Calculator - click on the "P" button next to the close "X" button to access the Professional Calculator as shown below. The next time you launch the Calculator - it will launch the version you last used - you may switch between the standard and pro versions by clicking the "S" or "P" next to the close button.

To use the UE Professional Calculator, simple enter in your formula or calculation in the text entry box next to the toolbar and hit your keyboard Enter key.  The calculation and result will appear on the bottom of the viewing window. Click on the "S" button next to the close "X" button to access the Standard 10-Key Calculator.  The toolbar buttons in the Professional Calculator are:

Open:  Used to open previously saved calculation text files.

Save: Will save all calculations performed during the current session as a text file.

Clear all Calculations:  The paintbrush button will clear all previous calculations performed in the current session.

Display Functions: The last button on the toolbar will display all available functions.


ASCII List

The ASCII List function is available via the Tools - Ascii List menu item.

This pop-up list displays all keyboard ASCII characters and their Binary, Hex, Octal and Decimal equivalents. This is a great tool for programmers and for HTML design.


Color List

The Color List utility lets you quickly select desired colors and convert their values to Hex, Decimal and RGB.

216 Color Browser Safe Palette: The color pallet on the top of the screen will display the 216 colors considered safe to use for all browsers.  These colors can be selected by clicking on one or can be used as a starting point for any color supported by your system. When you click on any of the 216 colors - that color will appear in the Color Value section of the screen.

Hex: This shows the Hex (or HTML value) of the selected color and will auto-adjust as you adjust the color.

Dec: This shows the decimal value for the color.

Red/Green/Blue: These slider bars can be used to adjust the color.  The numbers next to each color show the amount of that color with 255, 255, 255 being White and 0,0,0 being Black.  Any adjustments to the sliders will instantly reflect in the Hex/Dec values.


System Information

The System Information utility is a great way to view a great deal of data about your computer. This feature can be activated via the Tools - System Information menu item. The System Information screen displays data about the registered user, computer, processor, drives and the paths used by Windows.

 


New Hex Window

The New Hex Window function will take what ever file you currently have open in any other UE Viewing window and open a new Binary/Hex Window with that same file.

To activate this feature, select the Viewer window desired that is already open in UE, then go to the Tools - New Hex Window menu item.  The new Hex window will auto-load using the same file as in the selected window.