"Directory Opus (or "DOpus" as its users tend to call it) is a popular file manager program, originally written for the Amiga computer system in the early to mid-1990s. Commercial development on the version for the Amiga ceased in 1997. Directory Opus is still being actively developed and sold for the Microsoft Windows operating system by GPSoftware and there are open source releases of Directory Opus 4 and 5 for Amiga."
Me too, but more recent memories than yours I'm sure. 8 years ago I did a lot of file management. 80% of my job was moving and renaming files & folders.
Finally I found DOPUS and it was a godsend. Tabs of all my common folders, batch rename, dual windows, etc. My job became much easier and I have free time to learn other aspects of the company.
DOPUS 60 day test drive was about to expire, and I had my 6 month review with my boss (the owner) and HR. They ask if there is anything that would make my job easier: DOPUS and a 2nd monitor.
I received a big lecture on downloading software (I get it), $2 raise, 2nd monitor, but no DOPUS. I was heartbroken. I loved it so much that I would have paid for it with my own money for the company's benefit. It was that good.
Another 6 months and I was promoted out of data management. DOPUS would have still been useful, but not to the same extent as that entry level position.
This is rather impressive and it looks appealing given what Windows looks like now. I came in with low expectations but its full of screenshots that actually show me why I should care and quite frankly it isn't done for a bunch of projects (even with people that have experience in it).
Given your "what Windows looks like now" comment, I thought I would pass along what I found to convert Windows 10 Pro to a Windows 2000 look & feel.
Mostly I followed this guide [0] to install a few customizations, the most important part of which I paid the $5 for [1] to bring back the ol' reliable "hit the windows key and type the first couple letters of a destination, hit enter" without waiting for a web search to find Bing results for "downloads"
To complete the throwback for myself, I also found an install for Sony SonicStage 4.3 circa 2008 and am very pleased to have all the old library features (Artist Link graph navigation, easy playlists and tagging) [2]
I'm going to try Directory Opus, I have to rename a bunch of mp3 files since SonicStage predates certain unicode characters...
I dont use Windows anymore other than for work and i have been a mac user for more than I can remember . But looking at reviews of Windows 11 and using Windows 10 I wish I still could use Windows 7. I don’t even need Windows to game with using GeForce now.
You can disable web search in start without paying, by modifying the settings through Group Policy (it's in Administrative Templates, windows settings or windows components, find Explorer).
I could be mistaken but I still had issues with the search trying too hard to be predictive, instead of a deterministic “these 4 keystrokes will always open the downloads folder” windows 10 search will give some results, and half a second later change the results, such that hitting return will bring me different places depending how long i wait
so anyway I appreciate what startisback has done, I think the hierarchical menu of old is a better design than the fuzzy matching that comes standard today
I’ve been using it since my Amiga days and when I found out they had it for the PC I gladly paid for it and an extra license I don’t even really use just because I wanted to support them.
Opus is magnificent. Gets rid of the need for so many other tools on Windows (archive management, previewers, bulk renamers, file sync tools, queued copy tools, duplicate finding, etc etc).
All in one super fast, integrated product that is constantly updated and has been rock solid for, literally, decades.
Sounds like it has some nice features. Bulk rename is one I'd use right away. My biggest gripe ATM with explorer is that it rearranges the tree while it's opening. At first my favorites are at the top and in focus but about 500ms after opening it moves the cursor down to My Documents, often undoing my first directory selection.
Windows is doing this sort of thing in a number of places for me. It's like someone decided "async is cool!" and no one told them that interrupting the user is bad.
> It's like someone decided "async is cool!" and no one told them that interrupting the user is bad.
A ton of application are doing that now. I think it has become the prevalent paradigm in many places, as a bad application of optimistic event handling.
I imagine the devs thinking "It will surely load fast enough so it's not an issue", or "we can't block user interaction until everything's loaded, when the files they need might stay displayed at the same place the whole time" etc.
It's particularly bad with task managers loading task lists asynchronously, when some of the first items might only be loaded last, and the list continuously moves top and down while it's loading.
It also seems to have a delay between starting every program. I tried to shove all my startup programs into a single batch file and run them in parallel and my PC is ready in 2 seconds. It may have made sense in the past, but with speedy CPUs and SSDs it's just an artificial bottleneck now. But I guess we're in the minority of people actually shutting down their machines any more...
I believe it's always possible to do better, and I will try DO out.
However, ironically, windows file explorer is one of those parts of ms-windows I normally appreciate, as being "more good than bad".
In particular, I love the shell integration in Explorer. Even if it is a messed-up compromise. I love that with the explorer tortoise-git integration, I get git menus directly in explorer. Which means, in a random application, I can trigger the "load file" or "save as" explorer-dialog, and use the explorer context menu do do git commands or zip/unzip stuff, in a random application that knows nothing about git or zip.
Compromise: I know the shell integration is buggy, and thus a nightmare for developers - the developer behind tortoise-git is flooded with bug reports stemming from conflicts with other buggily-implemented explorer-extensions that are not his fault.
Also, in a world with 8billion people, it is probably a nightmare to let "everyone" add menu items to the context menu - envision 500 sub-menu items.
Both on linux and windows, I dream of an "explorer nirvana",
where the following is solved to perfection:
-relevant context-menus for all file-types.
-"perfect" 'application-versus-documents-assocatation', so the system knows which applications MAY support a given filetype, and the user dynamically can enable/disable a file association (I don't want the user to delete any file association, only to DISABLE it).
- perfectly registered file-viewers, so the details/preview pane can always easily preview any file.
Windows Explorer, in my mind, scores high on this, mostly based on efforts back before 2005; hopefully they won't squander it all.
If I was a linux distro, my attack vector would be an awesome 'file explorer/previewer'.
My pet peeve in windows explorer, is that file byte size isn't offered as one of the configurable columns.
My pet enthusiasm on explorer is, that for many years this as been available as a third-party extension, which highlights what a good design windows explorer has.
Since the end of windows 7/arrival of windows 8, I regard
microsoft as incapable of ever building something as great as windows explorer, sadly.
The cathedral OS with a consistent UI look & feel (including navigation shortcuts and behaviour),
seems to be an art lost with the redmond roman empire of the nineties,
and now we must live in perpetual Electron Hell,
where UI's are built to be operated with a nose.
> windows file explorer is one of those parts of ms-windows I normally appreciate, as being "more good than bad".
It sorely lacks a tabbed interface. I understand they don't want to confuse their users with folder tabs, but there should be an option to enable them for advanced users. Most file managers have had them for many years.
Do you really want Microsoft adding tabs to it, though? Because they'll do it the same way they did it in IE. "Your tabs are also windows because we don't understand the difference, enjoy!"
e.g. those of attribute changer https://www.petges.lu/ modifies metadata between source and destination without changing the underlying identical files.
e.g. personally find winmerge and winscp a simpler solution to some aspects of comparison and synchronisation (but need setup)
Overall I do use Opus regularly but largely to just get a count of the contents of a directory (avoiding a manual file propperties right click on the folder.)
I appreciate the software development costs, but £25 for a single node locked license is steep. I'd like to see that extended to at least a couple of PCs + a laptop as many advanced users (who can regex :) ) are likely to have at least a couple of PCs round the house in these work from home days.
Overall 3.5 out of five - undeniably powerful but interface is too fussy
> appreciate the software development costs, but £25 for a single node locked license is steep.
Total Commander is 50% more expensive than that. I was going to say that it's worse value because of it, then I realised that not only is it a multi-computer license for the registered user, but that also the past 15-20 years of updates would have been free if I bought it.
That's actually decent. I'm part of the Linux ecosystem for now (so I can't run it other than Wine), but if I was on Windows, I'd likely invest in a license. Considering that it's still being updated for new machines after so long, and retains support all the way back to Windows 95, it's good value for money.
I've been using TC since when NC was a thing. Got a proper license for it some 10 years ago, when I could finally afford it. One of the most irreplaceable bits of software ever (at least for me).
> I appreciate the software development costs, but £25 for a single node locked license is steep. I'd like to see that extended to at least a couple of PCs + a laptop as many advanced users (who can regex :) ) are likely to have at least a couple of PCs round the house in these work from home days.
Ignoring the cost, Directory Opus is one of the few pieces of software that I have not encountered licensing issues with. Need to reinstall Windows, the certificate is applied without a fuss. Need to transfer the license to a new computer, the certificate is applied without a fuss. Using an old version, the certificate is applied without a fuss and disabling the update manager means it won't pester you to upgrade. The only time I was grumpy with their support policies was when I had to upgrade to update SSH support.
Some further thoughts and a more positive spin based on watching the (breathtakingly fast) what's new video...
Several of the features regarding merging, synchronisation, metadata handling are available now (not in the 'DOpus 12 light' release from 2017 I was using).
I will gladly pay my money for the pro version and look forward to using the latest version with my own cat videos.
(Still consider the features as too configurable and not easily 'discoverable' particularly for 'normal' rather than 'tech' users)
I also recognise how amazingly talented the small DOpus12 team are. They've implemented something that Microsoft should have done....
I understand why someone created it and why people use it. For similar reasons I use FAR. I feel it makes little sense to try to replace Explorer (and any other standard WIndows tools) as it inevitably leads to problems sooner or later. FAR, being an addition, doesn't get in the way, is open and has a plethora of plugins. To me, it seems the most faithful descendant of Norton Commander.
Thanks for that trip down memory lane. I just searched for FAR and had a warm, nostalgic feeling viewing the screenshots. Norton Commander was one of my favorite tools and I missed it so for years as technology moved forward. I eventually replaced it with DO but moved when XYplorer offered a freebie one year. Haven't looked back since... until now.
Agreed, but VC is a DOS program, and I meant one that I can use daily to enhance productivity on a Windows 10/11 machine. On the other hand, Total Commander and all its clones really don't feel like the original with their Windows controls.
My favorite (and free) explorer alternative is [Q-Dir](http://www.softwareok.com/?seite=Freeware/Q-Dir), which is unique because it offers 4 panes, instead of usual 2. It was almost a life changing tool for me, especially when dealing with multiple directories at the same time, like copying files from one directory to multiple directories. It has a little quirky UI. I've probably used almost every other file manager, like xyplorer, qttabbar, salanamder, mucommander, onecommander, etc, but I always come back to Qdir.
Yes. 24+ minutes long and unfortunately more than 5 years old if you believe the timestamp on the video.
It is definitely worth watching though just to see how simple it is to customize your installation and how flexible it is for file management operations.
I have used various file managers from XTree to Total Commander. Directory Opus looks to be worth trying and I may give it a go after I complete my new workstation configuration over the holidays.
Almost certainly something has installed an extension which is in-process and causing the crash. Graphics drivers installing thumbnail previewers for video files caused this for me previously.
Mine crashes too every once in a while, it hangs for a bit and then closes losing the entire desktop. No error is shown but there is one in the application event log. I tried to investigate the cause of the crashes but led me to a dead end, maybe you'll have better luck.
Technically, you keep the Explorer shell. That being said, the default configuration will pull up a Directory Opus window in virtually all of the cases that an Explorer window would be called up (e.g. opening a folder, compressed file, or FTP/SFTP URL). In other words, you will see the desktop but not much else.
Unfortunately there is not. Many will argue for whatever file explorer is their favourite, but all of them miss the mark by a wide margin. DirectoryOpus is a veritable Swiss Army Knife (with a freshly sharpened blade) of functionality. I've been using it on all of my Windows machines for many years, and it is one of those pieces of software that whenever I switch over to my Linux machine I very much miss. As a sidenote, PathFinder on macOS is a good Finder replacement, but again, lacks much of the functionality that DirectoryOpus provides.
Hi, author of gentoo (the file manager, not the Linux distro [*]) here.
I'm really low on time for maintaining gentoo now, which is why it no longer even has a web site, which is annoying and a bit sad.
I haven't used DOpus since my Amiga days back in the 80s and 90s, but obviously it was a big inspiration for gentoo. Probably DOpus has evolved a great deal since I used it; I've never touched it on Windows.
Just for fun/inspiration/reference, I would appreciate hearing what you find most lacking in gentoo, if you have experience using it. When it was first released, around 2000, I feel it was a pretty decent file manager for Linux and also some BSD systems, and it did so much* to help me improve my C and portability skills.
[*] I have actual e-mail from Daniel Robbins, the founder of Gentoo Linux, about the name clash. The e-mail is dated 2000-01-22, so it's almost 22 years since the question was semi-relevant. :) Now off to comb my beard and chase people off the lawn.
Thanks, I used gentoo quite a bit back in the day! Today I don't do enough file management to bother going outside emacs dired :)
Just to add some context, as far as I remember, gentoo was pretty similar to how DOpus worked on the Amiga until version 5, when it went from being a classic "one window, two pane, rows of buttons" thing, to arbitrary numbers of independent windows. DOpus 5 was really neat and powerful but also quite a different experience, more like its own desktop environment really. I hope I still have the ring bound manual somewhere...
Thank you for your contribution to the ecosystem of open source software and the monumental and often unsung effort it takes to develop and maintain something like a file explorer across a diverse set of platforms for an ungrateful audience.
Given a month of time, I don't think I could express the vast differences between Directory Opus 12 and Gentoo or many other file explorers that are available. Even PathFinder on macOS is a pale shadow of what Directory Opus achieves, and I happen to love PathFinder.
From file type support, to file renaming, image sizing, meta data options, scripting, macro recording, tabbed directories, filtering, finding in files, finding files in diretories, directory navigation, bookmarking, stability, speed, virtual directories, directory browsing, file system search, ftp, sftp, one and two way syncing, filename copying (e.g. copy filenames, copy full pathnames, copy short names, copy short pathnames, copy URLs, copy MD5 checksums, copy SHA-1 checksums, copy full pathnames with double backslashes, copy folder path, copy complete folder listing), file copying & file moving, queued file copying, unattended file copying, speed of file copying, prioritized file copying, pausable file copying, file deduping, renaming of dupes, unzipping and zipping in different archive formats, encoding files and decoding files. And I've only scratched the surface. And then just general spit and polish. And compatibility with all the different versions of Windows. And everything on a hotkey. And everything with configurable & saveable preferences.
I know that "but <favourite file explorer> also does that!" is a common refrain, but on Directory Opus, whatever feature you are comparing against, Directory Opus basically took the amplifier knob, turned it up to 11, then snapped it off to make sure you couldn't fuck with it. I know that "there is a utility in Linux that does that" or "well, that's easy, you just have to open a terminal and..." but again, it's built-in to Directory Opus. It just works.
I know I am singing high praises of this software, but it is like comparing Photoshop and GIMP, they both push pixels, but we know deep down, there really is no competition.
I really wish GPSoft would consider a Linux port, but they have emphatically stated that they have no intention of doing so, for business reasons, and I can kind of see their point.
There's nothing bad about Gentoo, but it isn't Directory Opus.
We are comparing what we used 20 years ago on the Amiga. What I think we all fell in love with was the configurability and speed. What Gentoo showed me was that the configurability and UI of the old DirOpus will only get you so far. I did a filededupe plugin for Gentoo, the UI for that made me cry getting that right takes time. I'm glad that DirOpus has gotten better and solve all these things in a good way!
Not as far as I know, but it does have "flat mode," which I've never seen anywhere else. Flat mode displays files from all the subfolders in a single list, quite handy for bulk operations.
Prior to Windows 7-10, there was no need for one. You had whichever colour theme you liked across the OS, and most native applications took advantage of that. Something could be said for code reuse.
There are no bundled "themes" per se, but it's not very difficult to configure the colors. If you don't feel like doing that I'm sure you can find people sharing their config on the DOpus community forum.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directory_Opus