THIS IS ARCHIVED CONTENT ABOUT AN OLD VERSION
Click here to go to the latest version

Managing folders and other items

The three panes

This main application window has three vertical panes. The left pane displays the hierarchy of folders as a tree structure, the middle pane the contents of the current folder as a list of items, and the right pane the current item.

Creating new items

You create new items by pressing by clicking the New button on the main toolbar. A drop-down menu will allow you to choose one of the predefined types.

If you choose to create a new folder, a dialog will pop up asking for a folder title. After you have provided a title, press Enter/Return on your keyboard and you will see the new folder displayed in the second pane.

If you choose a non-folder item, an icon specific to that choice will appear in the second pane, and the third pane will display an empty form for you to fill in. When you are finished entering your data, you must click the Save button represented by the green checkmark in the right pane of the toolbar, saving your data and “naming” the item with the first line of data you entered. You will see your new item in the middle pane and if it is a folder, you will see it in the left pane as well.

NOTE: You can also create new items using the context menu on the middle and left panes.

Browsing folders

In the left pane, the folder structure is represented as a tree structure. Each folder can be collapsed or expanded in order to hide folders that are not important at the moment. This technique is called outlining. To toggle the expanded state of a folder, simply click on the folder icon.

You select the folder you wish to work with by clicking its icon in the left pane. Its contents and title are then displayed in the middle pane and its title bar. Also, the full path to that current folder is shown in the left pane’s title bar.

You can navigate back to the previous folder by clicking the Back button or selecting it in the left pane. You can also navigate up to the parent folder of the current folder by pressing the Backspace key or clicking the Go Up One Level icon represented by the “folder with an arrow” button in the middle pane’s toolbar.

Changing a folder title

To change a folder’s title, click on the folder’s icon and choose Organize > Edit from the main toolbar. If the folder’s icon is already in the second pane, you can just click on it and an editable box will appear in the third pane enabling you to make changes.

Viewing and editing item details

When you select an item in the middle pane, its details will be displayed in the right pane.

It is here that you can edit item details of both new and existing items. Press the Edit button represented by the “pencil diagram” in the tool bar. After making your changes, press the Save button represented by the green checkmark. These commands can also be accessed through the Organize drop-down menu in the main toolbar.

NOTE: Edit, Save and Cancel commands can be executed by the corresponding keyboard shortcuts – F2, Ctrl+S (Cmd+S on Mac) and Esc.

NOTE: You can also start editing a note by double-clicking on it.

Deleting an item

To delete a selected item, select the Organize > Delete menu item or just press the Delete key.

NOTE: You can also select the Delete context menu item on the left and middle panels.

Arranging folders and individual items

How you arrange your items could be driven by the nature of your business, but most commonly a matter of personal taste.

Although many methods of organization will work equally well with B-Folders, it is important to consider which format may be most successful for you as you first set up your database. This choice will determine how you set up your basic folder structure. Most methods will fall into one of two basic types: organizing by “type” of entry or by “topic/subject”.

For example, do you want to organize your records in terms subjects - Personal, Professional, Recreational, etc. – with sub-folders mixing Contacts, Notes, and Logins that relate to more specific breakdowns of those topics? The Video demo shows this type of organizational system.

Or are you more comfortable keeping your “categories” separate (along the lines of Palm OS or other PDAs)? For example, all of your Contacts in one folder with sub-folders dividing them into categories that you provide, like Business, Family, School, etc. Similarly, other “types” of items like Passwords would all be filed together.

However, no matter which method you choose, you never to need worry about forgetting where you put something because B-Folders provides a Global Search feature: At any time, any item can be found instantly by typing its name into the Search box accessed from the top navigation bar.

And although items will eventually reside within the folders you create, they can be created outside of their “future folders” and dragged-and-dropped into position later.

Creating items of different types

Before deciding upon your organizational method, it will be helpful to experiment with the different types of items. Particularly, note that a display is often quite different in an  “Edit” or “Input” mode than in the final display. (This also makes a difference on small screens like smartphones, so you may wish to observe the output on all platforms that you will be using.)