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Listary spruces up Windows find-as-you-type
Here's a Windows tip for you, in case you didn't already know it: If you open up an Explorer window and start typing up the first few letters of a folder or filename, selection will immediately jump there. It's magical!
Apparently quite a few people don't know this trick, or at least that's what Listary developers seem to think. Listary takes this feature and basically puts a little UI on it. Now, when you type, you'll see what you typed, as well as autocompletion suggestions you can tab through.
Listary doesn't work only in Explorer, but in all sorts of other system dialogs and file browsers. But then again, when I tested it, this feature was natively available on Regedit.exe and in the standard File Open dialog too.
The application's "Pro" version gets slightly more interesting with the addition of wildcards and regex, which is actually not something already built into Windows. To use that "Pro" functionality you're going to have to shell out $19.95, which seems a bit steep for a fancy listbox, if you ask me.
[Thanks, Jacob!]
Apparently quite a few people don't know this trick, or at least that's what Listary developers seem to think. Listary takes this feature and basically puts a little UI on it. Now, when you type, you'll see what you typed, as well as autocompletion suggestions you can tab through.
Listary doesn't work only in Explorer, but in all sorts of other system dialogs and file browsers. But then again, when I tested it, this feature was natively available on Regedit.exe and in the standard File Open dialog too.
The application's "Pro" version gets slightly more interesting with the addition of wildcards and regex, which is actually not something already built into Windows. To use that "Pro" functionality you're going to have to shell out $19.95, which seems a bit steep for a fancy listbox, if you ask me.
[Thanks, Jacob!]
Comments
6
Subscribe to commentsjsmorleyFeb 8th 2010 7:11PM
Uhm... I think you will find that when you do this in Windows without any addon, it is just jumping to the "first" folder or file starting with the letter you type. If you have:
fonts
folder one
flickr
And you type "f", it will jump to "fonts", if you hit "f" again, it will jump to "folder one" and then "flickr". If you type "fl", it will not jump straight to "flickr".
This "jump to first letter" has been in Windows like forever... Since probably Windows 95 at least.
So this addon is useful indeed (although not my cup of tea)
sRcFeb 8th 2010 8:10PM
well, more recently, but I'm not sure which version of windows they made that addition, XP maybe, you can continue typing to narrow it down more. you gotta type it fast tho, or the timeout will expire and you have to press the starting letter again to begin again (which would then take you to the next one by that letter)
JacobFeb 8th 2010 8:24PM
@Erez Thank you for giving it a try. Wildcards are supported in the free version, and here is an example by Listary author, I've just tried it:
Imagine that you have a folder containing some log files all named like "Program Log 01-XX-2010.log" (XX is the date), if you want to select "Program Log 01-05-2010.log", three keys "*05" (a trailing "*" is not necessary) will get the job done.
Another amazing (also free) feature you didn't mention is autocomplete. Let's continue the example above, you just need to press four keys to select exactly the file you need (Program Log 01-05-2010.log): p + Tab (autocomplete) + 0 + 5!
I love this application, and I personally think that the free version is enough for everyone :-)
JacobFeb 8th 2010 8:44PM
@sRc Type-To-Select is natively supported by Windows, but it's such a bad experience using it: I need to type very very quickly, and I have to restart from the beginning if I stop for about half a second. The worst thing is that I can't see what I've typed and there is no way to fix typos.
RolandixorFeb 8th 2010 10:06PM
lol, this is a feature of linux since um... since...
and we can see what we are typing btw. We can also select items with wild cards in nautilus from the menu (never tried to type the wild cards)...
kinda funny what windows misses xD
ProlornFeb 8th 2010 11:27PM
Or, you know, you could use the search box in the upper right. Ctrl+E, start typing.