File filter question

[BogongBreeze]

I set a filter for files but now I don't want it. Would someone please tell me how to turn off filters?

There's now a big green arrow in the panel with the files and I don't know what it means. It doesn't do anything when I click on it, so I assume it indicates I've still got a filter turned on.

[jkm]

I set a filter for files but now I don't want it. Would someone please tell me how to turn off filters?

By reversing what you did to set the filter in the first place. Please refer to the View->Filter By menu. It has many options, one of which is All, which shows everything unfiltered. There's also a toolbar button for filter controls. If you set a custom filter, you must have found the setting in Setting:View:Filter and Settings:File List:Custom Filter, so you can go back there and adjust them to your taste.

Better start taking notes on how you change the settings, since you're getting yourself into things that you don't know how to undo.

There's now a big green arrow in the panel with the files and I don't know what it means. It doesn't do anything when I click on it, so I assume it indicates I've still got a filter turned on.

A screenshot would help.

[BogongBreeze]

Thank you @jkm. I thought I'd turned off filters by setting "all" down the bottom - appreciate the confirmation. The green arrow is in the middle pane. Perhaps it was always there, but it seems to be new to me.


The filter menu opened, with "All" selected, so that seems okay too.


I've just looked at the settings/View/Filter, which was set to "Custom" not "like browser". Everything checkable under Settings/File List/ Custom Filter is checked. I haven't changed anything in the past couple of years, but these settings would explain the dot next to custom, as you've said.

The change in the order of files happened when I accidentally did a mouse press (I've got a tremor that causes problems sometimes). Unfortunately I don't know what the unwanted mouse click did. The end result was that the xmp files went from being shown after the all files in order and instead showed up after each of the matching image files. I've managed to get them to show up before all the files now by amending the "Sort by" order. However I can't find a way to have the files show up with the xmp files at the bottom of the pane, after the image files.

It works okay for now so although I'd love to figure out how I got what I had originally, I'm not too bothered.

Thank you again for your help and I apologise for being a nuisance.

[jkm]

Thank you @jkm. I thought I'd turned off filters by setting "all" down the bottom - appreciate the confirmation. The green arrow is in the middle pane. Perhaps it was always there, but it seems to be new to me.

Yeah, that's the "up folder icon". You think it doesn't do anything, but you're probably only single-clicking on it. If you double-click, it will navigate you to the parent folder.

See this thread: viewtopic.php?t=29316

You turned that on when messing with the custom filter, which you still have active. (see comment below).

To turn off the green arrow, go to Settings:File List:Custom Filter and deselect "Parent Folder". Or turn off the custom filter.

The filter menu opened, with "All" selected, so that seems okay too.

So this shows a combination of two problems:
1. XnViewMP does is not the most straightforward program when it comes to GUI elements
2. You're not paying close enough attention to a program with so many peculiarities.

The menu you are looking at, unbeknownst to you, is actually showing the status of TWO filters. See the nearly black line across the middle, above Important?

The bottom bit, where you think All is the pertinent one, is actually just the color label filter. That All means All colors, nothing more. The UPPER part is the main filter (see how it's referring to different types of files), where there's another All. Because of course there is. That's the pertinent one, and the one I was referring to. That's the one that disables filtering.

Observe, there is a white dot by the bottom All for color filter (the small white dot; not to be confused with the large white dot which just represents the color white itself), but also a white selection dot by Custom. You still have the custom filter enabled.

If you want the custom filter disabled, (and thus all filters disabled as per your original request), you need to select the upper All, the one right under Archives.

I've just looked at the settings/View/Filter, which was set to "Custom" not "like browser".

So this one does not do what you think it does. This is not at all the filter for the "Browser", which is the pane in the first screenshot showing your files.
This setting is the filter for the Viewer. If you are viewing files, and use the PageUp/PageDn or arrow keys to move to the next file, THIS setting (Settings:View:Filter) affects what files get loaded in the Viewer. If you have it set to "Like Browser" the Viewer will try and show you any file in the browser window (which is not efficacious with text files or xml files, for example). Or you set this to Custom, and disable the files you don't want the viewer to bother with. The Include and Exclude settings pull their parameters from Settings:File List:Custom Filter.

Now, that setting (Settings:File List:Custom Filter) IS the custom filter for the browser. It is what you have selected in your screenshot, where the white dot is next to Custom.

So obviously, XnViewMP has a lot of filters. And not a lot of documentation. And a lot of features and interface elements have peculiar wording or abstruse wording. (Partially because Pierre is French.) And on top of that the application has some glitches and some questionable design choices in some areas.

All of which means, you really have to have your wits about you and pay attention. It is not difficult at all to select the wrong menu option and make the app look downright unusable, or change things so you don't know how to change them back. It is very easy to do that, and I did it myself many times when first learning the software.

A word to the wise, if you are tech-savvy enough to execute it... It's a good idea to keep a backup copy of your XnView configuration files. Look where XnView has stored your xnview.ini file (you selected the location when you installed). In file manager, sort that folder by date modified.

Two of those files, xnview.db and thumb.db are the database files that maintain data on your images. Leave those alone.
All the other recently modified files in that folder, that end in .ini, .dat, .bar, .keys THOSE are the files that hold your current application settings. When you have the app working how you want, close the app, and then backup just those files. Make a copy and put them somewhere. If you screw up your config, just close the app, copy all those files back to their original location, and restart the app. Like magic, all the windows, toolbars, settings, etc will be back as they were when you backed up the files. This has saved me a lot of trouble, so I suggest you learn how to do it.

The change in the order of files happened when I accidentally did a mouse press (I've got a tremor that causes problems sometimes). Unfortunately I don't know what the unwanted mouse click did. The end result was that the xmp files went from being shown after the all files in order and instead showed up after each of the matching image files. I've managed to get them to show up before all the files now by amending the "Sort by" order. However I can't find a way to have the files show up with the xmp files at the bottom of the pane, after the image files.

It works okay for now so although I'd love to figure out how I got what I had originally, I'm not too bothered.

Thank you again for your help and I apologise for being a nuisance.

Accidental mouse clicks can bite you in this program, so mind what I said about backing up the config until you get your sea legs.

As for the xmp files, there's lots of ways to deal with them. You are probably sorting by name, which is often desirable for viewing images from a camera. But you are also including xmp files in your filter, which to me is not desirable, but to each his own, and the combination of the two make them appear next to each other. If you set the filter to images, you won't see them at all. If you want to see them (why?) but want them sorted separately, then pay attention to the View->Sort By menu, which is how they were sorted in the first place. Again, observe this is a complicated menu, where more than one thing can be selected (multiple white dots). If you sort by type or extension, xmp files will probably end up at the bottom. And if you sort by extension or type, you will find your raw files will be sorted separately from your jpegs.

Good luck...

[BogongBreeze]

That's enormously helpful, @jkm.

The main reason I wanted to see the xmp files was because I was having trouble with keeping them linked to the image files. That problem is fixed now, thanks to you and this board. As soon as I feel 100% comfortable it's all working, I'll stop showing the xmp files themselves in the panel. I can always check the xmp tab down the bottom of the panel if I need to.

I'm happy to learn the idiosyncrasies of XnView MP. I've been trying out another program as well, but I think the way XnView MP handles things like tagging suits me better. Plus it's faster. Not so cumbersome as some. I mainly want a DAM for tagging/keywording and fixing stuff like duplicate files. I'll also use it for ratings. I'm getting closer to settling on a raw editor to replace lightroom, and a separate replacement for photoshop when I need it. I've been able to link to the raw editor in XnView MP so that should work well.

BTW I back up files nightly, so I might try restoring the files you mentioned. I'll also put a copy of them in a separate place, as you've suggested. After that I'll see what settings work best for me.