Showing categories in detail view

[xnviewuser123]

I am following up on a post from another user, who was interested in the exact same functionality.

-> Would it please be possible to show the categories (as defined in XnView) in a separate column in the details view?

Application scenario:
- you are going through files and like to categorize them
- or you search for certain keywords, and check if those are already categorized, and in case then which ones
- can be pictures, or in my case, I use it for organizing PDF files
- The "Categories" sideview can become unwieldy if you have many (say 100s of) categories. In contrast, the column would show only the 1 or 2 (or few) that have been applied

More background:
- I had been using "iView Media Pro" for years to organize my PDF files. It has been long discontinued. XNView can now achieve exactly the same functionality, except for that overview column showing the catogires.

This is the original post I found asking for the same:
viewtopic.php?f=96&t=40278

I am copying also below the image from what that user tried to achieve, and me to:

[zarlan]

- The "Categories" sideview can become unwieldy if you have many (say 100s of) categories. In contrast, the column would show only the 1 or 2 (or few) that have been applied

There is the Category Sets panel, that shows the categories that have been assigned to the file.

…and I would like to point out, that I have many files, where I have assigned 20+ categories (and I'm not done creating categories, to be set on applicable files), so this proposed categories column wouldn't really do any good, for me, but I suppose it would be useful for people who use few categories.

[xnviewuser123]

Assume you have 100s of categories, but only few categories assigned to each individual files.
Assume you want to quickly browse files and their categories.

Then the "Category Sets panel" requires you to:
- choose a file
- look at the Category sets panel
- scroll up and down to make sure you are not missing assigned categories

In contrast, having the categories displayed in the "details" column allows you to brown *in one single screen* for the example that most recent files and investigate the categories used.

The latter would also allow you to quickly see files that have the same sets of categories applied to them. Such visual comparisons *across files* cannot be achieved with the "Category Sets panel"

[zarlan]

Yeah, it would be quite great, as long as you don't have that many categories per file.

[michel038]

I think it's a good idea to save the categories as keywords, using the export setting and it gives value to the photos.
You can then use the keywords column...

[xnviewuser123]

That would be a possible work-around.

- Unfortunately this appears not to work with PDF files. I am using XnView to manage PDF documents
- It would also require an asynchronous periodic batch process.

Question: why is it not possible to show the categories in the Detailed view? Based on this post here, it is already possible for Thumbnail view:
viewtopic.php?f=96&t=40278

It would be great of make this features also available in Detailed view.

Thanks!

[michel038]

I agree with this suggestion:
For file types that don't support keywords, a "Categories" column would be helpful.

[ilcane87]

Seconding this suggestion, I had in fact posted the exact same thing before I was made aware it already existed.

The Details view already contains tags, ratings and color labels, so this addition would complete it with all the custom user properties, and without wasting space for thumbnails when unneeded.
At least that's the kind of view I'd favor as someone who got into XNView for its categorizing capabilities, which I honestly find to be on par, if not superior, to those of even non-free specialized software.

[xnviewuser123]

Thanks everyone for commenting on this feature request.

What else do suggest to "upvote" this request and make the developers aware of the strong need with this widely applicable usage scenario?

Thanks again!

[xnviewuser123]

Thanks again everyone for reading and commenting on this feature request.

Is there any option to put this feature as a vote here, and we can see if there are enough parties interested to make this a priority?

Lack of this feature breaks my workflow and I'd be super happy to pay for the full version if the full version had this feature.

Thanks again!

[ilcane87]

Thanks again everyone for reading and commenting on this feature request.

Is there any option to put this feature as a vote here, and we can see if there are enough parties interested to make this a priority?

Lack of this feature breaks my workflow and I'd be super happy to pay for the full version if the full version had this feature.

Thanks again!

Pretty sure all we can do is hope it makes it to the next version, which I expect to land in a couple months if it's consistent with the recent release history.
I'm also refraining from committing to this software until then, since categorizing takes a long time and the inability to visualize lots of categories from multiple files in the same view kinda defeats the purpose, and unfortunately the thumbnail view doesn't cut it with its limited display space.

But I understand that XnView is an image viewer first and a general-purpose categorizer second, and image (IPTC) categories can already be displayed in the details view, so if this feature doesn't make it in 1.01 I'll humbly accept it and look for a different software that fits my needs.

[xnviewuser123]

@ilcane87:

If you find such a software, please please let me know.

For me, iView Media Pro had done all what I wanted for many years: which is managing scientific papers as PDF. I looked around quite a bit, all the commercial and free bibliography and paper management systems (like Mendeley, Zotero, Paper) focus on the wrong part: how to manage bibliographies (for which IMO is something perpendicular to organizing read papers, and for which bibdesk works perfectly) or to do social stuff (which is not the key here).

XnView would be perfect for PDF management, with only that one additional feature: showing categories in an additional column in the details view, not just the thumbnail view.

Thanks upfront to the XnView developers who are reading this

[ilcane87]

@xnviewuser123:

This is the article that led me to try XnView, it's a pretty nice comparison between different solutions: https://turbofuture.com/computers/Whats ... s-A-Review

On that topic, I'm surprised this software's homepage doesn't even mention the categorizing capabilities among the features, with how extensive they are you'd think they'd be prominently advertised:

[xnviewuser123]

Hello

it seems version 1.01 is out, but this suggestion was not added to the new version: categories work in some thumbnail view, but not the detailed view.

I'd love to hear from a developer if that suggestion was not added because 1) there is not enough demand, 2) it is too complicated, 3) it is not on the radar of the team, 4) the developer team thinks this additional option would somehow destroy the XnView user experience.

Thanks!

[xnviewuser123]

Hello Pierre:

just a cross-post to the other threat discussing the highly desirable "categories in detail view"
viewtopic.php?f=104&t=40278&p=182452#p182452

Thanks!