How to do file management in preview panel

[Eaglion]

In short; I need to go through 1000s of pics and video files and want to be able to delete a file or move it to another folder while I still viewing it without needing to open/close app after viewing each file. I downloaded Xnview after members of Reddit recomended XnView for this functionality I need (I will attach the post below for further details). Unfortunately it did not. When I open a folder of multiple files, folders panel allows me to choose all/multiple files as it should be but preview panel only displays one of them. There is no next/previous file options or delete/move functions available in preview panel. I have to go back to folders panel, delete or move then select next file to preview. This distrupts the flow and needs me to change my focus to look for the file and folder to move it into. ACDSEE photo editor does this perfectly but it is very resource hungry. As people recomended XnView were confident about the functionality, I suspect I am missing setting in the app. How can I do it?



My reddit post for further details

I recieved the video archives of all file types of my relatives to sort, edit and make a family documentary. Thousands and thousands of files to go through and it is intimidating. I need to fast preview each file and move to a related folder or delete them.

I normally use vlc to watch videos but it does not allow me move /delete files while watching the video. Opening each file one at a time, close and move/delete is not very feasible and time consuming.

When open a folder with Windows Photos I can delete the file on display with simple delete key stroke or move it with right click menu but fast viewing the videos with Photos is not fluid.

In early 2000's i was using ACDSEE photo editor which had inbuilt file manager. When you select a file to edit, it opens it in editor mode with also allows to delete/move/save as while viewing the file. You can move to next file withouth going back to file manager. Video viewing is much better than Windows Photos app. I tried the newer version of ACDSEE. Same functionality remains but it is very resource hungry, especially when i open a folder with lots of files.

[KB9]

I too am interested. Although I like doing all stuff in the folder view.

[Eaglion]

I too am interested. Although I like doing all stuff in the folder view.

How are you going to preview video files in folder panel? In ACDSee the edit mode opens like a player app with menu toolbars at top. Also del, CTRL M, CTRL S can be used while watching video and arrow keys acts as next/previous file. I had tried various file explorer alternatives all shows previews in another panel. None had embeded file management opions in preview panels. This will work for text based files and pic as a momentary glimpse of the file will be enough to understand what it is and you do not need to shift focus of app to the preview panel. For videos you have to move the slider to understand which shift app focus to it and loose the functionality of file management. When you go back folders you need to remember the file name. I am sure you know how wierd and different naming conventions digital cameras and mobile phone use. For me being able to delete/move without thinking of names is better method. Your needs might be different.

[jkm]

In short; I need to go through 1000s of pics and video files and want to be able to delete a file or move it to another folder while I still viewing it without needing to open/close app after viewing each file.
...
When I open a folder of multiple files, folders panel allows me to choose all/multiple files as it should be but preview panel only displays one of them. There is no next/previous file options or delete/move functions available in preview panel. I have to go back to folders panel, delete or move then select next file to preview.

I tried my best to understand what you're after, but without a video or better wording, I'm afraid you're only making yourself partway clear. I suspect that part of the problem might be that you might have some of your nomenclature wrong, when you're calling attention to different parts of the program. Don't take offense at that, it's common for a new user; just go by the terms I use when describing things going forward.

Unfortunately the app is largely undocumented, so it can be confusing for people new to the app.

I'll try and give you some tips, and maybe this will help you get closer to your workflow goals. XnViewMP is a very configurable program, but at the end of the day, like with any software, you will need to learn to adapt and conform your workflow to the operating envelope the app provides.

First, "file management in the preview panel". Perhaps this might be a place where your terms are confused, so there might be less of a conflict than your literal request establishes. But, the preview panel does NOT do "file management", and it's not going to in the future, so just move off of that phrase. The preview panel lets you view images, and it lets you rate/color images, but it does NOT directly let you do rename/delete/drag&drop or any other activity that a reasonable person would call "file management".

But let's talk about what the app CAN do, and what those parts are called. I'll try and walk you through how to effectively use it for a use like you're talking about.

First, if when I describe things, they don't match what you see on your screen, I want to suggest you start with a fresh download of the app, or just delete/rename the xnview.ini file that stores your preferences. This will ensure the things you see are as I describe to you.

That being said, let's look at the UI and see what can be done. On the View menu, select Layout, and then from that menu, select Layout5. All the layouts have functionally equivalent parts, but we'll use this one for convenience.

Across the top half of the window, you see the window divided into 3 sections. Across the entire width of the bottom is one big section.

The one big section at the bottom is the "Browser" or "Browser Pane". Sometimes called the "File List"

The section in the top-left is the "Folders Pane".

The section in the top-middle is the "Preview Pane".

The top-right corner shows the Info Panel, but we're going to ignore that. All three top sections have multiple tabs, and we're going to ignore that too for now. The entire window layout is also called the "Browser" (as opposed to the "Viewer" you get when you open an image), but for this discussion when I say Browser I'm specifically referring to that Browser Panel across the bottom. In different layouts they're in different locations, and you can create your own layouts and move them around, so I want you to know the correct names.

The only three things relevant to this discussion are the three parts I pointed out above, The Browser, The Folders Pane, and the Preview Pane.

The Preview pane can be resized to be arbitrarily large. It lets your rate/color, but not file manage, as I said earlier.

The Folders pane will let you move/rename/delete/etc folders, but its main purpose is to select what displays in the Browser.

In the Browser, you can do anything. You can have subfolders visible in the Browser pane, or not. You can drag&drop/move/rename/delete/etc in the Browser.

And here's what's perhaps the interesting thing. Since you can resize the Browser pane, you can make it really big. And you can show the image files as thumbnails (instead of a detail/icon/text style view). And you can make those thumbnails as big as you want.

You could have the "thumbnail" of an image so big as to take up half the screen. Then you could pretend it was the preview, and do all your manipulations directly on the thumbnail. You could even close the actual preview pane to make more space. Files shown in the browser can be acted upon by toolbar buttons for ratings/stars, etc.

So for the workflow you describe, as best as I understand it, you really just need the Browser pane and the Folders pane. Make the folders pane tall enough so you can see the folders you want. Then you can drag&drop files from the browser pane into folders in the folder pane to move them. Or just hit the delete key to delete a file.

So you can keep the preview pane open or not. It will display whatever file is currently selected in the browser. Like any other app (like Lightroom for example) the preview pane display one file at a time. Your complaint about "the preview panel only displays one of them" doesn't make much sense to me, because all Preview panels behave that way.

Perhaps by "preview" you were actually trying to talk about the browser pane (or file list)? It can only show the contents of one peer-level folder at a time, but can also show the contents of an entire tree (a top level folder and all it's subfolders). To do that, right-click on a folder in the folder pane, and select "Show files in subfolders".

If you want to see the contents of multiple arbitrary folders in the Browser at the same time, that is possible, but not using the Folder pane. For that you would need to use the Catalog filter. You could create a Smart Album that does a search on all the different folders you want, as many as necessary, and when you select that smart album, all the images will be displayed in the browser. You would still be able to act on them, or drag them to any folder you want in the folder pane, which will move/copy them as needed. The Catalog Filter, combined with things like the advanced search capabilities in the app and features like Smart Folder, can allow you to be very selective and flexible in how you look at your images.

Anyway hopefully this will help you and give you some ideas as to how you can achieve what you want.