Sync dirs: Unclutter results by hiding files contained in excluded folders

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Lefteous
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Sync dirs: Unclutter results by hiding files contained in excluded folders

Post by *Lefteous »

I have to compare large folder structures with many files.. Unfortunately the result is often overwhelming. I could of course use a filter but this is often not a suitable solution for many reasons. Here are some examples:
1) Filters need to be defined without knowing the actual contents.
2) Entering filters for many folders is confusing in a single line.
3) Most importantly: Using a filter or updated filters requires recomparison. This is not a good idea for such large comparisions for obvious reasons.

So what about adding additional filters for the compare result? The existing filters filter out certain type of results only e.g. equal files. What about excluding folders found on both sides?

Here are some quick illustrations how this could look like:
In the view options there is now a segment button to toggle between 'show all folders' and 'show non-excluded folders only'.
In the status bar there is an additional item which illustrates how many files are displayed or not displayed because of the ‚exclude folders‘ filter (wording to be discussed). This could theoretically differentiate between files hidden by the standard view filters and the 'exclude found folders' filter (not displayed like that in the mockup) but of course files can also be filtered out for both reasons. Maybe it would be better to separate this info a bit more, as it likely work as an ANDed filter on top of the basic view filters (or the other way round).
Image: http://lefteous.totalcmd.net/tc/ideas/sync-dirs-hide-found-folders-1.png

This is a simple dialog which could be used to hide unimportant folders quickly, also hierarchically. I think all found folder should be displayed here even if other view options led to excluding the folders in question.
Image: http://lefteous.totalcmd.net/tc/ideas/sync-dirs-hide-found-folders-2.png

Here is an alternate version that implies that the folder filtering is performed first and then the basic view filters are applied on the result. The status bar now has three values for the number of found files (displayed, folder-filtered/total found). The numbers after that are based on the folder-filtered files.
Image: http://lefteous.totalcmd.net/tc/ideas/sync-dirs-hide-found-folders-3.png
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