"Τα πάντα ρεί" — Heraclitus

What would we become without change? A new xplorer² is in the horizon and today a beta (test) version is released. As you can see from the snapshot the biggest visual change is the How Do I? pane to the right. It contains links to information (mainly easy to follow demo videos) that should help new and old users make the most of xplorer² for common file management tasks. Unlike some recent xplorer² updates, this one contains many new features big and small. The full details are in the changelog (Help > What's new menu) but here are a few worth highlighting:

• Robust deletion. What robust copy did for your file transfers this will do for your permanent deletion tasks. You can control what (if any) confirmations or errors you want to hear about, use filters to delete ony a few of the files, you can queue and pause deletions etc. Note that this works only for deletions that won't go in the recycle bin, e.g. when you press <Shift+Del>
   
• Overwrite confirmations. Before overwriting existing files xplorer² will pop an informative confirmation request which will help you decide what to do with the old file. Also there's a new robust copy option for overwriting folders in the target folder completely, erasing all their old contents (in a sense they will behave just like files).
   
• Command finder. As xplorer² gets bigger and more complex this new command in Help menu will be invaluable. It's not just for novices, even old hands will appreciate it. E.g. you forgot which keyboard shortcut moves the cursor to the beginning of the next group? Just search for "group" and you will find all the matching commands — even those that don't have a menu command.
   
• Tab drag-drop. Folder tabs can be easily rearranged with mouse drag-drop. The tab context menu contains a command to move tabs to the opposite pane.
   
• Shell integration. Replacing windows explorer with xplorer² has proved a major support headache and that was because it was too complicated. Now the installer asks you if you want a separate single pane window or not for the folders you click on your desktop and for the love of god please do not tick this box! :) Then the same xplorer² window will be used for all your folders.
   
• From clipboard to file. Using Edit > Paste you can dump your clipboard contents to a file, even if there are no files in the clipboard. Try using <PrintScreen> then type <Ctrl+V> in xplorer² to get the picture in a PNG file. I really enjoy these small and sweet ones!
   
• Advanced settings editor. No more messing with the registry. The editor is now available from Tools > Advanced options menu command and it can edit all settings, even those lists of strings like the Find Blacklist and File types.
   
• Loads of bugfixes. Numerous reported bugs were squashed, for example windows 7 libraries now show up properly in the folder tree.

Here's the beta download link. Your old skins and translations won't work but they are being updated. If you get any crashes please use Help > Crash information menu command to locate the minidump file and email it to me, thanks!
Download xplorer² 1.7.2.20 beta (1.1 MB)

WARNING: beta versions may contain undiscovered bugs that can cause crashes and data loss. Please don't use this beta version if you are inexperienced. Don't use this version with important documents and files. It is meant for testing mainly. The final release will follow in a short while.

ps. For v1.8 I was planning to change the registration keys effectively introducing a pay-for upgrade (unless you happened to have a lifetime upgrade protection). This proved harder than planned so it is postponed — but it won't be that long! A cosmetic upgrade is planned for the very near future that will have to be paid for.

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