Configuration - Display Back
Field Description
Main program This section has been moved to the page Operation
File display
Show hidden/system files (for experts only)
You should activate this option only if you always know what you're doing!!!
I have it disabled for myself and only activate it if I have to deal with a hidden or system-file. If you accidentally destroy IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS, you will have to boot from a DOS disk and reinstall them with SYS C:!
Use long filenames (recommended)
With this checkbox you can select if long filenames are used in Windows 32 bit. This option should only be unchecked if there are problems (e.g. with network drives). This option cannot be changed while a background transfer is active.
Show old 8.3 filenames lowercase (like Explorer)
If this option is checked, all short DOS filenames are converted from uppercase (as stored on disk) to all lowercase, except for the first letter. This looks much better, but might cause problems when accessing UNIX network drives. If no network is used this option should be checked.
Show parent dir also in root of drive
If checked, you can go up from the root of each drive to "My Computer", a list of all drives.
Show square brackets [] around directories
If checked, Total Commander shows all directories in the form [directory], so they can be distinguished very easily from files.
Limit width of brief view column to:
Normally a column in brief view will take as much space as needed to show the longest file name, limited only by the panel width. This option allows to limit the column width to a user-defined width.
Sort &method: Determines how the file lists are sorted in Total Commander:
Alphabetical, considering accents
Files are sorted by alphabet, using the compare function provided by the operating system for the current language. This takes language-specific accents into account.
Strictly by numeric character code
Files are sorted by the numeric character code. Since accents come behind the normal alphabet, accented letters will be sorted at the end.
Natural sorting: by character code and numbers
This sorting method sorts by numberic character code, plus by numbers if any are found. For example, file5.txt is sorted before file10.txt, although 1 comes before 5 - because 10 is larger than 5.
Natural sorting: alphabetical and numbers
Like the above, but also considers accents and other national sorting options. Needs Internet Explorer >=6.x installed on your system, because a function from IE6 is used for sorting.
Tree
Always load complete directory tree
If this option isn't checked, Total Commander will initially show only the directories in the root of the tree. If it's checked, the whole tree is loaded and displayed at once (as in previous versions of Total Commander). In this case, no special folder icons will be shown in the tree, and the tree root will be the root of the current drive.
Note: This option has no influence on separately shown tree panels, only on the trees shown in one of the two main file panels.
Tree: press ENTER to open dir in other window
If unchecked, a dir under the cursor (in tree view) is automatically opened in the other window.
Sorting directories
Always by name The directories are always sorted by their name in ascending order.
Like files (also by time) The directories are sorted in the same way as the files, i.e. also chronologically and in reverse order.
Help texts
Show help texts for buttons (tooltips)
If you place the mouse above a button in the button bar for about half a second, a small window is shown with a help text (tooltip). You can change the delay in wincmd.ini, item ToolTipDelay.
Show volume labels/network paths for drives
After opening the drive combobox the volume labels/network paths of the drives are shown when this option is selected.
Show filename in file list as tooltip if truncated (32 bit version)
If a filename in the file list doesn't fit into the available space, Total Commander will show the full name in a hint window (tooltip) if you point to the name with the mouse for about 1 second. When clicking or double clicking the name, the tooltip is removed.
Win32-style tips with file comments (if available)
Will show the tooltip to the lower right of the mouse cursor, and display additional fields like NTFS file comments, MS-Office embedded comments, comments from files.bbs and descript.ion, etc. if available. The tip is hidden when any key is pressed.
Comments from descript.ion/files.bbs
Will show comments from the files descript.ion and files.bbs. Total Commander can create comments with Ctrl+Z, and show them via Show - Comments.
Comments from Explorer (OLE2)
Show comments which can be created via Alt+Enter (Properties) in Explorer and also in Total Commander. These are stored in additional NTFS streams. There are also some programs like Mp3ext which show useful file information in such comments.
User-defined: [+] Allows to define tips by file type using content plugins, e.g. special tips for *.jpg files and other tips for *.mp3 files.