Efficient Forged Atomic Parallel

Manual File trees & file operations
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File trees & file operations

The left and right tree show the contents of the chosen folders. The context menu (right-click) handles many file tasks directly in SynQaiPro — without the detour via Windows Explorer.

6.1 Selecting

Click an entry to select it. Mark several entries with Ctrl or Shift held down — by the same rule as in every list in the program: Shift adds the range instead of replacing the previous selection (in detail in 5.6). That way you can collect several blocks of folders from different places in the tree. The orange marking stays visible on both sides, so you keep your selection in view.

The marking is cleared by a click without a modifier key, by a click into the empty area below the last entry — or with Esc. The next Shift-click then starts a fresh range.

💡 Esc only acts on the side you are working in
The key clears the tree whose entry you clicked last — the marking and the active folder. The other tree keeps its state, so that one keystroke does not lose both locations. To clear both sides, press Esc once in each tree.

A right-click selects the entry under the mouse pointer at the same time and opens the context menu — so the commands always refer to the entry you actually clicked. If a multiple selection is already marked and the right-click lands on one of its entries, the command applies to the entire marking: deleting, copying, cutting, copying the path, moving and copying to the other side, size analysis, refreshing and creating folders.

ℹ️ Two commands deliberately stay single
Rename asks for a name that has to be different for each entry — with a multiple selection there would be a chain of dialogs. For many files at once, the renaming module (chapter 7) is the tool built for exactly that. Paste needs exactly one target — what was pasted into several folders at once could hardly be sorted out afterwards. Both commands therefore always act on the right-clicked entry.
💡 Right-clicking into empty space
If you click into the empty area below the last entry, no context menu opens. That is intentional: without a clearly chosen entry, the program should not offer file operations.

6.2 Creating, renaming and deleting folders

Context menuFunction
📁 New folder…Creates a new subfolder in the selected folder (“New folder” dialog). With several folders marked it is created in each of them — the dialog header then names the count instead of a path
✏️ Rename…Renames the selected folder
🗑 Delete…Deletes the selected folder including its contents (with a confirmation prompt)
⚠️ Deleting is final
When deleting several marked entries the program points it out explicitly: “This action cannot be undone — folders are removed including their contents.” For controlled, secure deletion with overwrite methods see chapter 13.
Screenshot 30: Context menu in the file tree with all its entries (New folder, Rename, Copy, …)
Fig. 30 — Context menu in the file tree with all its entries (New folder, Rename, Copy, …)

6.3 Copy, cut, paste

The clipboard also works together with Windows Explorer:

Context menuShortcutFunction
✂ CutCtrl+XTake for moving — the source is deleted when pasting
📋 CopyCtrl+CPut the entry on the clipboard
📌 PasteCtrl+VCopy the clipboard contents into the chosen folder
🔗 Copy pathCopy the full path as text (one per line with a multiple selection)
💡 No accidental overwriting
Name clashes are resolved automatically as “name (1)”, “name (2)” … — nothing is overwritten.

6.4 From one side to the other

These commands move or copy directly between the left and right tree:

Context menuFunction
⇒ Copy to the right / ⇐ Copy to the leftCopy the entry into the root folder of the other side
⇉ Move to the right / ⇇ Move to the leftMove — the source is only deleted after a successful copy; on error it stays unchanged
📁 Create folder on the right/leftCreates an empty folder with the same name on the other side (just the shell, without contents). With several folders marked, one is created for each; whatever already exists over there is skipped and noted in the log. The new folder is then selected right away and centred in the view — no need to hunt for it on the other side

6.5 Analysing size

“📊 Analyse size” determines the total size of a folder including all its subfolders. The result appears together with the total disk size and free space in the disk space line.

Even more useful is the check to the other side: “📊→ Size analysis to the right side” (or left) tests whether the chosen files fit on the drive of the other side — the result is green (fits) or red (not enough room).

Screenshot 31: Disk space line with the result of a size analysis (green = fits / red = not enough room)
Fig. 31 — Disk space line with the result of a size analysis (green = fits / red = not enough room)

6.6 Restricting the analysis to a selection

Normally the analysis compares the two complete root folders. Often, though, only part of them is of interest — three out of twenty subfolders, say. That is what the analysis source is for: you mark in the tree what should be compared, and the next analysis considers only that selection. SynQaiPro then also reads only that selection from the disk — with a few folders in a large collection, the analysis is correspondingly faster than a full pass.

  1. In the left or right tree, mark the files and folders you want (multiple selection with Ctrl / Shift, see 6.1).
  2. Right-click → “🎯 Add to analysis source”.
  3. Repeat this as often as you like. Move to another place in the tree, mark the next item there and add it in the same way — the selection accumulates instead of being replaced. That way you assemble a source from folders that lie far apart. An entry already taken is not added a second time.
  4. A 🎯 N badge appears on the path row of that side — N being the number of entries taken. The tooltip lists them by name and, above that, names the folder used as the basis with 📂.
  5. Start the analysis as usual. Only the marked selection is compared.
Context menuFunction
🎯 Add to analysis sourceTakes the marked files/folders of this side into the selection — usable repeatedly, the selection accumulates
✖ Clear analysis sourceDiscards the accumulated selection entirely — the next analysis uses the complete folder again

You can also lift the restriction with a click on the 🎯 N badge itself; the tooltip points this out with “🖱 Click to lift the restriction”.

Four rules apply:

  • The basis is the closest common parent folder of your selection — mark three albums in S:\Music and that is S:\Music (not the whole drive S:\, even if the tree starts there). On the other side, SynQaiPro looks for the same names below that side’s root folder. So make sure both sides are at the same level in content — here on the right that means B:\Music and not B:\.
  • Only ever one side carries an analysis source. If you set one on the other side, it replaces the previous one.
  • The path display of the affected side is dimmed — a visible sign that the basis is not the root folder shown but your selection.
  • If you change the path on that side, the restriction is lifted automatically, because the selection referred to the old folder.
ℹ️ When the command is available
“🎯 Add to analysis source” can only be chosen when at least one entry is marked and the side points to a local folder. The restriction is not available for Dropbox paths (chapter 15).
Screenshot 32: Path row with the analysis source badge “🎯 N”, dimmed path display and an open tooltip (list of the entries taken)
Fig. 32 — Path row with the analysis source badge “🎯 N”, dimmed path display and an open tooltip (list of the entries taken)

6.7 Refreshing the view

If files have changed outside SynQaiPro — through Windows Explorer or another program, say — “🔄 Refresh” reads the selected folder from disk again. The tree then shows the actual state once more.

6.8 Progress and cancelling

Longer tree operations (copying, moving, deleting, securely deleting, creating folders, analysing) show a progress indicator and can be stopped with “⏹ Cancel”. Entries already processed stay applied. For operations that take longer — securely erasing an entire drive, say — the log additionally records an interim status every ten per cent, so that progress remains visible even over hours.

ℹ️ The interface during running operations
While a tree operation, an analysis or a synchronisation is running, the context menu deliberately does not open at all — instead of a menu full of greyed-out entries you see straight away that the program is busy. For the same reason the header bar buttons are locked as well: mode switches, Analyse, Synchronise, Load project and Save project. A second access to the same files while something is being deleted or overwritten would otherwise easily lead to half-finished results. As soon as the operation has finished, everything is fully available again.
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