3Dfm

3Dfm displays files and folders in an interactive, 3D display. You can rotate, pan and zoom the view, change folders, easily compare file and folder sizes, quickly search
for files based on name, content, or size, view images, etc.

The usual file manager options of double clicking to open a file and right mouse pull down menu also apply.

Searches are 30% faster than using Windows built-in searching when looking for filenames, and many times faster then searching for text within files. For example, searching for a keyword within files on a disk containing 5Gb of data and over 30,000 files took nearly 50 minutes with Windows native file search. Using 3Dfm took just 11 minutes.

To change folders double-click on a visible folder. By default these are in yellow and shown as cylinders in the 3D view. To move to the parent folder, click on the up-folder icon. Alternatively, type the folder name into the "Address" text area and hit Enter. A history of the folders visited is available with back and forward arrows.

3 main folder views are provided. The default 3D view is shown below. Use the View menu to change views.

In this view, folders are shown as cylinders and files as bars, with color coding based on file type. The color used for each file type and folders is selectable. See below. The height of the bar is proportionate to the file size. By default, overall folder sizes are not included,  and a default folder size is used. To calculate total folder sizes, select the icon in the toolbar.

The 3D Tree View allows multiple folders to be opened at the same time. Double clicking on a folder will open that folder and show its files, leaving any existing parent folders visible.

The Details view shows the files in a textual listing. It is useful for, for example, directly comparing file and folder sizes, or when viewing the files produced from a search. Selecting an entry will popup a menu allowing the file or folder to be opened, deleted, or its properties viewed.

Panning (moving the whole display): Use the arrow keys to move left, right, up and down.

Rotation: Use X,Y, and Z to rotate about the respective axes clockwise. To rotate counter-clockwise,  use SHIFT-X, etc.

Zoom: Use W to move in, S to move out.

To rotate the view with the mouse, hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse in the direction of rotation. The action is approximately that of a trackerball being rotated.

To reset the view to its original position, press the R key.

To toggle on/off the inclusion of folder sizes, select the F key. See here for details.

  Return to the last folder viewed.

  Go to the next folder in the viewed list.

  Go to the parent folder of the currently viewed folder.

  Search for files or folders.

  Automatically rotate the folder view.

  Reset the view.

  Show or hide the base on which the files and folders sit.

  Include or not the total folder sizes. By default, folder sizes are now shown. Primarily because of the extra time needed to calculate folder size. Selecting this toolbar option, calculates the folder sizes and displays the bar sizes accordingly. Size information is cached such that once it is calculated for a folder, it doesn't need to be re-done until refresh is selected.

There is an option in the Options menu to allow viewing bar sizes using a logarithmic scale. This is useful if a few of the files (or folders) are significantly larger than the rest. Without the log scale, the smaller bars will all be shown flat. With a log scale, you can still differentiate the sizes of the smaller files.

  Show statistics on folder size, number of files, etc.

  Refresh the current view and reload size information.

  Delete the currently selected file or folder. It will be moved to the Windows garbage can.

  If an image file is selected, view it. Once the image viewer is open, selecting a new image will open that image in the viewer.

Selecting the search toolbar icon will bring up a search panel. To search for filenames, enter all or part of the filename in the "Find Filenames containing" text box. To find files containing some text, enter the text in the "Text within file" text box. To ignore the case of words (that is, treat 'abc' the same as 'ABC' and 'aBc'), select the "ignore case" checkbox. You may also restrict the search to files within a specific byte size range. Check the appropriate "Filesize >=" or "Filesize <=" check boxes, and enter suitable values.

When ready, select "Go" to start the search. Output will be displayed in the list below the search text area. Selecting an entry will display it that file in the main view area.

When a search is in progress, you can stop it by selecting the "Stop" button.

Various options are available for customizing 3Dfm. In addition to those available from the toolbar ( to automatically rotate the view, to show the base, to include folder sizes, and to show file and folder statistics) the View and Option menus allow the following options.

View menu: Change the primary view, and allows sorting by Name, file Size, file Type, and the date the file was last Modified.

Options menu: View Hidden or System files and folders, change the bar colors for each file type (a window will show all of the file types with colors assigned, select a file type and then edit the color Red-Green-Blue values as required), Toggle showing keyboard shortcuts (displayed down the right hand side of the display), and toggle using a log scale to bar height size.

This is a shareware program. You can use the program for 30 days. After the evaluation period, please register at

http://www.boulderwall.com/register.htm

When you receive a license key, please open the About box (via the Help menu, or on starting 3Dfm) and enter the key in the text box provided.

Cost per single user: $19.95.



Please send your questions, comments, feature suggestions and bug reports to:

    help@boulderwall.com