The File menu is part of the Main window
File | Add Files
Add files to the FAR file list. An alternative to dropping files on to FAR.
Opens the Add Files dialog.File | Add Web Files
Add files to the FAR file list. Opens a folder selection dialog. The selected folder will be searched for all web type files. You will be given the option of adding all web type files or just the HTML files.
For HTML work this is often quicker to use than the File > Add Files command. The actual filter used when searching for web type files can be modified (see the Preferences dialog).
File | Open File List
Allows you to load a previously saved file list (see "Save File List" below). Each .FAR file contains three types of information - the list of files, the drop file filter and the base folder. This means you can reload a file list in two ways:
- The exact the explicit list of files that were previously saved, OR
- Search for a new list of files using the saved drop filter and base folder.
To perform a search check the checkbox at the bottom of the Open File List dialog called "Search for files". Uncheck this control to load the list exactly as it was saved.
If you load the explicit file list (a) and the file also contains "extra file info" (option during save) then the file size/date/replace/modified column data is also loaded from the file. In this case an information box will appear warning you that the file size & date info you are viewing in the file list came from the .FAR file and not from the hard disk. Press F5 if you want to update the display to use the actual file size & date on disk.
See also .FAR file format
File | Reopen File List
An alternative way to opening a file list. A submenu displays a list (up to 10) of the most recently used .FAR files (the most recent items are at the top). Select a .FAR file list to display the "Open File List" dialog (see above) and load the list of files.
Build 732: Hold the Ctrl key to _not_ show the File Open dialog, and load the explicit list of files.
File | Save File List
Saves the contents of the FAR file list to a .FAR file. The .FAR file can be saved to any disk folder you like. You can open it with a text editor if you like and edit it. Each filename in the file list is saved as well as the current drop file filter and base folder name (see "Open File List" above).
"Save only selected items" - Check this checkbox at the bottom of the Save dialog to save only FAR list item names that are selected (To select FAR list items use either Ctrl+Click or Shift+Click). This checkbox will be disabled if no items are selected.
"Save extra info" - Check this checkbox to also save file size/date/replace/match column info along with the file info.
File | Compare File List
When the File Open dialog appears, select a previously saved FAR file list (.FAR) file.
This command compares the selected file list (.FAR file), with the current FAR file list displayed in the main window. If the file lists are not identical a text report is displayed. If the .FAR file list contains "extra info" (file size/date info) FAR will also report any files found in both lists which have different file sizes or dates.
"Compare Relative Paths" checkbox -- If your .FAR file and FAR list use different base directories then check this box to compare only the relative paths. EG. You rename the folder of interest or move it to another drive.
The Matches column of the FAR file list is also marked as follows:
"2" - files in both lists but different size or date info (.FAR file must contain "extra info").
"1" - files found in the FAR file list only.
"0" - files exist in both lists.This is a useful way to find out if files have been added or removed from a file system. We use it to take a snap shop of a server drive. We save the server drive file list to a .FAR file. Each month we drop the server files onto FAR and compare this list with last months .FAR file.
File | Compare ITS File
When the File Open dialog appears, select a compiled help file (.chm or .HxS file).
This command compares the file list contained in the selected ITS file, with the current FAR file list displayed in the main window. If the file lists are not identical a text report is displayed.
The Matches column of the FAR file list is also marked as follows:
"1" - files found in the FAR file list only.
"0" - files exist in both lists.This is a very useful command. We use it to clean up our help webs since it shows us all the web files that are not compiled into the help file. No check is done for modified files.
Note: For this to work the Base Directory of the FAR file list must be the folder that contains the help project file (.HHP or .HxC) used to create the selected compiled help file.
File | Import File List
An alternative to dropping files into the FAR file list. You can import a file list from either an HTML Help 1.x project (.HHP) or a MS Help 2 project (.HxC). Drop file filters will not work when loading the file list in this manner.
File | Report
Creates a text report using the FAR file list. Either select a predefined report setup or select Edit Report Templates to create, modify or test your own report templates.
File | Windows Explorer
Opens Windows Explorer, for file system access, at the current work directory.
File | File Properties
Open the Windows Properties dialog for the selected file.
File | Exit
Close this program.