The FlexTk file management toolkit is capable of organizing files according to a list of user-specific
rules and policies. The user is provided with the ability to define one or more file organizing policies
and apply them simultaneously during a single pass through one or more disks, directories or network shares.
Each file organizing policy consists of a list of file matching rules and an action that should be executed
for all files matching the specified rules. FlexTk provides numerous types of file organizing actions
including copy, move, move and link, delete or execute a custom command.
For example, the user may define a file organizing operation that will backup recently modified documents,
archive unused music files and cleanup temporary files in a single pass through one or more disks or directories.
In order to simplify the file organizing process, file organizing operations should be added as user-defined-commands.
Select the 'User-Defined Commands' tool pane, press the right mouse button and select the 'Add New - Organize Command'
menu item to add a new organizing user-defined command.
On the 'Command Inputs' dialog add all files and directories that should be processed and press the 'Next' button.
Each file organizing operation may contain one or more organizing commands performing specific operations on various
types of files. In order to add a new organizing command, press the 'Add' button and specify a unique command name.
During the file organizing process, all organizing commands will be evaluated one after one in the same order as specified
in the commands list. All the specified file matching rules will be evaluated until a first match, after which all the
remaining file matching rules will be skipped. No more than one file organizing action will be executed for each file.
On the organize command dialog, add one or more file matching rules and select an appropriate action that should be executed
for all files matching the specified rules. In order to edit a previously added file organizing command, double-click on the
command item in the command view. In order to delete a file organizing command, select the command item and press the 'Delete' button.
FlexTk provides two distinct file organizing modes: the 'Preview' mode and the 'Stream' mode. In the 'Preview' mode, FlexTk
will process all the input directories and files, evaluate all the specified file matching rules and display a preview
dialog showing the list of actions that should be performed. The user will be provided with the ability to select/unselect
individual actions, execute all the selected organizing actions or export the list of actions into one of standard formats
such as HTML, Excel CSV and ASCII text.
The 'Preview' mode is especially useful during the design stage in order to ensure proper operation of a file organizing
command. Once the organizing command is tested, it may be more effective to switch to the 'Stream' mode, which is especially
optimized to perform all as fast as possible using a minimal amount of memory. In the 'Stream' mode, FlexTk will process all
the input directories and files, evaluate the specified file matching rules and execute all the required actions on-the-fly
without showing the preview dialog.
A user-defined file organizing command may be executed in a number of different ways. In the simplest case, just click on the
command item in the user-defined commands tool pane. In addition, frequently used file organizing operations may be added to
the user's desktop as direct shortcuts and executed in a single mouse click without the need to start the FlexTk main GUI application.
Finally, FlexTk Professional and FlexTk Ultimate allow one to execute file organizing operations using the FlexTk command line tool.
For more information about how to use file organizing operations refer to the File Organizing
tutorial. For detailed information about how to manage and execute user-defined commands refer to the
User-Defined Commands page.
