Directory Opus — The Best App Nobody Uses
There’s a single app that prevents me from switching to Linux. It’s essential to how I use my computer every day, and nothing compares to it in the realm of open-source software. I dare you to guess what piece of software I’m talking about.
Many would immediately point to one of Adobe’s offerings, with Photoshop being the usual culprit. But nope, although they’re far from equal, Krita and GIMP can fill that void.
Is it Microsoft’s own Office that many companies still use and still excels at what it does compared to alternatives like LibreOffice? Nah, when 99.9% of your clients and contacts use Google Docs, there’s no point to keep using Word. Even Microsoft knows that — why do you think Microsoft 365 has all but replaced its installation-requiring ancestor?
I could go on and on, but there’s no twist in this story, and I’ve included the grand reveal in the title: I’m talking about Directory Opus.
For those who have never used it but have heard about it, Directory Opus is “a file manager.” Har-har. Yeah, right.
Only a handful of people remember Directory Opus from when Amiga was putting Macs and PCs to shame with its extraordinary capabilities and user-friendliness. It was there and then that Directory Opus evolved from a mere file manager to an “Operating System Shell.” Assisted and enabled by Amiga’s tech and its versatile operating system, Workbench, Directory Opus “extended” the OS with file-related functionality.
So, it’s a file manager, right?
Well, yes, but no. When people talk about “file managers,” they have a particular mental image of a very specific type of app. A piece of software whose primary purpose is to enable you to traverse the file system(s) in your computer and copy or move files from point A to point B. Occasionally, you might rename those files, delete them, compress and decompress them, preview them, and…
Usually, that’s it. That’s what “a file manager does”. Directory Opus does all that and so, so much more.
Files, files everywhere!
To understand how Directory Opus differs, you must first consider how we use our computers daily. (Almost) everything we do with our computers also involves files. GP Software, the visionary makers of Directory Opus, realized that and decided to “expose” the paths and files to the user, turning them into variables.
When performing actions like I mentioned above, copying, moving, and deleting files, you’re interacting with files (duh!). But what about when you launch a program? Ah, yes: you’re “executing” a file. When opening a document, viewing an image, or playing your favorite retro-game using an emulator? Ah, in such cases, you’re “opening” a file (the document/image/ROM) “through” another file (a text editor/image viewer/emulator). Sharing data with coworkers, or sending nude photos of your cat to friends who couldn’t care less about it? Files. Launching a VM? Files. Downloading… stuff? Files. Files, files, and more files.
Yeah, OK, you know about all that. So, it’s a file manager, right?
Er… Yeah, but again, nope. Whereas other file managers present you with a file-managing window, Directory Opus shows you its Listers. The difference is that when you close a file manager’s window, you’re also closing the file manager and ending the task. Shutting it down until you’ll rerun it. Not so with Directory Opus.
Always On
Directory Opus’ Listers are its file-managing windows that pop up, allow you to do what you’d do with any other file manager, and then close until you decide to open a new one again. However, Directory Opus’ core process remains active in the background and never shuts down (unless you configure it to do so — which defeats the app’s purpose).
What’s the point of having a “file-managing core” remain active when you’re not copying, moving, “and all the other stuff you do with…” files and folders? Ah, yes: we’ve reached the good part. For that, though, it would be better to offer some examples.
By right-clicking on any “blank” spot in one of Directory Opus Lister windows, you get the option to customize it. You can then add more buttons to it that can “do stuff to files and folders.”
The app offers a collection of typical file actions you’d expect from a file manager that you can use to craft commands for such buttons. Turning the files and paths into variables also allows you to map to a button a command like “copy selected files to folder in active Lister window.” But it also enables you to launch an app or more and “feed them” those variables. So, you can create a button that, when clicked, will “open the selected file(s)” using “that particular app.”
Not the only one
Admittedly, other apps do all of that, too. And yet, Directory Opus also allows you to expand on that, mix and match commands, or map multiple functions to a single button. For even more complicated actions, you can write whole scripts that “take” some files, transform their names, fool around with their metadata, “feed them” to some apps (like an archiver), wait for them to “do their thing,” and then act on the results with another app (or two).
When you realize you’ve created too many buttons, you can combine up to three of them on a single button, but still have them instantly accessible with the mouse, depending on if you’ve left, right, or middle-clicked on them. Or you can pack even more in menus and submenus and even place them on separate toolbars.
But since some of those functions may be irrelevant to typical file managing stuff, why have them tied to a file manager’s window — or, in this case, a Lister?
Desktop enhancer
Since not all tasks require a Lister, Directory Opus allows you to detach a toolbar filled with menus and buttons and keep it floating on your screen or stick it to one of its sides. This way, you will always have direct access to all its functions without having to keep a Lister window open.
That’s how, with some minor assistance from AutoHotKey, Directory Opus is essential to how I use my computer every day.
- Whenever I sit in front of my screens, I can click a single button to start my typical routine of reading the news, checking my inbox, keeping a tag on shared files, synchronizing data with my smartphone and laptop, and launching a mini collection of apps for taking notes, grabbing screenshots, downloading files, monitoring my PC’s hardware, and yes, I admit it, some gaming.
- Another button allows me to transcode videos with low, medium, or high quality, depending on if I left, middle, or right-click on the button. It also searches for and downloads subtitles for them and pushes them to my media PC.
- A third button can take the selected files in a Lister and compress them to an emulation-friendly format (CHD), delete the originals, and move the result to a folder I’m sharing with my Steam Deck.
- A fourth uses RegEx to ensure all selected image files have upload-friendly filenames, then resizes and compresses them to JPEGs based on custom rules, storing their ready-to-publish siblings in a subfolder.
Easy as 3.14
Those are only a few examples of how I use Directory Opus daily. This is also the point where some Smart Alecs will point out that “this stuff is doable on Linux, too, using app X, Y, or Z” (or even Bash). But, as I’ve noted in the beginning, that’s because they haven’t used Directory Opus.
Yes, “that stuff is doable on Linux”, but not as effortlessly as with Directory Opus. With Directory Opus, you can create custom buttons without typing anything (unless you want to make more complex commands). You don’t have to rely on external solutions for complex renaming of files, using regular extensions, handling archives, or managing images, because such functionality is built into the app. It can even play media, display PDFs, and connect to FTPs.
Thus, despite my love for Linux and my preference for the Linux Mint experience over the latest version of Windows, here I am, stuck on Microsoft’s OS. All because of a “file manager” that I can’t stop relying on since my Amiga days.