Open Folders and Subfolders possible bug

[a_mumford]

I assume this is present in PM regular as well but don't currently have it installed.

1. From the Favourites or Navigator sidebar right click on a folder containing subfolders and open using "Open Folders and Subfolders replacing Contact Sheet".
2. Use the disclosure arrow to view the subfolders in the Navigator or Favourites sidebar.
3. From that point on none of the further right click options, "Open in New Contact Sheet", "Open in Current Contact sheet", "Open Folders and Subfolders replacing Contact Sheet", etc. will not work for me.

I came across this while trying to repeat a similar workflow using the Browse > Folder Path feature in the Catalog feature that I use to visually drill down into my archive which actually works more simply and without the right click requirement IMO.

As an aside the "Gathering Sort Info" in bottom right of UI when opening large numbers of files was something I missed for a long time leaving me to think that PM had hung or was just simply not working - I wish there was a more obvious prompt like the "Recusive Scan Progress" window popup that is unmissable.

[Maury-Support]

Hi a_mumford,

Are you using macOS or Windows?

For step 3, are you attempting to open a sub-folder of the same parent folder that you previously right clicked on then chose "Open Folders and Subfolders replacing Contact Sheet" or another sub-folder in an unrelated parent folder?

[a_mumford]

Hi,

I'm on the latest published Mac OS.

I'm attempting to "drill" down inside a folder tree so "attempting to open a sub-folder of the same parent folder that you previously right clicked on then chose "Open Folders and Subfolders replacing Contact Sheet" is correct.

From that point on attempting to "Open in New Contact Sheet" or "Open in Current Contact Sheet" or the "Open Replacing ..." options do not work.

Maybe there's a preference for this but I cannot find anything.

[Maury-Support]

This sounds like the expected behavior.

The Navigator panel does not function the same as the Browse>Folder Path tree in the Organizer panel. In the Navigator panel, when you select "Open Folders and Subfolders replacing Contact Sheet" for a parent folder, Photo Mechanic combines the contents of the parent folder and the contents of all the sub-folders into one combined Contact Sheet tab.

If you try to open one of the sub-folders that exists in a combined Contact Sheet tab, for example the "Captures" or "Processed" folders in the screenshot, nothing will happen because the folder is already open in the active combined Contact Sheet tab.

If you have more than one Contact Sheet open in addition to the combined Contact Sheet tab, and the active Contact Sheet tab is open to some other folder, let's say the 2004-12-26 folder, and you try to open the "Captures" or "Processed" sub-folder in the 2004-12-30 parent folder, then Photo Mechanic will switch to the "2004-12-30" combined Contact Sheet tab.

You can use the Photo Mechanic Plus Organizer panel's Browse tab>Folder Path tree to single click on parent folder in the Active Catalog to see the contents of the parent folder combined with the contents of any sub-folders of the parent folder. You can select the triangle icon to the left of a parent folder name to expand it. Then you can single click on a sub-folder inside to view its contents.

[a_mumford]

This sounds like the expected behavior.

Really - I find it hard to understand why this would be so since since in the example I'm citing it leads to a situation where the program does nothing in response to user input ?

The Navigator panel does not function the same as the Browse>Folder Path tree in the Organizer panel. In the Navigator panel, when you select "Open Folders and Subfolders replacing Contact Sheet" for a parent folder, Photo Mechanic combines the contents of the parent folder and the contents of all the sub-folders into one combined Contact Sheet tab.

This I understand / understood - I'm simply trying to find a way to achieve the same result.

If you try to open one of the sub-folders that exists in a combined Contact Sheet tab, for example the "Captures" or "Processed" folders in the screenshot, nothing will happen because the folder is already open in the active combined Contact Sheet tab.

Why ? All the right click options for the parent folder are available and in addition produce no response - I do not follow the logic. If I select a subfolder of the parent folder and am presented with an option to "Open in New Contact Sheet" why does it not do exactly that ? Ditto for the other three options.

You can use the Photo Mechanic Plus Organizer panel's Browse tab>Folder Path tree to single click on parent folder in the Active Catalog to see the contents of the parent folder combined with the contents of any sub-folders of the parent folder. You can select the triangle icon to the left of a parent folder name to expand it. Then you can single click on a sub-folder inside to view its contents.

Again - understood, that's what I was doing in PM+, I'm simply seeing whether I can achieve the same thing in PM.

Consider the following situation a small archive containing all of my folders / pictures

 |-Archive Root
   |---Folder 2
   |-----Folder 4
   |---Folder 3

I have a small archive containing a few folders, no pictures but thats just for the example.

Once I expand the "Archive Root" folder to display Folders and Subfolders I can no longer get PM to view any other folders or pictures.

No new tabs can be produced or pictures displayed by themselves. The program "appears" to stop functioning - that this should be the "designed" behavior is baffling to me, I'd love to understand what the workflow is that this behavior supports.

I as a user have to know what the workaround is to open a new empty tab before I can continue which is certainly less than straightforward.

I'm assuming PM will work the same way as PM+ does described above.

Thx

Andrew Mumford

[Maury-Support]

What you are trying to do is not possible in the current functionality of the Navigator panel.

 If you have a combined Contact Sheet open and you only want to see the images in a specific sub-folder that is included in the Combined Contact Sheet, you will need to close the combined Contact Sheet then open the sub-folder as a new Contact Sheet.

The only other thing I can say is that our team can discuss if it possible to disable the “Open in new Contact Sheet”, “Open in current Contact Sheet”, “Open Folder and Subfolders in new Contact Sheet”, and “Open Folder and Subfolders replacing Contact Sheet” in the right click context menu for a folder that is already open in an active combined Contact Sheet tab.

[a_mumford]

The only other thing I can say is that our team can discuss if it possible to disable the “Open in new Contact Sheet”, “Open in current Contact Sheet”, “Open Folder and Subfolders in new Contact Sheet”, and “Open Folder and Subfolders replacing Contact Sheet” in the right click context menu for a folder that is already open in an active combined Contact Sheet tab.

I think that would be a better solution than the way it is currently - at least it would be a clue to go look elsewhere.

Thx

Andrew Mumford