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DropIt Dictionary

In this page you can find the meaning of the main lexical terms used in DropIt.

Abbreviation:

One of the most powerful features of DropIt is the support to customize the Destination of your Associations. To do it, you can use an unlimited number of Abbreviations, generally known as “environment variables”, that DropIt will replace with related values during the process.

Action:

DropIt allows to process your files and folders with several Actions. When you create an Association, you have to select one Action. It will be used on Matching Files and Folders during the process.

Additional Filter:

In addition to the normal Rules, DropIt allows to define Additional Filters to decide what files and folders will be processed. It is possible for example to filter by size, by date and by content.

Ambiguity:

When DropIt loads some dropped files and folders, it is possible that some of them match with more than one Association you have created. In this case they are considered Ambiguities and you need to manually select the desired Action to perform.

Association:

DropIt needs to know how to process files and folders, to automate it. So it allows to create an unlimited number of Associations between Rules to filter files/folders and the Action to process them.

Destination:

When you are editing an Association, the main configuration to define for each Action is the Destination. It represents for example “where files will be moved”, or “where archives will be created”, or “how files will be removed”.

Favourite Association:

Files and folders dropped on the Floating Icon could match several different Associations and normally a popup window asks you to select what of them use. To make the DropIt usage more flexible, it is possible to define some Favourite Associations. They have priority over normal Associations and will be automatically used in case of more matches.

Floating Icon / Target Image:

DropIt has a special “minimalist” interface. It is defined as Floating Icon or Target Image. It floats on your screen and you can also move it with drag&drop. To process files and folders, you simply have to drop them on the Target Image. You can right click it to open the Main Context Menu. You can also modify and change the Target Image from Profiles » Customize.

Folder Monitoring / Monitored Folder:

DropIt is a program to automate processes on files and folders. The standard use is dropping files and folders on its Floating Icon, but this is not the only way. One of the most powerful features is to define some Monitored Folders (in “Options” window): they will be automatically scanned at a defined time interval and included files and folders will be automatically processed.

Item:

DropIt allows to process both files and folders. They are generally considered Items, because are processed in the same way by DropIt. In addition, some settings in “Options” window allow to decide if always scan folders and subfolders, to load included files, or process them as Items.

Matching Files and Folders:

This is the core of DropIt philosophy: you define some Associations between Rules to filter files and the Action to process them; then you drag&drop some files and folders on the Floating Icon; now DropIt checks them to find matches with Rules in your Associations and process them with the related Action.

Main Context Menu:

DropIt has a special “minimalist” interface. It is a Floating Icon on your screen and you can drag&drop files and folders on it. To configure DropIt you simply need to right-click the Floating Icon and it will appear the Main Context Menu.

Modifier:

DropIt allows to personalize Destinations of your Associations using a rich list of Abbreviations. To extend this feature, advanced users can use Modifiers to customize Abbreviations as desired. You can find the list of Modifiers in the official PDF Guide (included in DropIt) and more examples to use them in some tutorials of this wiki.

Profile:

To manage your Associations easily, it is possible to group them in a unlimited number of Profiles. You can configure each Profile to use a different Floating Icon to recognize it. You can switch between profiles with the mouse scroll wheel, or manually from Profiles in the Main Context Menu. Files and folders will be processed with the Profile currently in use.

Progress Window:

After dropping some files and folders on DropIt, the Progress Window appear. In this window you can see the list of loaded files and folders, you can follow the progress of the process, you can start and stop it, and you can verify if everything works fine.

Regular Expression:

To define Rules to filter files and folders, advanced users can enable the support to Regular Expressions. This option, available from the “Rule Settings” button next to Rules field, allows to ignore the normal DropIt syntax and consider Rules as a Regular Expression. The option can be enabled only in desired Associations.

Rule:

To decide what will be processed with an Action, you need to define how your files and folders will be filtered by DropIt. You can do it defining some Rules for your Association. They can be Rules with normal syntax (you can find some examples from the “Rule Settings” button in that field), or can be Regular Expressions (for advanced users, they can be enabled from the “Rule Settings” button).

dictionary.txt · Last modified: 2014/10/04 10:37 (external edit)