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# 6. Collections

GQview provides the ability to build lists of images, regardless of the location of the files on disk.

The collection window

A collection window displays the contents of a collection. It allows the collection to be modified and access to the images contained in the collection.

To open a new empty collection window press C or select New collection from the file menu.

To open an existing collection, press O or select Open collection from the file menu. A dialog will appear requesting the location of the collection file. A window will the open containing the selected collection. Recently opened or saved collections can also be opened by selecting the collection's file name from the Open recent sub menu of the file menu.

The collection window consists of a pane to display the contents of the collection, and a status bar along the bottom of the window.

Icon pane

The icon pane displays images contained in the collection as thumbnails in a grid, by default the file names also appear below each thumbnail.

The Icon pane works exactly like the Icon view mode of the file pane in a main window. But with the addition that the contents of the collection can be organized with drag and drop.

A context menu is available for the icon pane by right clicking the mouse or pressing the Menu key.

Keyboard shortcuts available in the collection window:

Shortcut | Context menu name | Description
Enter | View | Opens selected image in main window.
V | View in new window | Opens selected image in a new window.
Control + A | Select all | Selects all images.
Control + Shift + A | Select none | Clear the image selection.
Control + 1 through Control + 0 | Edit sub menu | Executes the respective editor command.
Control + P | Properties | Opens a properties window for selected images.
Control + C | Copy | Copy selected images.
Control + M | Move | Move selected images.
Control + R | Rename | Rename selected images.
Control + D | Delete | Delete selected images.
Delete | Remove | Remove selected images from result list.
Control + L | Append from file list | Add contents of main window to collection.
A | Append from collection | Append contents of another collection from a file.
S | Save collection | Save collection to disk, if the collection is new a dialog will appear to select the file name and location.
Control + S | Save collection as | Opens a dialog to select a new file name to use for the collection.
Control + T | Show filename text | Toggle display of text below icons.
Menu |  | Displays the context menu.
N | Sort by name | Sort collection by file name.
I | Sort by number | Sort collection by file name, using natural numerical order
D | Sort by date | Sort collection by file date.
B | Sort by size | Sort collection by file size.
P | Sort by path | Sort collection by file location (path to file).
| Print | Opens a print dialog for selected images.
Control + W |  | Close window.

The selection can be changed using the keyboard and mouse the same as in a file pane of the main window.

Status bar

The status bar displays the total number of images in the collection, and the number of selected images in parenthesis. A progress bar also displays whenever thumbnails are loading from disk.

Drag and Drop

Drag and drop can be initialized with the primary or middle mouse buttons. Dragging an image that is selected will include all selected images in the drag. Dragging an image that is not selected will drag only that image.

Dropping files and folders onto the collection window will add them to the collection, they will be inserted at the location of the drop. A red arrow will indicate the location of the drop as files are dragged over the collection window. When one or more folders are included in the drop list, a menu will appear to select how to handle the contents of the folders.

To move images within the collection to change their order, initiate a drag for the selected image(s) and then move the mouse to the desired location within the window. A red arrow will appear to assist in determining the destination of the dragged images. Release the drag to move the images to the new location in the list.

Note: When renaming or moving files within GQview, the contents of collections located in the folder ($HOME)/.gqview/collections will automatically update to the new name or location.

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