Copyright: URL Organizer v2.0


Welcome
Welcome to URL Organizer 2

Welcome to URL Organizer 2, a completely revamped version of the popular freeware URL Organizer 1.

Key features of the program

•	URLs are stored in a 3-level hierarchy

•	title/URL search facility

•	*concurrent support for up to 10 lists of URLs

•	*concurrent support for up to 10 web browsers

•	supports up to 2,000 URLs in each URL list

•	loads in a snap and uses minimal disk space, memory and resources

•	indicates when each URL was last visited

•	*easy to edit titles and URLs

•	*easy to re-order and re-group URLs and headings

•	*alternative interfaces: ‘regular’ and ‘compact’

•	*URLs can include application, folder and document shortcuts

•	*can import and export URLs from Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator

•	*can copy URLs as text or HTML

•	*highly-customizable appearance

*New or enhanced in version 2

Please consult the terms of the license to use this program, and see here for how to register and purchase a license to use it.

Please see Contents for specific help.


License

URL Organizer 2 is copyright (1999) of Edward Leigh. It is distributed and sold as ‘shareware’. It is NOT public domain or ‘freeware’.

In the license conditions that follow, three terms have special meaning:

•	‘ the Author’ shall refer to Edward Leigh, the author of URL Organizer 2

•	‘ the Program’ shall refer to URL Organizer 2

•	‘ the Licensee’ shall refer either to you as an individual plus any family with whom you share a computer or, if you will be using the Program in the capacity of an employee, to the company which employs you.

The Author grants the Licensee:

•	the right to install and use the Program on any computer;

•	the right to use the Program for thirty (30) consecutive days before the Licensee must either purchase a license or uninstall the Program

providing that the Licensee agrees to be bound by the following conditions:

•	If the Licensee is a company, the number of licenses required at any one time equals the number of employees who use the Program. The number of licenses required specifically does not equal the maximum number of concurrent users of the Program, nor does it equal the number of computers on which the program is installed.

•	The Program is licensed, not sold, to the Licensee.

•	The Program is provided 'as is'. The Licensee uses the Program entirely at its own risk. No warranties nor guarantees are included with the license. In no event shall the Author be liable for any consequential damages whatsoever (including, but not limited to, damages for loss of business profits or loss of business information) arising out of the use of, or the inability to use, the Program. In any case, the Author's liability shall be limited to the price paid for this license, or ten UK pounds sterling, whichever is the greater.

•	The Licensee agrees to respect the copyright laws and international copyright treaties, as well as any other intellectual property laws and treaties that apply to the Program.

•	The Licensee may not reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or modify in any way whatsoever the Program.

•	The Licensee may not sell, rent or lease the Program to anyone else. The Licensee may distribute only the most recent installation package as available from the Author’s Web site.

•	This licence agreement is governed by the laws of England and Wales.

If The Licensee does not agree with the stated license conditions, please do not install URL Organizer; or if installed already, please uninstall URL Organizer 2 immediately.

See also how to register and purchase a license.


Purchase
Registering and Purchasing a license

A license to use URL Organizer (see the terms of the license) usually costs US$15. Up-to-date pricing, including special offers and discounts, is available on the registration site: http://www.osolis.com/cgi-bin/register.cgi?2

This program is SIVL-compliant shareware. This means that, in order to fully-enable the program's functionality, you must register it with OSoLiS. Until registered, the program will not allow you to add any more URLs to a list once it contains 50. Once the program has been registered, this limit is automatically lifted to about 2,000 URLs.

Registration steps

To access the OSoLiS registration service, either:

•	Go to About URL Organizer under the Application menu, and click the Register button whilst you are connected to the Internet,
or

•	Go on the Internet to http://www.osolis.com/en/registration/ and follow the instructions there. The Program ID of URL Organizer 2 is P2.

You will find instructions on OSoLiS's site, but the basic steps are:

1)	Set up an account by registering your contact details

2)	Buy a license for URL Organizer (Program ID: P2)

3)	Download a copy of your Personal License Register (or have it e-mailed to you)

4)	Exit from any SIVL-compliant programs (e.g URL Organizer 1) that you are running.

5)	Move the License Register to the active Windows directory (usually C:\WINDOWS, but it might be C:\WIN95, C:\WIN98 or C:\WINNT). If you're not sure where to put the License Register, run URL Organizer and check About URL Organizer under the Application menu.

Problems?

If you find you get an error when trying to move your Personal License Register to the Windows directory, you probably still need to exit from all other SIVL-compliant programs that you are running (including URL Organizer 1).

If URL Organizer doesn't recognize that it is registered, please check About URL Organizer under the Application menu to see what is wrong. Below are some suggestions for what to do depending on the message you see. If you still don’t have any joy, then please e-mail me with the message URL Organizer reports.

License Register missing

You must place the Personal License Register in the directory that URL Organizer says it is looking in. If the file you have is called licenses.zip, then you must ‘unzip’ it to extract the actual License Register. If you don’t know how to unzip a file, or you have lost your Personal License Register, see below for how to obtain a new copy of your Personal License Register.

License Register corrupt

If the License Register has become corrupted, then you will need to obtain another copy: see below.

To obtain a new copy of your Personal License Register

1)	Log back into your account with OSoLiS using the Register button in About URL Organizer, or starting from http://www.osolis.com/en/registration/.

2)	Click on the License Register button

3)	If you don’t want to have to unzip anything, choose to have your Personal License Register e-mailed to you.


Install
Installing

To install URL Organizer for the first time, run setup (or setup.exe). You will be presented with various set-up options, described here:

Location of application files

Choose the folder in which you want URL Organizer and help files to be stored.

Shortcuts

•	Desktop: Include a shortcut on the desktop

•	Quick Launch bar: If you have Internet Explorer 4.0 with ‘Desktop Update’ installed, then you can include a shortcut in the Quick Launch bar in the Task bar.

•	Startup items: If you want URL Organizer to launch when you start up your computer, include a shortcut here.

•	Start Menu: Include a shortcut in the Windows Start menu. You can choose the folder in which the shortcut should be added.

Default location for list files

This folder is the one you will be offered first when you save a new URL list. It is also where the sample URL list file will be moved. You can either use the application folder or you can choose another.

See also:

•	Modifying setup after installation


Uninstall
Uninstalling

To uninstall URL Organizer choose Uninstall from the program’s Application menu. You will then be asked which components you wish to remove before they are finally erased. (If you only want to reset the Windows Registry entries, uncheck the other items.)


URL lists
About URL Lists

URL Organizer stores your URLs in a simply-formatted text file. Internet Explorer’s method of storing shortcuts is inherently slow and Netscape’s bookmark file can be difficult to interpret so I came up with a simple, readable format to use instead.

URL Organizer supports up to 10 different list files concurrently. This effectively gives you another level in the hierarchy above Category. You might have one list for business-related URLs, one for leisure URLs, and one for applications installed on your computer, and others created for one-off projects. If you’re using URL Organizer at home, you can let family members build up their own lists independently.

Each list can hold up to 2,000 URLs. In the unlikely event that you have more than 500 category and subcategory headings, you will find that the limit is just under 2,000 URLs. There is also a limit of 40 items per list box (i.e. that are listed together at a particular level). If you reach 38 items, you are prompted to add a new category/subcategory heading or a new list.

You can switch between lists on-the-fly from the List menu or using the Ctrl+<digit> shortcut indicated in the List menu.

If you use more than one computer, you can access a list file over a network, or you can store one copy in a ‘Briefcase’ to keep it synchronized with the master copy.

To backup your URLs, simply make a copy of your URL list(s) on a floppy disk or on another computer.

See also:

•	Adding or Removing a URL List

•	Importing Favorites/Bookmarks

•	Exporting URL Lists

•	Manually editing a URL list


Adding/Removing a URL list
Adding or Removing a URL List

To include an existing URL list in the Lists menu

1)	Select Configure from the Lists menu.

2)	Click on the New/Add button.

3)	Select the list in the file browser and click Open

4)	If necessary, edit the name that URL Organizer uses to refer to the list.

5)	Click Done.

To create a new, blank URL list

1)	Select Configure from the Lists menu.

2)	Click on the New/Add button.

3)	Select the folder in which you want to save the new URL list

4)	Type the name you want to give the new URL list and click on Open

5)	If necessary, edit the name that URL Organizer uses to refer to the list.

6)	Click Done.

To create a new URL list from Netscape bookmarks or Internet Explorer favorites

See Importing Favorites/Bookmarks

To remove a URL list from the Lists menu

1)	Select Configure from the Lists menu.

2)	Click on the Remove button. (This does not erase the list file.)

Drag names up or down the list box to change the order in which they appear on the List menu.

See also:

•	About URL Lists

•	Importing Favorites/Bookmarks

•	Exporting URL Lists

•	Manually Editing a URL List


Importing Bookmarks and Favorites
Importing Favorites/Bookmarks

URL Organizer can import favorites from Internet Explorer, and bookmarks from Netscape Navigator:

1)	Check or choose the source folder/bookmark list.

2)	Check or choose the path name of a new* URL list file into which the URLs will be imported.

3)	Press the Import button.

In order to fit your URLs into a 3-tier hierarchy, URL Organizer has to do some pre-arranging of its own. These changes are only reflected in the imported URL list, not in your original favorites/bookmarks.

Where you have URLs that are at the top level of the favorites/bookmarks menu, URL Organizer inserts both a category and subcategory heading (‘Uncategorized’) above those URLs. Where you have URLs one folder down from the top level, URL Organizer inserts a subcategory heading (‘Uncategorized’) above those URLs. You can change the ‘Uncategorized’ headings to something else afterwards.

Where you have URLs more than two folders down from the top level, the bottom level folder is effectively moved up one ore more levels to become a subcategory. Because this may not be what you want, it may be advisable before you import to rearrange the folders so that you don’t have any folders within folders within folders.

Ideally you would start with a favorites/bookmarks collection that has:

•	a top level of just category folders

•	a second level of just subcategory folders

•	and a third level of just URLs

*Merging with existing URL list

URL Organizer can only import favorites/bookmarks into a new list. If you want to merge the imported URLs with an existing URL list, you will need to do this using a text editor as follows:

1)	Import the existing favorites/bookmarks to a new URL list file (‘list B’).

2)	Exit URL Organizer.

3)	In a text editor, open list B and the URL list file you want to export (‘list A’).

4)	Copy the contents of list B and paste it at the end of list A.

5)	Save list A as a text file.

6)	Re-launch URL Organizer.


Exporting URLs
Exporting a URL List

URL Organizer can export a URL list as Internet Explorer favorites or as Netscape Navigator bookmarks:

1)	Choose the source URL list.

2)	Check or choose the path name of the favorites folder or bookmark file to which the URL list will be exported.

3)	Press the Export button.

Internet Explorer

Each exported shortcut is saved with the following path name relative to the folder you select for export: <Category title>\<Subcategory title>\<URL title>.

Beware of overwriting existing favorites if you export your URL list into an existing Internet Explorer ‘Favorites’ folder.

Netscape Navigator

URL Organizer cannot automatically merge exported URLs with an existing bookmark file. If you need to do this, then one way is to:

1)	Import the existing bookmark list to a new URL list file (‘list B’).

2)	Exit URL Organizer.

3)	In a text editor, open list B and the URL list file you want to export (‘list A’).

4)	Copy the contents of list B and paste it at the end of list A.

5)	Save list A as a text file.

6)	Re-launch URL Organizer.

7)	Export list A as a new bookmark file.


Manually editing URL list
Manually editing a URL list

You can edit a URL list using a text editor as long as you bear in mind the following:

•	Do not edit a list whilst it is open in URL Organizer 2 (or you’ll find your changes are overwritten).

•	Each category, subcategory and URL must have a line to itself.

•	Prefix each category title with <1>

•	Prefix each subcategory title with <2>

•	Enter each URL as the full URL (including e.g. http://), then a tab*, then the URL title

•	Indentations aren’t necessary, though URL Organizer 2 generates indents for ease of viewing

•	Other information (such as last visited time) is added automatically after the URL title

•	Don’t put any URLs between a category (<1>) and a subcategory (<2>)heading

You are advised to make a backup of your URL list before you start editing it!

*Note that in version 1 you could use spaces or commas instead of a tab. Because these are not recognized in version 2, you may find some URLs are shown with their titles appended. If this happens, simply cut the title text and paste it into the title box.


Opening a URL
Finding and opening a URL

To select a URL

1)	Select the relevant list from the List menu.

2)	Select the category. In Compact mode, click on:

3)	Select the relevant subcategory. In Compact mode, click on:

4)	Select the title of the URL you want

To search for a URL

  To search for a URL, type the text to search for in the search box and press Enter/Return or click on the Search button (shown here). Repeat if the first match isn’t the one you’re looking for. URL Organizer searches through category, subcategory and URL titles as well as the URLs themselves.

To open a URL

•	 Click on this button when it’s highlighted (as shown here) to open the selected URL, or

•	Double-click on a URL’s title, or

•	Type Ctrl-O to open the selected URL in the frontmost browser window, or

•	Type Ctrl-Shift-O to open the selected URL in a new window.

To open in new/same window

Click on this button to toggle between these states:

  Open Internet URLs in a new window

  Open Internet URLs in the frontmost browser window


Adding a URL
Adding a URL to a list

There are four ways to bring a URL into URL Organizer:

•	 Use the Fetch button (available in Regular and Organize modes) or type Ctrl+E (available in all modes) to fetch the URL currently open in the frontmost web browser window.

•	Drag a shortcut onto the URL Organizer window.

•	Highlight a URL contained in a body of text, and drag it onto the URL Organizer window

•	Switch to Organize mode; click on the rightmost [image] button; and type the new URL and title.

Choose which category and subcategory you want to add the URL to or use the [image] buttons to create new headings. Then press Enter/Return in any input box or click on the rightmost [image] button when it is highlighted. New headings and titles are added at the bottom of the list box, but you can drag them upwards if you want.

Note that you can add pathnames to applications, folders and documents as well as Internet URLs.

See also Importing URL Lists


Moving a URL
Moving and Sorting URLs and Headings

To re-order items in a list box:

1)	Switch to Organize mode

2)	Either drag items up or down the list box as required, or
Click the right mouse button over the list box and select Sort Items from the popup menu

To move one or more URLs or subcategories to a different 'branch' of the list:

1)	Switch to Organize mode

2)	Hold down the Control (‘Ctrl’) key down while you click on an item you want to mark.

3)	Repeat 2 for all the items you want to bring together under another heading.

4)	Select the category or subcategory under which you now want the marked item(s) to be listed

5)	Click the right mouse button over the relevant list box and select Move Items from the popup menu.

Alternative ways to Mark items:

•	Select the URL or subcategory you want to move and press the [image] (Mark) button

•	Select the URL or subcategory you want to move and type Ctrl-Shift-X.

Alternative ways to Move items:

•	Press the [image] (Move) button

Ways to Unmark items:

•	Select the Marked (grayed) item you want to Unmark and press the [image] button that replaces the usual [image] button

•	Hold the Control key down while you click on a Marked (grayed) item

•	Click the right mouse button over one of the list boxes and select Unmark All from the popup menu.

This Mark and Move process is similar to Cut and Paste, but you won't find you've accidentally lost anything by overwriting what you’ve cut. All marked items will remain grayed until Moved or Unmarked, or until you leave Organize mode.

You can mark up to 25 URLs or subcategories anywhere within a list. Note that you cannot move items between lists.

You can also use Mark and Move to drop a category, subcategory or title to the bottom of a list box (this isn’t possible by dragging the item).


Copying a URL

To copy a URL (to the clipboard):

1)	Select the URL

2)	Click the right mouse button over the highlighted title and select either Copy as Text to copy just the URL as plain text or Copy as HTML to copy the URL and title as an HTML link.


Deleting a URL

To delete a URL

1)	Switch to Organize mode

2)	Select the URL or heading you want to delete

3)	Press the Delete key or click on the [image] button below the item you want to delete. You can only delete a category or subcategory title if there are no items in the level below.

To quickly delete a number of items in a list box, use the Delete key repeatedly.


General tips

•	In Regular and Organize mode you will see brief descriptions of any active button you point at.

•	You can resize the window vertically (in any mode) to increase the height of the list box(es).

•	In Compact mode, you can see the full address of a selected URL as a ‘tool tip’ by letting the cursor hover over the [image] button. If you use the cursor keys to change the selection, the tool tip is updated immediately.

•	It can be worth getting to know the keyboard shortcuts.

•	Whenever you switch to URL Organizer from another application, you can immediately start typing text to search for.

•	You can use URL Organizer to store more than just Internet URLs: You can also store application shortcuts, document shortcuts, e-mail addresses and DOS commands.


Keyboard shortcuts

F1	Help

F2	Switch to Compact mode

F3	Switch to Regular mode

F4	Switch to Organize mode

F5	Minimize URL Organizer

Esc	Exit URL Organizer

Return/Enter	With caret in the search box: Find next;
With URL title list in focus: Open URL;
With caret in an edit box when an [image] is highlighted: Add URL/title.

Ctrl+O	Open URL in frontmost web browser window

Ctrl+Shift+O	Open URL in a new web browser window

Ctrl+F	Find next occurrence of search text

Ctrl+E	Fetch URL from frontmost web browser window
(This is also available in Compact mode)

Ctrl+S	Save changes and leave Organize mode

(This is only available in Organize mode)

Ctrl+Shift+X	Mark URL to be moved (also Ctrl-click with left mouse button)

Ctrl+Shift+V	Move URL to selected location

Ctrl+L	Configure URL Lists

Ctrl+B	Configure Web Browsers

Ctrl+P	Configure other Preferences

Ctrl+<digit>	Switch to a different URL list (see List menu)

Most keyboard shortcuts are indicated on the menus.


Preferences

There are three sets of preferences you can modify. When you press Apply, the changes are applied immediately (and cannot then be canceled), and the Preferences dialog box remains open. When you press OK, the changes are applied and the Preferences dialog box closes.

See:

•	URL Lists

•	Web Browsers

•	Display Options


Web Browsers

To add a Web browser:

1)	Select Configure …from the Browsers menu.

2)	Click on the Add button.

3)	Find the main browser executable file, and click OK.

4)	If necessary, edit the name that URL Organizer uses to refer to the browser, and the DDE name*.

5)	Click Done.

Use the Remove button to remove a browser from the Browser menu.

Drag names up or down the list box to change the order in which they appear on the Brower menu.

URL Organizer supports up to 10 different web browsers. This is particularly useful if you need to test web sites with different browsers. You can switch between browsers on-the-fly from the Browser menu.

*The DDE name is the name that is used by other applications to ‘talk’ to the Web browser. Usually this is obvious: it’s the application’s DOS name minus the ‘.exe’, e.g:
Internet Explorer’s DDE name is iexplore
Netscape Navigator’s DDE name is netscape
Opera’s DDE name is opera

If you need help with configuring URL Organizer for another Web browser, please e-mail me.


Display Options

Keep window on top

You can choose, for each of the two window modes, whether URL Organizer stays on top, or in front, of all the other windows.

Use System Tool Tray

If checked, then URL Organizer will create an icon in the ‘tool tray’ area (usually at the right hand end) of the Windows Task Bar (which usually runs along the bottom of your screen). Clicking on this icon will bring URL Organizer to the front or, if it is already the active window, it will hide the program completely. When URL Organizer is ‘minimized’ or hidden it does not take up a slot on your task bar, but you can call it back immediately by clicking on the tool tray icon. You may find this particularly convenient if you’re using a small screen.

Highlight URLs visited within last 3 days

If checked, any URL that you’ve visited in the last 3 days will be displayed in the default or custom highlight color.

Window Colors

Experiment!


Setup
Changing setup after installation

You can modify any of the set-up options after installation from within URL Organizer: choose Modify Setup under the Application menu.

Location of application files

If you specify a new location for URL Organizer, URL Organizer will exit when you press Setup Now. You must then re-launch URL Organizer in its new location. Any shortcuts will be modified to point to URL Organizer in its new location.

Default location for list files

If you change this, then any URL lists in the current default folder will be moved to the new location.


Problems

URL Organizer has been tested under Windows 95 (OSR 2) and NT 4 (Service Pack 3). It uses no features that should cause problems with other versions of Windows 95 or NT 4, or with Windows 98, but no guarantees of correct functioning can be offered.

Known Problem

If using Internet Explorer, you may sometimes find that Fetch URL retrieves the URL from a window that is not actually frontmost. Any Window that was created by URL Organizer using the New Window option is always treated by Internet Explorer as being ‘in front' of all others. I know of no way round this.

Encountering a problem now?

If you encounter serious problems with URL Organizer, please check first that you are using the latest version by visiting the program’s Web site.

If you are experiencing problems with the latest version, these are two possible causes:

The current URL list is corrupt

•	Switch to a different URL list, or create a new one: does that work OK?

•	Open the URL list in a text editor. Does it look OK?

The Windows Registry settings are corrupt

•	Choose Uninstall from the program’s Application menu.

•	Select only Remove entries from Windows Registry and press Uninstall Now.

•	When you next run URL Organizer it will recreate the default entries.

If neither of those steps help, then please contact me with details of the problem, including the steps you take before the problem occurs, and the operating system you are using.


Plans

The following features are being considered for inclusion in a future version:

•	Mark and Move URLs between different lists

•	multiple undo of changes made in Organize mode

•	aliases (so that a URL may appear in more than one place in a list)

•	merging of lists

•	de-duplication of lists

•	field for notes on each URL

•	automatically maintain a ‘recently visited’ list

If you have a suggestion, please feel free to e-mail me.


Background

My motivation for developing this arose from frustration with using hierarchical pop-up menus and collapsible 'tree' lists to store URLs. My priorities in seeking a solution were (and still are: there’s plenty more room for improvement without adding unnecessary clutter):

•	Speedy access

•	Minimal use of screen space

•	Speedy editing and re-organizing

•	Portability & ease of backup of URLs

•	Support for multiple browsers for testing web sites

•	Simple interface

•	Low computing requirements (‘efficient’)

The development environment used was Microsoft Visual C++ 5.0.


Feedback

The URL Organizer Web site is kept up-to-date with news of the latest version available and a link to download it. If you have a comment, gripe or suggestion, feel free to e-mail me. If you discover a bug, I can usually get a fix posted to the Web site within a few days. If you have requests or suggestions, I can let you know if or when I intend to implement them.

Web site

http://www.osolis.com/hosting/edward.leigh/urlorg/ or

http://www.osolis.com/cgi-bin/program.cgi?2

E-mail

urlorg@osolis.com

Thank you for choosing URL Organizer.

Edward Leigh


Organize mode is accessible from the Application menu or by pressing the F4 function key. You should switch to this mode to add to or reorganize your URLs. You are not committed to any changes you make in Organize mode until you press Save.


Compact and Regular modes are accessible from the Application menu or by pressing, respectively, the F2 or F3 function key. These are the modes you should use when not adding to or reorganizing your URLs since there’s no danger that you’ll change or delete something unintentionally.


Wherever you need to enter a file path, you can either type it directly into the edit box, or you can use the [image] button to bring up a file/folder browser dialog box.