Problems with drag and drop!

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redearth
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Sep 11, 2008 1:30 pm

Problems with drag and drop!

Post by redearth »

Hi,

I'd like to use MainType to reorganize my font collection into folders and subfolders. When I'm in "browse" view, I intuitively try to drag a font onto a folder to move it there, as I would in Windows Explorer, but the program won't let me; the arrow turns into the circle with a slash through it "you can't do this" symbol.

I can drag and drop from the font list to a Group folder, no problem. I can even drag and drop a font to a folder in a separate Windows Explorer window, but yet I can't do it within MainType at all. Likewise, cut, copy, and paste don't work at all.

Am I missing something?

I've checked out the manual, which says:
Move or Copy Fonts to Folder
Select one or more fonts and then use one of the Move or Copy to Folder options:
Edit menu: Move to Folder, Copy to Folder
Context menu (right-click in fonts pane): Copy, Cut
Standard toolbar buttons: Move to Folder, Copy to Folder

Move or Copy Fonts with Drag and Drop
Select one or more fonts and drag them onto another group or browse folder. During the
drag and drop operation hold down the CTRL key to copy the selected fonts or hold down
the SHIFT key to move the font selection. You can even drag and drop between MainType
and other applications that fully support drag and drop (like Windows explorer).
...which sounds like what I want, but no luck. By the way, I'm using the demo version to evaluate MainType. Has drag and drop been disabled?

Thanks.
Erwin Denissen
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Post by Erwin Denissen »

To run MainType on Vista, it requires advanced privileges. So when you start MainType, User Account Control will ask you permission to start the application. Probably for security reasons Windows won't allow drag & drop from a non elevated application to an elevated application. We'll try to find a way to solve this problem.
Erwin Denissen
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Proven Font Technology
redearth
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Sep 11, 2008 1:30 pm

Post by redearth »

Thanks for your response.

I'm actually running WinXP SP2, not Vista. And I'm using an account with Admin privileges, if that makes a difference. What are elevated and non-elevated applications?

The problem I'm having is not drag and drop from one app to another. It's drag and drop entirely within MainType--and specifically, using the folder tree in the browse window pane. Like I said, I also can't paste into a folder because the paste toolbar icon and menu command are grayed out.

Is this unusual, then?
Erwin Denissen
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Post by Erwin Denissen »

You can't move or copy in the tree view folder structure on the Browse pane. We might add such enhancement in a next release.

However this should work:
Drag one font from the Browse pane, then move it over the caption of the Groups pane. Now the Groups pane will be activated, and you'll be able to drop the font into a group.
Erwin Denissen
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Proven Font Technology
redearth
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Sep 11, 2008 1:30 pm

Post by redearth »

That's too bad... it would really increase the usefulness of the program tenfold. Right now, it's great for viewing and activating fonts, not so great for organizing and archiving.

I hope you do add it to the next release.

Thanks.
Erwin Denissen
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Post by Erwin Denissen »

For now just use one or more Windows Explorers to manage the font files. You can create folders and move/copy font files to the groups folder. MainType will be notified about these archive activities, so you can combine forces this way. I know it's not as powerful as a drag & drop support in MainType, but it might help. Sometimes I even prefer this route, for example to copy all my collections to a new computer.

If you want to know the root folder of your Groups folder, select Tools on the main menu, and then click Options. You'll see something like:
C:\Users\<yourname>\Documents\My Font Groups
Erwin Denissen
High-Logic
Proven Font Technology
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