Metapath is designed to be a slim file browser, set to open every file with the same application of your choosing (probably your text editor of choice). You can, however, change this setting so that each file opens with its default application, or you can right-click on a file to choose your action. Simple file manager actions are provided (copy, move, create link, rename, delete, save as...), along with the abilities to set a filter and to sort by name, filetype, size, or date."Once upon a time, metapath was created as an Explorer-like add-on for the handy freeware editor metapad. Meanwhile, metapath has become a universal file browser plugin, which can open files in existing windows of any application you like - also works perfectly with Notepad2."
As mentioned, it integrates well with Florian Balmer's main work, Notepad2, and it's possible to add a "Browse" button to the toolbar in Notepad2 which calls up Metapath (only if Metapath is stored in the same directory as Notepad2 - there doesn't seem to be any place to set it's path).
The setting for the "target application" (the default application with which to open every file) takes a standard relative path, but the location settings for a "quick viewer" and the "Favorites" folder don't use a relative path ("..\UniversalViewer\Viewer.exe"), but can accept a letterless drive path ("\Apps\UniversalViewer\Viewer.exe").
I have a couple of quibbles/wishes: The lack of browsing keyboard shorcuts (Alt + Left for "Back" etc.) is annoying. Alt+Up actually opens the highlighted file, rather than browse up one level. The "Favorites" folder is slightly misnamed, as it's not a true favorites utility - it's just a "Favorite" folder.
Homepage: http://www.flos-freeware.ch/archive.html
Direct Download (stable): http://www.flos-freeware.ch/zip/metapath.zip
Direct Download (latest): http://www.flos-freeware.ch/zip/metapath-rc.zip
Writes settings to: Application folder
How to extract: Download the ZIP package and extract a folder of your choice. Launch metapath.exe.
Stealth [?]: Yes
License: Freeware
System Requirements: ????? / Win2K / WinXP / Vista
Screenshot:
