Occasionally I want to edit plain HTML file in Visual Studio. You know, those files with .htm or .html extension. Normally pressing Enter in Far Manager opens them in a browser. This is what I want most of the time, so let’s keep it.

Idea: let’s use F4 key to open file in Visual Studio.

Here’s how to achieve it:

* Open Commands menu, select File associations.
* Add new association, enter *.htm;*.html as a mask. Enter this command for F4:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe" /edit "!.!"

Change path to devenv.exe if you have different version of Visual Studio.

Note the /edit parameter. It makes Visual Studio to re-use existing window if it is alredy running. Visual Studio is not exactly a lightweight editor so let’s be efficient here.

What if you want to open HTML file in internal Far editor? Simple: press Alft+F4.

Reference:

Devenv Command Line Switches

Occasionally I launch a program from Far Manager that takes very long to complete. Normally you can use Ctrl+Alt+Tab to “detach” Far from a running process. Technical note #27 explains this well:

If a long-running process (for example, archiving) was run in a FAR console, and for some reasons this very instance of FAR is needed (an editor in the background) or it is undesirable to run a new instance ofFAR, pressing this key combination will create a new console for FAR where it will continue running as if the process has already ended, and the process will continue working in the old console.

Unfortunately this doesn’t work on Windows 7. Instead of detaching you get Windows task switcher:

Interestingly the switcher is in “sticky” mode. It doesn’t disappear when you release keys. You can use arrow keys to select a window.

The fix is easy:

1. Start regedit, open HKCU\Software\far2\System key.
2. Create ConsoleDetachKey string value, set it to some keyboard shortcut. I use CtrlAltX.
3. Restart Far Manager

To test it try executing this command from Far:

ping google.com -t

Press Ctrl+Alt+X to get back to Far without stopping pings.

Do you have one of these:

When you finish copying files from and to your USB flash drive you need to safely remove it, otherwise you risk losing data. Normally you do this by clicking icon with green arrow in system tray:

You can do the same with Far Manager. Open drive menu (Alt+F1 or Alt+F2), select your flash drive and press Shift+Del. You should get this confirmation:

Select “Remove” and you’re done. Note that the key combo (Shift+Del) is different from ejecting CD/DVD (Del).

If you try to open Office 2007 document (.docx or .xlsx) in Far Manager it will simply open them as a ZIP archive. Clearly, that’s not what you want. Here’s how to fix it:

1. Go to Commands › File association.
2. Create a new association by pressing Ins.
3. Enter *.doc;*.docx;*.xlsx;*.pptx as a mask.
4. Enter @"!.!" as Execute command (used for Enter).

You can still open docx file as an archive by pressing Ctrl+PgDn.

This is a nice trick: in Far Manager, invoke drive menu by pressing Alt+F1:

Select CD-ROM and press Delete. CD/DVD will get ejected.

You can also press Del key on network drives to unmap them.

In Far Manager 1.70 you could browse folders with mouse wheel. Rotating wheel would scroll up and down. Middle-click would open a folder. But version 2.0 disables middle-click. Boo! Never take away features from users.

Fortunately it’s very easy to restore this functionality:

1. Launch [C:\Program Files\Far2\Addons\Macros\MiddleClickAsEnter.reg]. If you don’t have this folder re-install Far and add Addons » Macros feature.
2. Restart Far Manager.

Freshly installed Far Manager looks um… small:

Here’s how to make its window bigger:

1. Right-click on the window title, select Properties
2. Switch to Font tab
3. Select a bigger font. I prefer raster font 10 x 18.
4. (optional) Switch to Layout tab and change window size there. I leave it as 80 x 25.

Sometimes I need to do something with file that Far Manager can’t help me with. Good example is changing file permissions. In these cases Windows Explorer context menu comes handy:

If you want context menu in Far Manager you need EMenu plugin. Fortunately, it is included with Far by default. Here’s how to set it up:

1. Execute [C:\Program Files\Far\Plugins\EMenu\Hotkey.reg]
2. Restart Far Manager
3. Open Options menu, then Plugins configuration. Select EMenu in the list.
4. Uncheck “Show message after execution”.

Now Menu key should invoke context menu. Nice trick is to select Send To – Mail Recipient to quickly open new email with the file attached.