Customizing the Media Manager window

Much of what you see in the Media Manager window can be customized to suit your preferences.

Automatically hiding the Search pane

Click the push pin button () in the title bar of the Search pane if you want to save space in the Media Manager window by automatically hiding the search pane:

•The push pin is displayed as a () when the Search pane is anchored in the Media Manager window.

•The push pin is displayed as a () when the Search pane is set to hide automatically.

When the Search pane is set to hide automatically, you can hover over the Search tab on the left edge of the Media Manager window to show the pane. When you move your mouse away from the Search pane, it hides automatically.

Docking and undocking the Search pane

You can undock the Search pane from its location in the Media Manager window to float it over the ACID window, or you can change the docking position of the pane within the Media Manager window. To undock and move the Search pane, drag its title bar to the desired location.

Resizing columns

You can resize the columns in the Search Results pane by dragging the splitter between columns to the desired size. To resize a column automatically, double-click a splitter.

Moving columns

To move a column in the Search Results pane to a different location, drag the column header to the desired location. A red indicator shows where the column will be dropped.

Showing or hiding columns

1.Right-click the column headings and choose Column Chooser from the shortcut menu.

2.Drag the columns you want to see from the Column Chooser dialog to the Search Results pane.

3.To hide a column, right-click a column heading and choose Remove this Column from the shortcut menu.

Adding custom columns

You can add custom columns to the Search Results pane to store additional information about media files. When you add custom columns, they are added to the current library only.

For example, if you wanted to keep track of which removable hard drive contained a media file, you could create a custom Drive Number column to assign any numeric rating to a media file. You could then use the Advanced section of the Search pane to search using the Drive Number value.

When adding media to a library, you can choose to add this information by selecting the Add tags and custom columns from files check box in the Add Files to Media Library dialog.

1.Right-click the column headings and choose Custom Columns from the shortcut menu.

2.Click the Add New Column button () to add a custom column. A new entry is added to the list.

3.In the Name box, type the name you’d like to display as a column heading.

80 CHAPTER 4