Feature: Set aside tabs (aka workspaces)

[rafaskb]

Important

Current workaround is to create a bat file for each workspace you want, add files-<branch>.exe <path to folder> for each tab you want. Change branch to stable, preview or dev depending on what you use.

What feature or improvement do you think would benefit Files?

Workspaces would be a new feature where you could save entire sessions (including tabs, dual panes, currently open folders) into a nice and tidy "Workspaces" section in the sidebar, and reopen them at any point to continue a specific type of work.

Here's an example! I'm a game developer and I often have to transfer tons of different file types from Dropbox to my game's internal folders, but I have like 5 different folders I gotta transfer from/to.
It would be nice to simply click the "Game Dev" workspace, watch all my folders automatically open in both panels, in the same order as before, with the same layout views (meaning all that is saved / serialized to the workspace settings).

If later on I need to work on something else, such as websites, I can just click another workspace and bam, game dev folders close, website folders open, like magic.

Currently I'm using OneCommander with a similar feature as "Continue where you left off" as my game dev workspace. The app doesn't have this feature either though, so I never change my folders for anything, so I can use it in that way.
In the attached screenshot, all folders on the left are on Dropbox (there should be more, I accidentally closed a few), and all of the right ones are my game assets folder, for particles, textures, data files, and so on.

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And here's a quote from Discord about the UI and UX that should also be taken into consideration

"I think we should add this but we need to think of a good design. Perhaps we can add an icon to the top left of the app window that will let users save and resume sessions." - Yair

Another UX possibility is to have the existing workspaces visible in the sidebar, just like we have with Favorites and Drives, and clicking them load the entire workspace in the current window (or a new one), and to save the current layout to a workspace we could add an entry to the ... menu, along with "Close pane", "New window", and "Enter compact overlay".

Requirements

• Save and load sessions on a configuration file.
• Add a section for Workspaces in the sidebar.
• Come up with some sort of button to save the current Workspace under a certain name.

Files Version

2.4.40.0

Windows Version

10.0.19044.2728

Comments

No response

[yaira2]

@rafaskb would you expect the current tabs to be closed when opening a workspace?

[yaira2]

Would support for custom sidebar sections serve the same purpose?

[rafaskb]

@rafaskb would you expect the current tabs to be closed when opening a workspace?

Yes, absolutely.

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Would support for custom sidebar sections serve the same purpose?

I'm not sure if I understand exactly what you mean, but the concept of workspaces comes from the need to work on several projects throughout the day, e.g. I'm making a website during the day so I need folders A, B, and C always open. But then at night I'm reorganizing all my files, so I need folders X, Y, W, and Z open instead. Both tasks would take weeks or months, and I'm constantly switching back and forth between the two projects / tasks. Reopening all files one by one all the time would get tiresome, and clicking a "Website Workspace" or "File Sorting Workspace" buttons to bring up those workspaces to me would be much simpler and pleasant.

[mokshsinghji]

Would love to see this getting implemented into Files, as this is a feature I miss from QTTabBar, but

@rafaskb would you expect the current tabs to be closed when opening a workspace?

for this, I would actually prefer the new tabs to be added to the existing tabs, so maybe it can be a configurable setting?

[RinineFV2]

It's the most essential feature for me, preventing me from fully abandoning Windows Explorer.
One approach that could be followed is how Groupy2 does it.

Groupy2 adds this functionality in the context menu of a tab (allowing you to name, save, or load a group).

What it does is create an Explorer window and load the tabs configured for that group.
Additionally, it’s very interesting because it creates files with the group's name in the system (like an optional shortcut), and opening them launches the window with the specific group's tabs.

(The best I can do to use Files is to use these files with Files tags, though opening them will still launch Windows Explorer with the specific tab group).

[yaira2]

(The best I can do to use Files is to use these files with Files tags, though opening them will still launch Windows Explorer with the specific tab group).

Combined with the tag widget, this is a good solution until this feature is added.