# Directory Opus

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**Directory Opus** (or "DOpus" as its users tend to call it) is a [file manager program](/source/File_manager), originally written for the [Amiga](/source/Amiga) computer system in the early to mid-1990s. Commercial development on the version for the Amiga ceased in 1997. Directory Opus is still being actively developed and sold for the [Microsoft Windows](/source/Microsoft_Windows) operating system by GPSoftware and there are open source releases of Directory Opus 4 and 5 for Amiga.

Directory Opus was originally developed by, and is still written by, Australian Jonathan Potter. Until 1994, it was published by well-known Amiga software company [Inovatronics](/source/Inovatronics), when Potter joined with Greg Perry and the Australian-based GPSoftware to continue its development, and has since been published by GPSoftware.

## Features

Directory Opus has evolved since its first release in 1990 as a basic two-panel file manager. The interface has evolved significantly due to feedback given by its users. Some of the features include:

- Single or dual-panel exploring.[1]
- Folder tree (either shared or separate for dual-display).
- Tabbed explorer panels.
- Ability to maintain date created/modified timestamps for both files and folders.[2]
- Internal handling of [ZIP](/source/ZIP_(file_format)), [RAR](/source/RAR_(file_format)), [7Zip](/source/7Zip) and other archive formats (browse them like folders).
- Internal [FTP](/source/FTP) handling,[3] including (for a small extra fee) advanced [FTP](/source/FTP) and [SSH](/source/Secure_Shell) (browse these like folders also).
- Internal [MTP](/source/Media_Transfer_Protocol) handling for portable devices like phones and cameras.
- Flat-file display, where you can flatten a folder tree and even hide the folders themselves.[4]
- Powerful file selection and renaming tools, with advanced [regex](/source/Regex).
- User-definable toolbars, menus, filetypes and filetype groups.[5]
- Preview panel, with preview of thumbnails (including animated [avi](/source/Audio_Video_Interleave) thumbnails).
- File collections. These are like virtual folders that contain links to the original files (unlike shortcuts, these actually deal with the files directly).

## History

### Release history

#### Amiga release history

- Opus 1: January 1990
- Opus 2: February 1991
- Opus 3: 1991-12-01
- Opus 4: 1992-12-04
- Opus 5: 1995-04-12
- Opus 5.5: 1996-08-01
- Opus Magellan (5.6): 1997-05-17
- Opus Magellan II (5.8): 1998-11-01
- Opus Magellan II GPL (5.90): 2014-05-11

Versions 1 and 2 were only available direct from the author. Versions 3 and 4[6] were published by Inovatronics. Versions since 5 have been published by GPSoftware (German versions were published by Stefan Ossowskis Schatztruhe). The full version of Magellan II is included for free with [AmiKit](/source/AmiKit) package.

#### Windows major release history

- Opus 6: 2001-06-18
- Opus 8: 2004-10-04
- Opus 9: 2007-04-27[7]
- Opus 10: 2011-04-30[8]
- Opus 11: 2014-03-03[9]
- Opus 12: 2016-09-05[10]
- Opus 13: 2024-01-23[11]

All Windows versions published by GPSoftware. (German versions published by [Haage & Partner Computer GmbH](/source/Haage_%26_Partner).)

#### Open source release history

- GPSoftware released the older Amiga Directory Opus 4 [source code](/source/Source_code) in 2000 as [open-source](/source/Open-source_software) under the [GNU General Public License](/source/GNU_General_Public_License).[12] [AmigaOS4](/source/AmigaOS4), [AROS](/source/AROS) and [MorphOS](/source/MorphOS) ports of this version were made available. Magellan II was released as open source under the [AROS Public License](/source/AROS_Public_License) in December 2012.[13]

The open source [Worker (file manager)](/source/Worker_(file_manager)) is heavily inspired by the Directory Opus 4 series.[14]

## See also

- [Comparison of file managers](/source/Comparison_of_file_managers)

## References

1. Mendelson, Edward (2004-06-08). "File Managers". *PC Magazine*. Vol. 23, no. 10. Ziff Davis. p. 132. [ISSN 0888-8507](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0888-8507)

1. Rubenking, Neil J. (2006-04-11). "Incredibly useful utilities, Directory Opus 8". *PC Magazine*. Vol. 25, no. 6. Ziff Davis. pp. 98–99. [ISSN 0888-8507](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0888-8507)

1. Mendelson, Edward (2005-02-08). "Replace Windows Explorer". *PC Magazine*. Vol. 24, no. 2. Ziff Davis. p. 46. [ISSN 0888-8507](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0888-8507)

1. Harac, Ian (2014-03-31). ["Directory Opus 11 review: The premier file manager for power users"](http://www.pcworld.com/article/2137351/directory-opus-11-review-the-premier-file-manager-for-power-users.html). *PCWorld*. Retrieved 2017-05-16.

1. Mendelson, Edward (2005-05-24). "File Managers". *PC Magazine*. Vol. 24, no. 9. Ziff Davis. pp. 92–93. [ISSN 0888-8507](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0888-8507)

1. Holborn, Jason (April 1993). "Directory Opus 4". *Amiga Format*. No. 45. Future Publishing. p. 135. [ISSN 0957-4867](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0957-4867)

1. ["Directory Opus 9 release announcement"](http://resource.dopus.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4526)

1. ["Directory Opus 10 release announcement"](http://resource.dopus.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13940)

1. ["Directory Opus 11 release announcement"](http://blog.dopus.com/2014/03/directory-opus-11-is-now-available.html)

1. ["Directory Opus 12 release announcement"](http://blog.dopus.com/2016/09/directory-opus-12-is-now-available.html)

1. ["Directory Opus 13 Now Available!"](https://resource.dopus.com/t/directory-opus-13-now-available/48103). 23 January 2024.

1. ["Amiga DirectoryOpus 4 Released Under GPL"](http://slashdot.org/story/00/01/30/007250/amiga-directoryopus-4-released-under-gpl). 31 January 2000.

1. ["Dopus5 – Directory Opus 5 (OpenSource)"](https://sourceforge.net/p/dopus5allamigas/code/66/tree/README.txt)

1. Ralf Hoffman. ["Worker file manager"](http://www.boomerangsworld.de/cms/worker/). *boomerangsworld.de*

## External links

- [Directory Opus 4 Research Project](http://dopus.free.fr)
- [Opus Resource Centre Forum](http://resource.dopus.com)
- [Getting to know Directory Opus (Guide)](http://www.pretentiousname.com/opus/index.html)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Directory Opus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directory_Opus) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directory_Opus?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.