8/13/2019 Computer Task Organizer Instruction Manual

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Figure 1: Computer Task Organizer interface.

Working with a computer involves many redundant activities. Most of them require runninga program and finding a file. In a typical work day, tasks may involve the same twenty files.Twenty buttons would go a long way to reducing aggravation and inefficiency. The idea ofComputer Task Organizeris to push one button for each task in a day. The program makesit easy to define a task. Each time you find yourself doing the same activity, it takes only a fewseconds to automate it.

Figure1shows theCTO interface. You can define up to six categories of tasks, representedby the colored buttons at the top1. A category is a list of tasks. Each line represents adocument (text file, spreadsheet, html page, pdf file, Internet site,). The line contains the nameof the activity, the program used and the corresponding document (or URL). Double-clickinganywhere in a task row runs the program and opens the document. CTOoperation is simple.Whenever you find myself doing something you did before, go to the appropriate category andpress the New entry button to add a dummy task at the bottom of the list. Right-click theTask nameentry to enter edit mode, then type the name. Left-click the Task programentry tocall a pick-file dialog, then navigate to the program directory and choose it. Finally, left-click

the Task documententry and choose the target document. Note that 1) the CTO window isresizeable and 2) the program preserves all settings between sessions. To open this document,press F1.

1Only the first category (red button) is active in the free version.

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Add a task

Go to the appropriate category and click the New taskbutton. The program creates a dummy

entry at the bottom of the list. Right-click the Task name to edit its value. There are twooptions to specify the full paths of the corresponding program and document.

Left-click theTask programorTask documentto bring up the standard Windows find-filedialog.

Right-click the entry to edit it. Type a path or modify an existing one. In edit mode,press CTRL-C to copy the path to the Window clipboard. In this case, you can enteredit mode in another Task program or Task document entry and paste the path usingCTRL-V.

When setup is complete, double-click anywhere in the task row to open the Task documentwith the Task program.

Select and arrange tasks

The operation buttons are immediately below the category buttons (Fig. 1). Operations areperformed on selected tasks. Left-click the Task name to select a single row. You can selectmultiple rows by holding down the CTRLkey while left-clicking task names. To select a block,left-click the top Task name, hold down the SHIFTkey and left-click the bottom name. Toorganize the order of activities, select one or more tasks. Then left-click a Task nameinside theselection and move the rows up or down while holding down the left button. To alphabetizeentries, click the right-hand side of the title cell that contains the string Task name. Theoperation buttons perform the following functions:

New entry. Create a dummy task at the bottom of the list in the current category.

Copy rows. Press this buttom after selecting one or more rows to copy all informationto the internal program clipboard.

Cut rows. Press this buttom after selecting one or more rows to move all informationto the internal program clipboard.

Paste rows. If there are stored rows in the internal program clipboard, add them at

the end of the current category list. This operation is useful for moving tasks betweencategories when used with the Copy or Cutoperations.

Delete rows. Press this buttom after selecting one or more rows to erase tasks.

Organize categories

Categories are useful to arrange tasks by types and to ensure that the lists are short enoughto read easily. Use the colored buttons at the top to switch between catagories. To name abutton, right-click on it and type a name. (The names contain a maximum of 14 characters andare shown in upper case.) To move one or more tasks to a different category, select the tasks

and click Cut rows. Then go to the desired category and clickPaste rowsto add the tasks atthe end of the list.

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Operation tips

Here are some suggestions for program use.

Documents are not limited to your local computer. As an example, the following entriesload and display an Internet page:Task program: C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exeTask document: http://www.kbd-infinity.com/index.html.

You can run an FTP program and login to a specific site. For example:Task program: C:\Program Files (x86)\FileZilla FTP Client\filezilla.exeTask document: ftp://[user]:[password]@anysite.us(Important note: do not include a password if there is a possibility that other peoplewill have access to your computer.)

Many tasks use the same program (like the PDF viewer in Fig. 1). Instead of searchingfor the program, copy and paste a task that uses the same program and then edit theTask name and Task document. Even better, find a task where the document is in thesame location or close to the new document. In this case, the pick-file dialog will open inthe same or a nearby folder, reducing the amount of navigation.

If you install CTO on multiple computers, its not necessary to re-enter all the tasks.Instead, copy the program configuration file to the new computer. The configuration fileComputerTaskOrganizer.CFG is in your user directory under:...\AppData\Roaming\KBDInfinity\ComputerTaskOrganizer

Note that it may be necessary to correct some program and document paths.

CTOworks by launching the Task programwith the Task documentas a command-lineparameter. Some programs (like text editors) may use spaces as a command-line delimiter.Be aware that there may be problems opening files that have names with spaces.

To run a program with no input, leave the Task documentfield blank.

Purchase and activate the program

In the free CTO version, only the first category is active. Please follow these instructions to

purchase a license:

Go to http://www.kbd-infinity.com/cto purchase.html and follow the instructions.The license cost is $4.99 (USD). Payment may be made by credit card or PayPal.

Be sure to supply a valid E mail address. We will send an activation number within oneday.

RunCTO and right-click in a empty part of the window to raise a pop-up menu. ChooseActivate program.

Type your E mail address and the activation number then click OK. The program displaysthe license information and changes to full-function mode.

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