Group organizing of connection profiles

[timint]

Hi, I just discovered this amazingly awesome transfer client. Supernice job!

Coming from FlashFXP I am missing a way to group the added connection profiles (Servers). So I thought I could bring this up as a convenient thing to have.

[axpnet]

Hi @timint, thank you, and thanks especially for the FlashFXP reference!

It is always a pleasure to see one of the good old tools come back up. From day one, one of AeroFTP's goals has been exactly this: to give a fresh, modern face to the great but dated software many of us grew up on, apps with interfaces that look their age yet are still perfectly capable. FlashFXP is squarely in that camp, so a request like this is right at home here.

And good news: it is now implemented and on main for the next build (4.0.5). AeroFTP already kept saved-server favourites (the star) in an encrypted per-user store, so I generalised that into named groups: a group is simply a named favourites list, which means your existing profiles are untouched and nothing has to be re-entered.

What you get on the My Servers screen:

• New group button next to the filter chips, just like FlashFXP's New Group.
• Each group shows up as its own chip with a live count; click it to show only that group's servers.
• Add to group in a server's right-click menu: tick or untick membership, or New group... to create one seeded with that server.
• Right-click a group chip to rename or delete it. Deleting a group keeps the servers, it only removes the grouping.
• Groups are stored per user and carry across a profile convert or duplicate.

For this first cut I kept it to flat groups (one level), which matches the layout in your screenshot. If you rely on nested sub-folders (groups inside groups), just say so and I'll look at adding nesting on top: the storage model already leaves room for it.

Commit d8ed076e, tracked in #308 (row 19) with a full write-up here.

[timint]

Good news already :) Show a screenshot if you have.

1-level is perfect, or the concept might get over cooked. I come from an obsession of minimalist thinking. :)

The UX is a bit of a learning curve. I discovered my brain muscle has some struggles. If I get the chance, and if I can put words on thoughts I'd be happy to provide some feedback on that. That's off topic so won't go any deeper. In general I am just super excited to see someone doing such a nice project. For years I was thinking I was gonna have to reinvent an FTP client myself, but luckily I found this project on alternativeto.net.

[axpnet]

A sneak peek at the new, side-switchable, retractable sidebar in action with the new "Groups"

Coming very soon in v4.0.5

[timint]

It turned out awesome, I like it 👍

[EhudKirsh]

Hello @timint, and welcome to AeroFTP.

Besides the new Groups feature, the multiple Users feature is not just for multiple people sharing the same computer,
but also for this exact purpose: to group server profiles. The Users feature is accessible at the top-right of the AeroFTP GUI window.

By using both features, you can effectively unlock two layers for grouping profiles. Hopefully, that is plenty for now.
The difference between Users and Groups is that you can also set an icon and a password for Users.

I personally set up what I call "Experimental" users, where I test unstable cloud drives, including those new to AeroFTP.
I also use these to import Rclone remotes separately from my "Main" admin user. I wrote about this in #266 (comment) in more detail.

Feel free to give both the Users and Groups features a try.