Creating new cabinets

To create a new cabinet, use the New Cabinet submenu from the shortcut menu that appears when clicking on the Berokyo icon in the menu bar, and then select the desired cabinet style.

Later, you’ll be able to fully personalize its style using the personalization options.

To resize the cabinet and make it any size you want just drag any of its four edges.

When you create a new cabinet it is assigned the CMD+1, CMD+2, …, CMD+0 hotkey by default. If you want you can change this hotkey using the personalization options.

Once the cabinet is created the Quick Start dialog is automatically shown to allow you to quickly perform the most common actions, e.g., change the cabinet style, add categories, add items, personalize the cabinet, dock it to any screen edge, etc. You can show the Quick Start dialog at any time by simply pressing CMD+F1.

You can create an unlimited number of cabinets and add an unlimited number of items to them.

Showing and hiding cabinets

To show a specific cabinet press its hotkey or use the Show Cabinet submenu from the shortcut menu that appears when clicking on the Berokyo icon in the menu bar. To easily recognize cabinets in this submenu you can assign them names using the personalization options.

To hide a specific cabinet, first click on it to activate it, and then press Esc. Also, if the cabinet is docked to any screen edge, you can enable the auto hide feature so it hides automatically after a few seconds when it loses the keyboard focus. If you want to enable this feature use the personalization options or press CMD+H to toggle it on/off.

If you have created several cabinets you can cycle through them clockwise by pressing ALT+Tab. To cycle counterclockwise press ALT+SHIFT+Tab. When cycling if a cabinet is hidden it will be automatically shown and activated.

By default, the cabinets when shown are not kept visible on top of other windows. If you want to enable this feature use the personalization options or press CMD+T to toggle it on/off.

Furthermore, you can show all the cabinets at once by simply pressing the CMD+F10 hotkey. To hide all the visible cabinets press the CMD+F11 hotkey. Both hotkeys can be changed in the application preferences.

Finally, you can show a cabinet in kiosk or full screen mode. Simply press CMD+K or CMD+F to toggle this feature on/off, respectively.

Docking cabinets to the screen edge

To dock a cabinet to any screen edge (left, right, top or bottom) use the personalization options or the Dock To Screen Edge submenu from the Cabinet menu in the menu bar or the shortcut menu that appears when CTRL-clicking anywhere on the cabinet. Alternatively, you can use these keyboard shortcuts:

When docked, the cabinet will show up, by default, whenever you touch the screen edge with the mouse pointer. If you want to prevent the cabinet from showing if you accidentally move the mouse pointer to the screen edge, e.g., when scrolling or closing a window, go to the personalization options and enter how many seconds the mouse should stay on the screen edge for the docked cabinet to show up and/or check the But only if I am holding down the key (CTRL, ALT, SHIFT, CMD) option.

Working with categories and subcategories

Before adding items to a cabinet it is recommended to create one or more categories or subcategories so you can keep them organized.

To create a new category, use the New Category command from the Categories menu in the menu bar or the shortcut menu that appears when CTRL-clicking anywhere on the cabinet.

To create a new subcategory, use the New Subcategory command from the shortcut menu that appears when CTRL-clicking on any category or subcategory.

If you want to rename any category or subcategory just double-click it, write the new name and press Enter to accept the changes.

You can arrange the categories and subcategories in your favorite order using the Move ‘Category’ To submenu from the Categories menu in the menu bar or the shortcut menu that appears when CTRL-clicking on the specific category or subcategory.

To expand/collapse any category or subcategory, just double-click it (outside the name). If the collapsed category or subcategory contains other subcategories, they will be collapsed too.

Adding items to cabinets

To add items to an existing cabinet, first show and activate the cabinet, create the target category or subcategory, and then do one of the following:

• Drag-and-drop one or multiple files and folders into it. You can start the drag operation from almost any location, e.g., your Desktop, Web Browser or Finder.
  
  

• Go to your Desktop or open Finder, select the files and/or folders and press CMD+C to copy them to the Clipboard. Then select the target category and press CMD+V.
  
  

• Use the Add Items submenu from the Items menu in the menu bar or the shortcut menu that appears when CTRL-clicking anywhere on the cabinet or the target category, respectively. This submenu will allow you to browse for files or quickly add, for instance, Desktop Items, Applications, Utilities, Safari Bookmarks, Documents, Music, Pictures, etc.
  
  

When you add web items (url, webloc, html or htm), their thumbnails are generated in the background and the process may take a few seconds for each item to complete. As soon as they are generated they start replacing the default icons.

Selecting multiple items

Items are selected, by default, when you click on them; however, if you prefer to use CMD-click to select an item and single-click to open (launch) it, you can set it using the application preferences.

You can select multiple items to quickly open, drag, move or remove them. To select multiple items do one of the following:

• To select consecutive items, press and hold down CMD and click the first item, then press and hold down SHIFT and click the last item.
  
  
• To select nonconsecutive items, press and hold down CMD and then click each item.
  
  
• To select all the visible items in the cabinet, press CMD+A, or on the shortcut menu, click Select All Items.
  
  

If you have selected some items and then want to clear the selection, click on a blank area.

Working with items

When you CTRL-click on an item a shortcut menu will appear that allows you to perform some operations on that item. You can open it, remove it, hide/show its name, show it in Finder, move it, refresh its thumbnail or rename it. Also, you can perform most of these operations using the associated keyboard shortcuts.

You can use the Properties window to easily view or change the selected item properties. The currently supported properties are: target, name, description and tags.

You can use most of these properties as filters when finding items by simply using the Search Names Only (ALT+4), Search Descriptions Only (ALT+5), Search Tags Only (ALT+6) and Search All (ALT+7) commands.

You can arrange items to put them in any order you want by simply dragging them around. Items can also be dragged to other categories in the same or different cabinets. Furthermore, items can be copied or moved using the Clipboard and the copy (CMD+C), cut (CMD+X) and paste (CMD+V) commands.

At any time you can show or hide the item's name using the Toggle Name command from the shortcut menu that appears when CTRL-clicking on the item or pressing CMD+L.

Items are opened (launched), by default, when you double-click on them; however, if you prefer to use single-click to open (launch) an item and CMD-click to select it, you can set it using the application preferences. You can also open (launch) items by simply pressing Enter. If you press SHIFT+Enter the Finder will show you the items location.

To quickly find and open (launch) items, start typing anywhere on the cabinet (results will start appearing as you type), then press Tab to move the focus to the found results, select the desired item using the Arrow/Cursor (press and hold down SHIFT to select multiple items), and press Enter. To clear the current search (if any) press CMD+Backspace.

Finally, to dynamically change the size of the thumbnails use the slider located at the bottom right corner of the cabinet. Only images, videos and webpage thumbnails can be up to 256 pixels in size. The maximum size of icons is limited to 128 pixels.

Quick Search

Instead of opening a browser and visiting the home page of your search provider every time you want to search the web, you can simply press CTRL+Space to activate the Quick Search window or use the Quick Search command from the shortcut menu that appears when clicking on the Berokyo icon in the menu bar. The Quick Search hotkey can be changed in the application preferences.

From this window you can search the web using the main search providers – including the powerful YubNub, as well as find items in all the cabinets at once. To change the current search provider, click the search icon on the left and select another from the shortcut menu. Alternatively, you can use the associated keyboard shortcuts.

Personalization

Berokyo can be fully customized. You can select a different style or modify the patterns and colors used to fill the cabinet and shelves, add your own patterns and colors, enter a name for the cabinet, change its activation hotkey, etc.

You can access the personalization options using the Personalize menu in the menu bar or the shortcut menu that appears when CTRL-clicking anywhere on the cabinet.

If you want to use a solid color for the background, don't forget to set the background pattern to None; otherwise the pattern will be shown over the selected solid color.

You can delete any user-defined patterns and colors by simply pressing the DEL key.

To change the hotkey simply click the editbox and then enter the new hotkey on your keyboard. You can enter almost any key in combination with the CTRL, CMD, ALT, and SHIFT modifiers. However, when changing the hotkey keep in mind that no other application can use the selected key combination. If the selected hotkey conflicts with an access key in another application, that access key will not work. An access key is a letter or number that, when used in combination with the ALT, CMD or CTRL key, carries out an action, e.g., CMD+S in TextEdit saves the file being edited.

Preferences

You can access the application preferences using the Preferences command from the Personalize menu in the menu bar or the shortcut menu that appears when clicking on the Berokyo icon in the menu bar.

To change a hotkey simply click the editbox and then enter the new hotkey on your keyboard. You can enter almost any key in combination with the CTRL, CMD, ALT, and SHIFT modifiers. However, when changing the hotkey keep in mind that no other application can use the selected key combination. If the selected hotkey conflicts with an access key in another application, that access key will not work. An access key is a letter or number that, when used in combination with the ALT, CMD or CTRL key, carries out an action, e.g., CMD+S in TextEdit saves the file being edited.

If you want to run the application automatically when the system starts don’t forget to leave checked the Run at system startup option.

Also, it is recommended that you leave checked the Automatically check for updates option to be informed when a new version is available for download and have your application always updated.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Berokyo has a number of keyboard shortcuts that simplify its use.

Remember to CTRL-Click anywhere on the cabinet, categories and items to show up the shortcut menu with all the related commands.

How to clean up a cluttered desktop

If a cluttered desk is a sign of a busy worker, a cluttered desktop is a sign of a busy computer. And clutter can make it hard to find the items you need. If you hate the clutter of items on your desktop, you can:

• Go to your desktop and create a new folder named 'My Stuff', 'Desktop Items' or use any other name you like.
  
  
• Select all your desktop items (except the created folder) and drag them to this folder.
  
  
• If you already added your desktop items to Berokyo when you installed the product via the welcome wizard, go to the category containing them and remove it using the Remove 'Category' -> Include Subcategories command from the shortcut menu that appears when CTRL-clicking on the category. Otherwise, Berokyo won't be able to find such items because you moved them in the previous step.
  
  
• Activate or create the cabinet where you want to place your desktop items and use the Add Category & Items -> Desktop Items command from the shortcut menu that appears when CTRL-clicking anywhere on the cabinet. Then, Berokyo will detect that your desktop contains subfolders and will ask you what to do, select one of the first two options and press Enter.

That's it! Now you have a clean desktop and still can quickly access your items using Berokyo and its powerful incremental find feature.

Enjoy this desktop enhancement and productivity tool!