IRIS offers a file browser application which has a similar look and feel to the Microsoft file explorer. The IRIS file browser window is shown below:
No special set up or configuration step needs to take place before using the IRIS file browser.
To use IRIS's file browser, choose "File Browser" from the Application selection pane, or from the Go->IRIS Applications menu.
The IRIS File Browser window has 2 parts. Its left window displays the file tree structure of your local host, and its right window displays the content of the selected folder from the tree.
Clicking on a folder in the left window expands its content. Clicking on a file in the right window displays its associated information in the IRIS Data Item Viewer pane. Double clicking on a displayable file opens the file in a Mozilla browser window, and the IRIS application is automatically switched to "Web Browser".
The Data Item Viewer Pane allows you to provide additional information for each file you access such as related Projects, related Tasks, and Notes.
Managing files in the file browser is very similar to managing files in Windows Explorer.
Click View->List in the top menu bar of IRIS to see a simple listing of files. Or, click View->Details to see the list of files with size, type, and date/time modified information.
A file or folder may be cut or copied in two different ways. You may right-click on any file, folder, or grouped selection in the folder-tree or folder-contents window and then select "Cut" or "Copy." An alternative to this method is to use keyboard shortcuts; Ctrl-X cuts the currently selected item and Ctrl-C copies it.
If a file, folder, or group of items reside on the clipboard from a previous cut or copy operation, the item(s) can be pasted into the current directory. Right clicking in either the folder-tree or folder-contents window will show a "Paste" menu item; clicking this will complete the operation. Alternatively, Ctrl-V will paste the contents of the clipboard into the currently selected folder.
Files and/or folders may be deleted by right-clicking on them and choosing "Delete." A synonymous operation can be done by pressing the "Delete" key on one's keyboard.
Folders can be created in the File Browser by right-clicking on a folder in the folder-tree window or right-clicking anywhere in the folder-contents window and choosing "New Folder." There is no keyboard shortcut for this operation.
Files and folders can be renamed by right-clicking any item and choosing "Rename." The item name becomes editable until you press the enter key.
File Browser can harvest your files in two different ways: instant harvesting and systematic harvesting.
Any time harvesting occurs, 5 pieces of information are stored into the knowledge base.
file name
absolute path
file extension
file size
last modified date
Instant Harvesting occurs automatically anytime a file is selected in the folder-contents window. After the file is harvested, it will appear in the history list and the Data Item Viewer Pane below.
Systematic harvesting is started by selecting "Harvest Local Files" from the "File" menu. This operation will bring up the Harvest Local Files dialog shown below:
In the dialog, select the top level folders that you want harvested by clicking the checkbox next to the folder name.
The first click will select only that folder, signified by a greyed-out checkbox.
The second click will select that folder and all of its subfolders, signified by a green colored checkbox.
A third click will deselect that folder and all subfolders.
Clicking the "Configure File Extensions" button will bring up the file extension dialog, shown below. This dialog can also be accessed by clicking File->Configure File Extensions in the top menu bar of IRIS.
This dialog allows you to customize which types of ontology objects are created for specific file types. In the above display, for example, jar files will be created as archives in the knowledge base.
If the "Ignore all unspecified filetypes" checkbox is selected, all file types not listed will not be harvested. If the checkbox is deselected, only the file types listed in the "Ignored" field will be ignored; any other file types will be created as generic files in the knowledge base.
After the folders are selected and the file extensions are configured, you may select the "Next" button on the "Harvest Local Files" dialog. A summary list will appear displaying which folders are to be harvested.
Items in the list ending with an asterisk (*) are folders that will be deep harvested, which means the files in the specified folder and all sub-folders will be harvested. All other folders will be used to harvest files locally, meaning just in that folder, skipping files in all subfolders.
When you select the "Harvest" button, the dialog will close and harvesting will begin. A small informative panel will appear in the lower portion of the folder-contents window. This panel displays the current status of the harvest.
To get a more detailed display of the harvest's status information, click the "Show" button. A detailed file harvest dialog will appear.
Harvesting may be paused by clicking
either the 
or "Pause" button and resumed again by clicking either
the 
or "Resume" button. Harvesting may be cancelled at any
time be pressing the 
or "Cancel"
button.