Viewing/Modifying Files

Occasionally you may want to View or Modify a file in the package, either using the associated application, with a specifc application, or using the built-in (text only) viewer. This is easily done using SPac: simply select the file you want to view and select Action/View from the main menu. This displays the following dialog box:

To extract and view the file using its associated application, select Associated application and press the View button.

To extract and view the file using the internal viewer, select Internal ASCII text viewer and press the View button. Note that this is only appropriate for ASCII text files. Other files can be viewed, but what appears in the editor may not be useful.

If you want to open the file with a specific application, select Viewer and choose the application from the history list, or use the button with the ellipsis (...) to select another application. When you press the View button, the file will be extracted and opened by the specified application.

In all cases, the extracted file will be wiped from local storage when the application that opened it is shut down. This maintains the security of the file by making sure that local copies of it are not left lying around on disk.

If you modified the file while it was open, you will be prompted to update the archived version of the file before the on-disk copy is deleted. This is useful for maintaining files that you want to protect. This feature is also included in the self-extracting package, making SPac a secure way of maintaining sensitive files while working as a group.

Simply double-clicking on the file will bypass this dialog box and open the file with the associated application.