The AM Forum

Just wondering if anyone is using Windows 7, and have figured out Libraries.

I have downloaded and saved documents and not been able to find a trace of them on the HDD. Turns out there are Documents folders in Computer and another one in Libraries, but they don't have the same content. There is also a "My Documents" folder. Some of my saved items ended up in one and some in the other.  Since there are multiple folders containing the word Documents in their name, I have become totally confused.  I tried the M$ website explanation[/urs] but it is about as clear as the instructions on a federal income tax form.

M$ says this is supposed to be a tool for making it easier to store and retrieve documents, but for me, it has made it at least a degree of magnitude more difficult. (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd861346.aspx)

The easiest thing to do is create a Documents folder in the root directory (C:\). When you go to download and save a document from the web, before you hit the Save button, verify that your target Directory is C:\documents Once the file is saved; it's easy to find; it's right off the root directory. You can easy make an icon on your desktop to click on to take you directly to that directory. You can then either keep the downloaded file(s) or move them to specific places to other directories on your hard drive. Even in Vista, there are multiple "document" directories depending on the number of users(individual and public).

I tried to simplify things by renaming "My Documents" to "My Stuff".

I still find under my profile (Users/Don) Documents (desktop icon)/My Documents/Documents.   "My Stuff" turns up under Libraries.

But when I click on the Computer icon on desktop, the only file in the C drive is the OS.  Under Users I find my profile, and under it I find "My Stuff", with a Documents sub-folder.

It goes like this: Computer/OS(C:)/Users/Don/My Stuff/Documents

This is like a dog or cat  chasing its tail, and I haven't yet been able to make heads and tails out of it.

So you are saying create a Documents folder under "Hard Disc Drives" along side of OS(C:), or under Users/Don? I would think it would go under my profile, so it doesn't show up when other users log in.

I think I'll create a temporary folder on my desktop and move every file in every Documents folder I can find, whether  under Documents or Libraries, until I can straighten out the mess, then delete some of the superfluous Documents folders, start over with one simple Document folder under Users/Don and add appropriate sub folders, and then rename all the folders in that Libraries crap to something that is distinctly recognisable from the rest, at least until I can maybe figure out what it is supposed to be getting at.

The M$ site says that Libraries is a feature that is "an integral part of the Windows Shell" and is not the same thing as a set of folder and sub folders, whatever that is supposed to mean. This has to be the most confusing mess they have come up with yet.

All and all, I like Windows 7 OK and it seems to work at least on par with XP, but this document folders mess is one bit of feature creep that I could have lived without.

If you have more then one user, that would be the place to put it. Since I'm the only user on my machines, it's probably one or two levels less complicated.

Don, a good explanation here:

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/developers/archive/2009/04/06/understanding-windows-7-libraries.aspx (http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/developers/archive/2009/04/06/understanding-windows-7-libraries.aspx)

I find the function very handy as I have pictures stored in dozens of folders (by date of unload / by name of the event / etc.).

73, Bill   N2BC