genievasup.blogg.se - Create a folder in documents

#Create a folder in documents driver
#Create a folder in documents windows 7

Nobody really predicted how much more complex and unmanageable systems would become over the years and what a mess this would make. So those got stowed away in a special folder (then called directory) like C:\DOS and the user was basically in control of the rest of the drive. I don’t know much about the history of file systems, but it seems to me that it was realised pretty early on that system and executable files are a fundamentally different “thing” than documents. Bonus points if that database can be easily and automatically synched with a service on the web, so you effectively have one set of settings irrespective of how many computers you use and where. System data, especially settings, should be stored in storage systems that resemble a database more than a file system. I think the long-term strategy should be to stop storing anything other than documents in files.

#Create a folder in documents driver

But they can't even get driver manufacturers to sign their drivers. Ultimately, I'd love to see some kind of basic certification for apps similar to the iOS App Store guidelines. So now open/save dialogs default to this location and when I click Start -> Documents, it takes me to my Dropbox. I've simply removed the %userprofile%\documents folder from this library and instead added my Dropbox folder.

#Create a folder in documents windows 7

Since Windows 7 tends to default to the "Documents" library as opposed to the Documents folder. Fortunately, in Windows 7 there's another option that works pretty well for me. I would create symbolic links for Visual Studio 2005, 2008, 2010 folders into a common "Visual Studio" folder, etc.īut even with PowerShell scripts to automate it, I got sick of doing it on every new machine I used. I would mark all of the uninvited folders as "hidden" which would make them disappear from Explorer. As a user, I came up with a bunch of hacks for trying to clean it up on my own. I have previously blogged about the Documents folder, likening it to moving out of a bad neighborhood. Though I understand you want to engage in a discussion about getting developers to stop doing this, it might wind up becoming one of those things like taskbar notification icons which couldn't be stopped so Microsoft just swept them under the rug. That is the only time it is ever appropriate to save stuff in "Documents". "Documents" itself should only ever be used if the user specified it manually by entering a path or selecting it in a Save dialog. Place your huge cache here and you'll save your user some backup trouble. This is also the place for things like caches, because like temporary data, a cache does not need to be backed up.

GetTempPath for all files that may be wiped without loss of data when not in use.

These are the same regardless of which user is logged on, and will not roam to other machines in a network.

ProgramData for machine-specific data and settings.

This is also where very large user-specific data should be placed. This data differs for every user and every machine.

LocalAppData for user-and-machine-specific data and settings.

Do not place large files here though, because they slow down login/logout in such environments. Anything placed here will be available on any machine that a given user logs on to in networks where this is configured. This is the directory to use for user-specific non-temporary data.

RoamingAppData for user-specific data and settings.

My question is: can anything be done to improve the situation sufficiently to make "Documents" useful again, say over the next 5 years? Can programmers be somehow educated en-masse not to use it as a dumping ground? Could the OS start reporting some "fake" location hidden under AppData through the existing APIs, while only allowing Explorer and the various Open/Save dialogs to know where the "real" Documents folder resides? Or are any attempts completely futile or even unnecessary?ġFor the record, here's a quick summary of the various standard directories that should be used instead of "Documents": Obviously any actual documents would immediately get lost in this mess. That's 190 MB of "documents" I didn't create. And yet, it contains 46 folders and 3 files at the top level, for a total of 800 files in 500 folders. I don't ever use it, in that I never, under any circumstances, save anything into this folder myself. So that this doesn't sound empty, take my personal "Documents" folder as an example.

Every program seems to want to put its settings, data, or something equally irrelevant into the Documents folder, despite the fact that there are folders specifically for this job 1. Anyone who likes their Documents folder to contain only things they place there knows that the standard Documents folder is completely unsuitable for this task.