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IDEA: Allow commenting of files in directory listing

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IainB:
@aurelius: You could do this (still can) using the old PCMagazine's free (giveaway) EN (Explorer Notes) v2.  :)
A brilliant little tool, it was yet another example of Neil J. Rubenking's ingenuity.  :up:
I have put a copy of the file you need to run it all here, to download: Explorer Notes v2 - en2 (Ziff Davis).zip
Just copy the files into a directory.

The file contains:

* the necessary proggies/DLL to run.
* an extensive Help file (Neil J. Rubenking, again).
* the install log file from my 1998 install (may be of use/interest).
* a link to the PCMagazine website (you have to pay to download EN2 now, it seems).  :(
Once you run EN2, "Use the Connect to Explorer" function for it to integrate into the Explorer shell. This shell integration worked fine in XP but does not yet work in my Win7 (64-bit). I intend to figure out how to fix this, but it's not top of my to do list yet - the install log file from my 1998 install may give a clue for me when I start fixing.
It worked fine when I originally used the EN v1, then v2. I had it running on Windows 95, then Windows 98, then Windows XP - it didn't need an installer, just the files per the above download.

EN uses the Registry as its database - which some people thought was a bit naughty. Mind you, xplorer² uses the Registry for similar reasons - for its "bookmarks" data.

EN is/was well-integrated with the Windows Explorer shell and with the OS, providing a comprehensive note manager. I gather it was compatible with all the 32-bit Windows platforms, but I'm not sure exactly what ts limitations are for 64-bit Windows platforms (as above).

MilesAhead:
I took a look at Explorer Notes as I was curious.  Somewhat similar to my TipOff except TipOff allows up to 4 kb of text in a comment rather than 255 characters.  Also TipOff comments can be multi-line.  When stored to file it filters out the cr/lf pairs and uses a tilde('~') in the file in their place to keep the data file simple alternating key/comment lines of text.

It's not a search engine.  When you select a file in Explorer, if it has been commented and is of the supported type:
.7z .arc, .arj, .cab, .exe, .gif, .gz, .jpg, .lzh,
  .msi, .rar, .rpm, .tar, .tgz, .txt, .Z, and .zip

The comment will show in a ToolTip.

Otherwise you right click the file, select Properties, then click the Comment Tab.  There's an EditBox where you can read and edit the comment.  You can use Enter and spaces to make comments appear somewhat aligned.

There's an adjustment in the Windows OS to set the ToolTip speed(mouse hover delay.)  See the help file.  But even when you decrease the delay it's not as smooth as I'd like it.  The ideal might be to have an app window open and send the comment to it.  But Explorer integration is really tough.  Especially when they insist on changing things every time a new Windows comes out.

I probably saw the Rubening utility as I used to subscribe to PC Mag back then.  Probably what inspired me to try to write my own. :)

One big pita with this type of utility is moving the files. Due to the drive letter thing. I ended up putting in a shell extension to copy the files with the corresponding comments to another folder.  Also I put a data file in the current folder to get away from the drive letter being part of the key to the comment.  But it really needs to be part of the file system to be smooth in my opinion.

But as a quick test you might try using the Rubenking utility in a 32 bit file manager.  My 32 bit TipOff will work on 64 bit systems if using 32 bit FreeCommander instead of 64 bit Explorer.  The same is likely true of Rubenking's DLL. It's got to be a 32 bit shell extension.

MilesAhead:
Uggg, no joy in a simple solution I see. I have renamed some downloaded files to make their association a little easier to retain their 'meaning' but nothing on a regular basis. (Sometimes what seems logical at time of downloads changes with the passing of time on my part.) Tagging would sort of help but not my desired solution. I use "Everything" to run file searches which helps root out files but this is dependent upon my remembering parts of file names and what not. The older I get the harder it is to remember them dang parts of titles, )). I will keep looking though.
-aurelius (August 23, 2011, 03:30 PM)
--- End quote ---

I know what you mean. When using aliases in Windows to launch commands I often remember what the program does, but forget the alias as well as the program name. It can be frustrating.

aurelius:
This shell integration worked fine in XP but does not yet work in my Win7 (64-bit). I intend to figure out how to fix this
-IainB (August 23, 2011, 04:34 PM)
--- End quote ---

IainB, this sort of defeats me as I am using the win 7 x64. (  but thanx for the tip thought. And I believe I am a member of the pcmag's site, just haven't been in a while. ))

bob99:

Would using the comment field in XYplorer be of help?  I'm still getting comfortable with all of the ins & outs of XY and just started utilizing it's comment field.  XYplorer uses it's own "Comment" field and not the Win Explorer's "Comments" one. But I noticed both are shown while doing a mouseover in XY.  And you can show the comments as a column in the folder/directory listing in XY.  For me, I also like that I can select multiple files in the folder and add the the same comment (or tag(s)) to all at the same time instead of one by one.
May be that some or all of the other file managers listed above can do this also.

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