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Last post Author Topic: Program Whose Time Has Come: virtual folders, collections, file baskets...  (Read 36771 times)

tranglos

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What would be the one program you would like to have most that is already possible but doesn't quite seem to exist yet? A Program Whose Time Has Come? For me, it would be a powerful sidekick to file managers: a program to manage virtual folders, a.k.a file collections, a.k.a file baskets/organizers... Hope someone comes up with a catchier name!

The time when the simple folder hierarchy ceased to suffice is long gone, isn't it? I've seen plenty of requests for such functionality on various forums, but strangely no real takers yet. I'll describe my experience with the existing solutions, pretty immature all, but first, here's what the program would do:

A virtual folder is a folder that doesn't exist physically on disk. It is merely a name for a collection of files selected by the user for whatever purpose or gathered automatically according to some criteria. The "whatever" is pretty darn big - I come up with new potential uses for such a program every day. Here are the three main uses of file collections I can see. (Please add others if my three don't exhaust the range of possibilities). Each of these uses requires slightly different behaviors, but it seems possible to accommodate them all in a single application.

Use case 1. Creating ad-hoc file collections in order to do something immediately with the files: zip them, copy them somewhere, encode them to mp3, backup them, email them as attachments, etc. File managers make such tasks easy only as long as all the files you need reside in the same folder (or under the same parent folder, if you can think of a pattern to match the required files). However, if you want to zip or backup files residing in different folders, it becomes a prolonged task. File collections would help a lot here.

These collections are by nature temporary and need not be persisted. Our hypothetical virtual folders program needs to be able to execute external applications passing the collected filenames to them (e.g. to an archiver or an encoder). Some of these features (zipping, copying) could be built in, but the program must be extensible enough to allow user to do any (unforeseen by the author) operations on the file collection.

Use case 2. Creating disk catalogs, i.e. "snapshots" of the current contents of drives or directories. These would be persistent collections and should not be automatically refreshed. (If you want to catalog your CDs or DVDs, there will be a different disk in the cd-rom drive every time, and existing catalogs of previously inserted discs must be preserved untouched). There isn't much users will actually "do" with these collections - just view them, search, save as text, print.

Use case 3. Collections of files arbitrarily chosen by the user to represent a concept or a project. For example, if you are a freelancer working for several clients, you may have one physical directory on disk for each client. Inside each directory there will be subfolders holding different types of files - the files you work on, invoices, old archives and other data. Now, if you wanted to look at all the invoices for all the clients, you'd have to navigate through all the folders in sequence. Instead, you could create a collection (a perfect use case for a "virtual folder") to list all the invoices in one place, so that you don't have to find them manually. The collection could be maintained manually (add each invoice by hand as you create it) or automatically (e.g. add every file that matches the pattern "invoice*.xls" from all subfolders under c:\MyClients). In the same way you could have an automated collection that lists invoices for the current year only, etc.

These collections should be persistent and *may* be automatically refreshed, depending on the semantics of a particular collection (i.e., what a collection represents).

Collections of the third type would probably be most common. You could use them to gather files for a specific project you're working on, or specific files from all your projects so far; you could create playlists, or automatically generate lists of all mp3s by a given artist or with a given genre. You could have a collection of all .lnk files in your Start menu (and use the program a little like FARR), or a collection of all "readme.txt" files for all the software you have written. Or you could have a collection of shortcuts to all uninstallers for the programs you have installed (a little like the Control Panel "Add or remove programs" applet). There are no limits here, and the potential usefulness is, I think, awesome.

The collections come in different types according to how they are created. You would select a collection type that corresponds to how you want to use a collection.

Type 1 Manual collections. You create them by hand, by adding / dragging single or multiple files (or pasting filenames in a dialog box). Refreshing such a collection means checking if the files still exist, optionally removing missing files, and updating the properties (date, size) for all the files, so that the program displays current data.

Type 2: Automatic collections. You specify one or more folders and one or more filename patterns, and the program adds the files automatically to the collection. Refreshing such a collection means re-running the search according to the specified criteria (any previous contents would be cleared). Refresh could happen on opening the collection, on timer or manually. A somewhat extreme example: create a collection where the folder is "C:\", the file pattern is "*.tmp", and the option to include subfolders is enabled. The collection will be automatically refreshed when opened (it'd take some time for a large drive...) and show all the temp files on your C: drive. Press Ctrl+A to select all, then press Delete to remove all your temp files from the drive. (With macro support, the whole process could be entirely automatic and you wouldn't even have to open the collection if the refresh happened on a timer). A somewhat less radical example - create a collection of all mp3 files in your c:\music folder which match the pattern of "Pink Floyd*.mp3". Create a collection of all the invoices, as described earlier, or a colection of all files modified this week, etc.

Type 3: Scripted collections. The program would be extensible by scripting (maybe using JavaScript, Python or Pascal). The script would be responsible for building the collection. It would of course require a little programming, but you could create collections using limitless criteria of your own. Refreshing such a collection means re-running the script. A script could also be used as a bridge between our program and a search engine such as Locate, Everything or Archivarius. You could use the power of the search engine to create your file list, and the script would simply add the search results to your collection - in this case the script itself would be quite simple. (This assumes that Locate, Everything or Archivarius can save their search results to a text file - if they can't, we can pester their makers to add this simple feature). And of course, scripts could also be used to perform operations on files already gathered in collections.

Some notes:

1. I understand Windows 7 has "libraries", which are somewhat like the collections I am describing, but knowing Microsoft, the functionality of their libraries will be quite limited in comparison to what's possible.

2. The program should use a database back-end, since the number of files in a collection is potentially very large. The program should only store links to files (their full paths), and not the contents of the files. (Seems obvious, but one related application does make physical copies of the collected files. Wonder what happens when you start making collections of your ripped DVDs... Argh!)

3. The program should store its data in a way that facilitates backup.

4a. The program should ideally be implemented as a shell extension, so that its functionality is available everywhere you can use Windows Explorer. This would mean it would also be automatically available in your preferred file manager.

4b. Further, it should be transparent to Explorer: it should support the basic file operations and implement them in its specific way. For example, copying a file to a virtual folder should result in the file being added to the virtual collection (i.e., the file should not be physically copied anywhere). Deleting a file from a virtual folder should only delete the collection item, not the physical file - although there must also be a (separate) feature to delete the physical file. Renaming a file should probably just rename the collection item, etc. Moving a file to a collection should probably do nothing (since it violates the whole concept), but moving a file from a collection could perhaps move the physical file from its original location to the new one. I'm not sure about the particulars here; the important thing is that these behaviors should be consistent and should make good sense to the user. You should certainly be able, for example, to drag files from a collection to another program (e.g. to add an email attachment or to zip those files in WinZip, etc.)

4c. As a shell extension, the program should create a virtual drive in the system. All virtual folders (collections) would reside on this drive. It is bad design IMO to put virtual folders among physical directories, since it makes them hard to distinguish and may lead to loss of data through confusion (deleting a physical file when you think you're only removing it from a collection, etc.)

4d. However, the program could also be implemented as a standalone application, though it would reduce its usefulness somewhat.

5. The program should support tagging (as in Tag2Find), rating, marking files with stars or what-not, describing them and specifying aliases, so that you could refer to files by simple aliases rather then their complete, long filenames. Tagging is not sufficient by itself though, since (a) it is time-consuming, (b) it is error-prone, as you will make typos, and (c) tags are useful so long as you remember what tags you have and what they mean. It would be easy for example to forget you already have a given tag, and attach what you think is a new tag to a bunch of files, thereby creating chaos in your collection. Tagging should be an important secondary feature; a collection is merely a named list of files.

6. Ideally, for some uses, the program should be able to detect when a file has been renamed or moved, and update the collection accordingly. This is non-trivial to implement, since monitoring all drives for changes to all files is probably going to put some strain on the system. Also, for certain uses (such as disc catalogs) you do not want such automatic updates. Without this feature however, simply renaming a file could make it invisible to the collection it used to be in, so it's a problem that needs consideration.

7. Working with files in the program should in many ways be indistinguishable from working with a file manager. Enter should open/execute a file; right-click should show the shell context menu for the filetype, etc.

So finally, here's the current state of play. Some file managers implement collections to some degree: DOpus, Xplorer2 and SpeedCommander. I'm not sure what the DOpus support is like - please share, those who know!. In the other two it's quite weak. You have to use separate panels, so they're not well integrated, and usually you can have only one collection (scrap window, whatever) at a time. There is a "temp panel" plugin for Total Commander, but again, its usefulness is almost nil compared to what I've described. I'm not even sure if those collections are persistent; in the TC plugin they are not.

Outside of file managers, there are a few specialized solutions (all commercial):

Virtual Folder: http://www.virtualfolder.net/
- Didn't really work for me at all. It creates a virtual "Z:" drive, which is good. On this drive you can create regular folders, but copying a file to such folders makes a physical clone, a second copy - that doesn't make sense. You have to create a folder, right-click it and make it virtual - but then you cannot open the folder in Explorer! I just don't understand how it's supposed to work, or why the Z drive is created at all, since the screenshots show how to create a virtual folder on your regular drives, among your ordinary folders (bad idea in the first place). I gave up. There is a new incarnation of this program at http://www.virtualdisk.net/ which I have not tried yet.

Tag2Find: http://www.tag2find.com/
- A promising start, but development is on hiatus and may not resume. Some good ideas, but Tag2Find does only tagging, which really involves much more manual labor than just drag-dropping files into collections, and cannot support some of the use cases I've proposed. For example, if you want to backup a collection of files, how do you achieve that if all you have is tags? Possible perhaps, but not nearly as straightforward as dragging a bunch of files from a collection to your backup app. And no automation, so you could not automatically generate a collection of, say, all *.xls" files under some folder. Also, the right-click interface in Tag2Find is awkward. It opens a tiny, tiny edit box for entering tags, but the edit box has no focus, so you have to click it first. Did I say it's tiny? I could see myself use Tag2Find eventually, but not at all in its current state, and the program isn't being developed at the moment.

My SmartFolders: http://www.castlepeaksoftware.com/
- Same idea as Tag2Find, somewhat different implementation. Haven't installed it yet. It's also a shell extension, which is good. However, it's tag-based only, which again limits the possibilities. Looking at the screenshots, I don't like the idea of tags as checkboxes that you click - what happens when you have a hundred or two hundred tags? Or more? (Because if you're only going to have ten tags or so, you probably don't need the program in the first place!) Also, the development doesn't seem to be moving forward. Link to the downloadable file was dead and the author didn't know about that until I emailed - so probably not much interest, either.

Benubird PDF: http://www.debenu.co...nubird/features.html
- The weirdest of them all! Looks promising, with the (completely unnecessary but attractive-looking) ribbon interface. True collections as lists of files, great. Uses SQLite database, great. Claims to monitor files for changes, renames etc., pretty good. Drag a file to a collection - Benubird creates a physical copy of the file under its data folder! What the...? Let me repeat the question: what happens when you create a collection of video files, between 700 MB and 4.5 GB each? And why copy the files in the first place? For what purpose?

That's about what I've been able to find so far. Wait, I've just discovered TaskTracker: http://tasktracker.w...tions.com/index.html Despite the name, it's apparently a file organizer with virtual folders. First time I've seen this, not tested yet. Last updated in 2007, though.

...And to anyone who's read this far...if you have really read this far... drop me a line next time you're in Poland, I owe you a beer! :)
« Last Edit: July 26, 2009, 07:06 PM by tranglos »

MilesAhead

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From a programmer's pov I'd also like to see a Folder Selection dialog that didn't force you to either, click open + signs to expand a tree so you can click on the folder, or, type in the name of the folder(why have a gui if you're going to type it in?)

I'd like to see some kind of incremental search.  For example, if the only folder in the system with the name MyDownloads is under C:\EverybodysDownloads then when you type MyDo.. into the folder input line, the strand under C: should be expanded and MyDownloads highlighted.  Clicking 8 times to open a folder, or typing in the entire path is lame.  Probably why many use Windows search who would otherwise turn it off... but it's not that handy for program input as in "select a folder to copy" or whatnot.

They've been doing it the same why for how many decades now? Jeez!!

Shades

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Regarding the virtual folders:
Linux is doing that for years already. Directory Opus is also able to create and manage those (version 9 at least) inside DO.

housetier

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Some time ago (years, but how many?) I read about a file manager that gives you several "views" on your files: you have a calendar view with color-coded entries showing which project's files were worked on; you assign files to projects (nowadays one would say tags), filter by projects, date, age, and so on.

But I can't for the time of my life remember the name!  >:(

It was for Linux though...

tranglos

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Regarding the virtual folders:
Linux is doing that for years already. Directory Opus is also able to create and manage those (version 9 at least) inside DO.

Well, if I dropped Windows for Linux, I'd be out of work, so that's out of consideration :)

DOous - yes, that's why I mentioned it. I've never used it though, so I don't quite know the extent to which it supports collections. I'd be interested to find out which of my postulates are implemented.

tranglos

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Some time ago (years, but how many?) I read about a file manager that gives you several "views" on your files: you have a calendar view with color-coded entries showing which project's files were worked on; you assign files to projects (nowadays one would say tags), filter by projects, date, age, and so on.

Sounds good. Filtering and color-coding are available in advanced filenamangers to some extent. The idea for file collections has been raised again and again on TC forums, but the author doesn't seem swayed by it. (I recall him explaining that it would require a grounds-up rewrite of TC due to how the filelist panels are implemented).

On the other hand, I don't *quite* believe that explanation, since TC already shows search results in a file panel, and search results are a kind of a virtual folder, too. So is the "flat" view (Ctrl+B), which shows all files from all subfolders in a single list. These view are not persistent, but they support all or almost all the features that regular file panels do.

fenixproductions

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2tranglos
I also do not believe it is impossible in TC. There are few filesystem plugins for that but they all have some disadvantages.

As for branch view and search results we should remember that while they look like virtual filesystems, they are not. Presented files are interpreted like in standard view. All operations work on real files, no matter how it is shown.

For virtual files/folders there would be special need for additional set of methods for almost all existing ones or to make them all different. Without that, deleting file from virtual filesystem would delete the real one. It is problematic because there seem to be only "one per type" methods (one delete, one pack, etc.) but virtual systems need to operate on both: links and real resources.

wraith808

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Benubird PDF: http://www.debenu.co...nubird/features.html
- The weirdest of them all! Looks promising, with the (completely unnecessary but attractive-looking) ribbon interface. True collections as lists of files, great. Uses SQLite database, great. Claims to monitor files for changes, renames etc., pretty good. Drag a file to a collection - Benubird creates a physical copy of the file under its data folder! What the...? Let me repeat the question: what happens when you create a collection of video files, between 700 MB and 4.5 GB each? And why copy the files in the first place? For what purpose?

I use this pretty extensively, and I don't think it's meant to do what you want to do.  It's a document library manager.   It doesn't actually copy it to a folder underneath it's data folder when you add it- it only does this when you actually open it- I suppose so it doesn't have to access it from the database, and so that any changes are kept separately (which is reinforced by the fact that if you open something and change it, it asks if you want to save the changes).  Other than that, the documents are kept in the database from my experience and observation.  It's good for people who don't want documents strewn across their HDD- my use of it is I have a folder that I download documents to, or first copy them to when I haven't filed them.  BenuBird monitors that folder and automatically imports them and tags them with an unfiled tag.  I clean that up later, finding them in the collection by looking for the unfiled tag.  I archive the original documents in a different location.  It's been a godsend for me, as I don't have to go searching through folders for documents all the time.

tranglos

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I use this pretty extensively, and I don't think it's meant to do what you want to do.  It's a document library manager.

That's pretty close though, isn't it? :) While the name is not very revealing, the program is billed as something close to what I've described in the OP. Selections from the feature list:

#  Watched folders:  Watched Folders: Benubird PDF can automatically import files from folders chosen by you on a timer. It can even add author, tags or other document metadata to files during the import process.
# Collections: Organize your documents into collections so that they will only ever be one click away. Each file can belong to multiple collections, so you won't need to keep extra copies of your documents.
# Smart Collections: Dynamically generate collections of files based on rules such as "Author is Bill, Subject is Finance."
# Tags: Apply tags like "Urgent" or "Invoices" to files. The Tags Filter can then be used to locate them within a few clicks.

All of this sounds very promising. Unfortunately, you are right, it is not *quite* designed for my purpose. Although...

It's been a godsend for me, as I don't have to go searching through folders for documents all the time.

... this is just a succint expression of all my OP verbiage :) In other words, if I read nothing but your comment above, I'd still be inclined to believe it does what pretty much I need!


superboyac

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Nice tranglos, I always love your posts.

I'm a big DOpus user, and I've used the virtual file system it has.  They are called collections in Dopus.  now, I haven't used it extensively, so i can't answer all your questions, especially the ones about how it works behind the scenes.  Here's what I know:

--You can see the collections only in DOpus.  So you won't be able to use it with other file managers, including Explorer.
--I don't know where or how the collections are stored, but you access them with the prefix "coll://"
--The files are really virtual, so no extra copies or anything are made.  yeah, that would tick me off too if a virtual system made duplicates.
--In the virtual system, you can have hierarchy.  And it will either inherit the physical folder structure of the actual files, or you can make your own virtual hierarchy totally unrelated to anything physical.  Furthermore, when you drag a folder into it, you can choose whether to inherit to the physical structure, or to merely link to that folder.  The difference is that if you link, and then you double click on the folder, it will take you to the physical folder's location.  If you inherit the folder structure, then when you double-click on the folder, you'll be taken to a virtual sub-folder that mimics the actual folder, but you're still in the virtual system.  See the screenshot below:
screenshot_20090727090405.png
--I don't know about scripts and stuff.  DOpus is very configurable, so I think you can do a lot, I just don't know how at this point.  I'm pretty certain you can apply the normal DOpus scripts to virtual folders.  if that's the case, you should be able to do a lot of things.

longrun

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I don't use this feature much so I don't know which of your criteria are satisfied, but File Notes Organizer 3 (www.filenotes.com) has extensive provisions for virtual folders:

"Create a virtual folder by dragging various folders into a catalog collection.  The collection can be browsed and filtered just as if it were a normal folder, even though the contents are from many places on your PC.  This enables you to create a collection for a special task, while leaving all the files in their current folders...Collections enable the gathering together into one virtual folder psuedo shortcuts to folders and files that are distributed across the PC and network drives. These folders, files and notes may be of common topic, file type or category depending upon how you choose to implement the  Collections feature."


jpprater

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What about aliases in FARR?  I know FARR's not a file manager, but it would provide the same type of functionality.  Also, FreeMind (opensource mindmapper) supports links to directories in the file system.

Innuendo

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tranglos, that's quite the list of features you outlined in your OP, but you forgot to post the download link so we can all download and try out your new program!  ;)

Seriously, something like that would be awesome & whoever comes up with it is going to make truckloads of money. Just like you suspected, Windows 7 is making some in-roads in this area with this, but just like you suspected, it's nothing on the scale you outlined. All libraries are is a collection of user-defined folders displayed as one huge mega-folder with categories for each individual folder so it's nothing like your concept at all.

paulobrabo

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Tranglos, you owe me a beer. And yes, the idea is fantastic and the time is ripe.
English will never be my first language, it doesn't meter how hard I try.

twinkler

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Tranglos,

What a great concept, and so well articulated!

I've been collecting bookmarks for "virtual" or "tagging" file managers but haven't had the time yet to really investigate them. For what little it may be worth, here's my list of apps not already mentioned:

Detalizer
TagAndFacet
TaggedFrog
TaggTool
TagLauncher

Thanks for the food for thought!

Nod5

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Great post Tranglos! I agree that there is a strong need for virtual folder type programs on Windows. I think the most important challenge is to find a way to make the virtual folders usable from many/all programs.

Re the need for a database: I am really impressed by the speed of Everything. So impressed that I'm more and more thinking that a separate database might not be necessary for some virtual folder usage. It might be enough to have a link to a (complex, regexp) Everything search phrase which, when run, immediately does the search and display the results as a virtual folder + files.

kartal

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There is also this one but it has not been updated for long time. I am guessing that it is dead software

http://www.filenotes.com/

joiwind

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Thanks Tranglos for the TaskTracker link - I didn't know this one, it's good. In fact I was just about to post a coding IDEA/request for an improved "recent files list" app which would be very similar to TaskTrack - I might still do so !

Edvard

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xPlorer2 has such functionality called scrap containers.
From the x2 manual:
A scrap pane has several powerful uses:
  • Collect items from various places (including NN PCs) and optionally save these lists.
  • Flatten a complex folder system (contents of the folder and all its subfolders are recursively shown in a single, flat list)
  • Hold results of search operations. Save the results if necessary.
  • Search within previous search results.
  • Re-organize your collection (copy/move your files and folders to new locations)
  • Check for duplicates (and optionally delete the duplicates)
...
Scrap container is a virtual container—when you put any item in it, it does not actually create a separate copy of the original item, but only shows you an “image” of that item. When you rename, move or delete that image, x2 renames, moves or deletes the original item. Because a scrap container contains only images (and not full replicas of the real items), it occupies only a fraction of the disk space as compared to the original items it points at.

So, instead of memorizing selections of items, you ask x2 to remember collections of items: After copying items into a Scrap Container, save it with a suggestive name that reminds you of its purpose.
Tips:
    1. Include the subject (and also the date-stamp for time-bound tasks) in the filename itself (for example, Meet_2Jul.cida will remember your collection for the meeting on 2nd July.)
    2. Organize your office work and personal work into major areas. If you are more organized person, create subfolders to reflect subtopics.
Create a folder system that reflects this organization. Always store your collections in the appropriate folders; so you will know where to search. See chapter-8 for a detailed discussion about this.
    3. Using Scrap Containers, you can define and remember unlimited number of collections. As discussed, when you copy an item into a scrap container, x2 does not occupy double the disk space. Therefore, you can copy the same item into multiple scrap containers without really bothering about disk space.
« Last Edit: July 28, 2009, 10:22 AM by Edvard »

MrCrispy

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Great ideas and great post. I've said this before, WinFS was supposed to accomplish much of this, esp the part about having having a database backed file store, rich metadata and programmatic access to it. Its a real pity MS decided to scrap it.

I think this could be done more efficiently by writing a file system driver which would hook into NTFS as well as a windows service that would work at organising tags, collections etc in the background. Obviously this is not a trivial task and I'm guessing it would need OS integration to really work well.

Innuendo

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Great ideas and great post. I've said this before, WinFS was supposed to accomplish much of this, esp the part about having having a database backed file store, rich metadata and programmatic access to it. Its a real pity MS decided to scrap it.

It got scrapped because it didn't work very well. It sucked the performance out of high performance PCs I have heard.

I think this could be done more efficiently by writing a file system driver which would hook into NTFS as well as a windows service that would work at organising tags, collections etc in the background. Obviously this is not a trivial task and I'm guessing it would need OS integration to really work well.

And this was basically what WinFS was. It was a database that hooked into NTFS & I guess that just wasn't a set-up that was efficient enough and quick enough to be viable. I'm sure, though, that somewhere in the bowels of MS there's a team working on the successor to NTFS that will have this kind of stuff built into the filesystem itself rather than something bolted onto the top of something else like WinFS was.

DonL

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Virtual Folders (VFOs) are next on the XYplorer roadmap. They will be fully integrated, portable (!), ultra-fast, have a location in the folder tree, be searchable, and more. Search the XY user forum for "Virtual Folders" to get some ideas.

Don
http://www.xyplorer.com/

wraith808

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I looked at Tabbles to see if it was going to be this idea... unfortunately, it doesn't seem like it is.

m9833

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Thanks for the thread, guys! I am using Tag2Find at the moment, and am very happy with it. Detalizer also seems to be good (I have not tried it myself). I really do think that the Tags/Metadata need to be integrated in the file itself (Like in MP3s), apart from in a database. With a database, the tags only work on a particular system, and the tags are lost the moment the files are used on a different system or on a network! Does anyone know of such a solution! Thanks again!

mwb1100

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For those using XYplorer and are interested in this Virtual Folders idea, it looks like DonL is starting work on adding it to XYplorer (http://www.xyplorer....&start=15#p36688), so you may want to wander over to that forum if you want to have a hand in shaping its development to your taste.