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Finding the path of a file on your computer

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skwire:
So I'd like a utility I could run that would tell me the complete path for that file. Please don't laugh - I know it's simplistic...
-spectrekitty (August 30, 2014, 05:53 PM)
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A tray utility that showed RECENT files and RECENT folders when clicked would solve this and be a nice coding snack..
-mouser (August 30, 2014, 06:00 PM)
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Give this a try:  http://skwire.dcmembers.com/apps/snacks/Pathfinder.zip

Unpack the archive and run Pathfinder.exe.  The program adds an icon to your tray that you can right click and it will display a menu of the ten most recent entries (full paths) in your Windows Recent folder.  Selecting one of the menu items copies that path to the clipboard.  However, this can easily be changed to open said menu item (or give a choice of the two).  If you want to display more or fewer than ten menu items, choose Options from the menu, adjust the value in the INI file and save it, and then choose Reload from the tray menu.  I've tested this in W7/64 adn XP/32 (VM) and it seems to work okay.

Stoic Joker:
There seems to be one rather critically salient point that is getting missed here. In that all of the recent file activity/MRU lists deal with sessions that have already been closed. The OP appears to be more interested in verifying what the target(s) of file I/O sessions that are currently active is/are...before the relevant application is closed. Which is when it would be committed to historical MRU style lists.

I want to be sure I can find it again before I feel I can close it.-spectrekitty (August 30, 2014, 05:53 PM)
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skwire:
The OP appears to be more interested in verifying what the target(s) of file I/O sessions that are currently active is/are...before the relevant application is closed.-Stoic Joker (September 01, 2014, 12:37 PM)
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I ran the following test:


* Started up Pathfinder.
* Started up Word.  Entered some text.  Saved the file as test.docx.  Did not close Word at this time.
* Right-clicked the Pathfinder icon in my tray.  Verified that test.docx appeared in the menu.  Word is still open at this time.
Now, I do agree that not all opened folders or files get added to the Recent folder.  However, it seems that most do and that might be good enough for spectrekitty.

rjbull:
I suggest you investigate Listary Pro, but you would indeed need the Pro version ($19.95, life-time updates for free for all future versions).  Left-click on my Listary Pro tray icon, click Recent:
Finding the path of a file on your computer
Take a look at the plethora of detailed screenshots and videos on their web site.  Listary Pro has a built-in file search that works with Windows Explorer.

IainB:
I'm just supposing and thinking about this here:
The utility I need may seem silly, but sometimes I have a file up - say, a Word doc - & I know it's been saved, because is has a title other than Document (#). But I'm not sure where I saved it! I want to be sure I can find it again before I feel I can close it. So I'd like a utility I could run that would tell me the complete path for that file. Please don't laugh - I know it's simplistic...
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-spectrekitty (August 30, 2014, 05:53 PM)
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I initially ignored this part of the OP as I felt that it was simplistic/infeasible, but after following this thread I belatedly realised that it seems to be based on a requirement that I have often had under conditions and in a process where:
(a) it relates to a file that has already been saved at least once (but at an indeterminate date/time) by an (MS Office?) application;
(b) it relates to a  file that is currently open in said application and which might be about to be closed unchanged, or saved with some new changes;
(c) the user requires feedback/confirmation as to where (path) the file that is about to be closed will be saved;

If the file has not been opened for some time, then it might not be in the MRU list until after it has been closed/saved. (Is that true?) That might be too late for the user's purposes.
Why would a user want to know the path at that point in time?

One real-life example I could give as an answer here would be that I didn't want MS Office or other application to do it's usual thing and just close/save the document without telling me in some memorable way where it has put it, because, as we all know, MS Office and other applications often leave you with the subsequent need to know where the blasted document has been put so you can satisfy yourself that it is where you want it to be put.
Left to its own, the application will generally save the document in a default location (e.g., a special folder such as My Documents, or wherever it opened the file from).
What could be really useful to many users would be:
(i) to press a hotkey and be told immediately where (destination path) that file will be closed/saved to by default when you close/save it;
(ii) to then be given an opportunity to change that destination path, or add a new file Tag or something (i.e., take some action or other);
(iii) to then close/save and move the file to a specific, required path (default or otherwise) accordingly.

This could imply some kind of memory-resident application that monitors application windows for certain types of file-closing activity and which communicates with the user (as above) appropriately, immediately and intuitively, prior to closing a file. It would probably be helpful if it maintained a pop-up history (log) of file paths that it had reported on.

To avoid developing a specialised app, there are some general purpose applications (I think "Beaumont" might have been one that I came across) which monitor certain folders and move files of specified types out of those folders and into a different one, when they detect a new file being closed in a watched folder. You could also consider using something such as (say) FreeFileSynce (RealTime sync module). The MS Labs Colletta project could be worth looking at for this also.

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