IDEA: Instant Folder Access (no matter how deep you buried it)

[allowe]

For years I've used a program called FDwin at least twenty time per day. It was abandoned years ago, (although you can still find it here: http://www.spsoftwar...apps/FDwin/fdwin.asp ) but it only limps along in XP. Does anyone want to recreate and improve it?

Its premise is simple: an icon lives in the system tray, click it (or hit a hotkey) and up comes a small dialog box. Type in any string, hit enter, and the program displays a list of every folder on your hard drive that contains that string. Double-click the one you want and the program instantly opens an Explorer window to that folder.

Imagine: to get to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Fonts\Reqrd\Base\PFM I type "pfm" and press Enter twice instead of open Explorer, double-click this, double-click that, double-click this, double-click that, etc.

How? Once in a while you have it scan your hard drive, recording every folder it finds into a simple file. Then when you want a particular folder, it just scans that tiny file quickly, finds the full address of all the folders that match, and then feeds the chosen folder to Explorer.

And if I haven't convinced you yet to code it, maybe I have convinced you to download and try it because it will save you dozens of double-clicks everyday!

[kimmchii]

there is Find and Run Robot, works pretty close to what you describe, except it doesnt do folder, may be mouser can make this a new feature.

[brotherS]

Hi allowe, welcome aboard!

Not 100% what you described, but AutoHotkey (https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=1167.0) and Locate (https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=1385.0) are two other tools to check out.

[db90h]

A solution for you?

Any desktop search application on the planet.

My preference is Google Desktop. Some like Yahoo Desktop Search. And then there's MSN Desktop Search.

With Google Desktop, You type in whatever you want, it'll show you the results.. you can configure it to automatically jump to (or execute) the first found object if you so desire.

[Betsy]

Can anyone tell me how Google Desktop differs from F&RR?  I use the latter and like it very much.
Thanks,

[Betsy]

HELP!
Out of curiosity I decided to download Google Desktop.  Can someone tell me if they've had compatability issues with it and Firefox?  I have this weird effect where pages are flashing off and on 20 times or more before they load.  It's driving me nuts!

Can anyone tell me how Google Desktop differs from F&RR?  I use the latter and like it very much.
Thanks,

-Betsy (June 16, 2006, 01:18 PM)

[Carol Haynes]

I used FF and GDS a while back (I don't now) but I didn't have any problems with them together on WinXP Pro SP2

[db90h]

I've not had any problems with Google Desktop and Firefox.

Google Destkop (and other modern desktop search software) is completely different from F&RR in that it indexes all the content of supported file formats.. like email, chat logs, web history, and whatever else. It instantly searches your computer as if you did a web search, with no long search process because everything is kept indexed as its modfied. Of course, after you first inatll it, it has to do a complete index of your data, and it does this in the background when you aren't using your computer.

Think of it as a web search for your computer that is as quick as a web search.

[JavaJones]

Unfortunately last I checked most all the available apps choked on my 2+TB of data, including about 50,000 e-mail messages. Anyone here using these apps with really large data sets?

- Oshyan

[db90h]

AFAIK, the desktop search apps generally work fine with large data sets. I have over 200,000 emails indexed and a half million files.. and NO query takes more than a half second (probably none take that long).

I'm sure some small shareware apps probably do choke on that data set, but Google Desktop Search, Yahoo Desktop Search, or MSN Search.. no way I believe that.

They use the search algorithms used in web search engines, and although you probably don't have as powerful a computer, the web searches are done on a much larger data set than you or I could ever muster, and more searches are done concurrently.

[JavaJones]

I'll have to give them a go again then. Last time I tried it was dreadfully slow. And my computer is no sluch btw - Athlon 64 X2 4200+, 3GB of RAM. A lot of the data is on other drives across the network but I would think once it built the index the network speed would only matter if it was re-indexing, not just for searches against the existing index.

I think actulaly my problem was I just wanted it to index too much stuff. I recall changing some of the options from the defaults so it would index more document/file types or something. *shrug* I'll give it a shot anyway and post about how it goes.

- Oshyan

[Betsy]

I used FF and GDS a while back (I don't now) but I didn't have any problems with them together on WinXP Pro SP2

-Carol Haynes (June 16, 2006, 05:29 PM)

Thanks to all who answered.
It seems the problem only occurs when accessing the web pages which showcase all of the Google Gadgets. 

I have been surprised that it doesn't index folders by themselves so, for example, I can't just ask for the folder "Photos 2006".  However, if I type in "Photos 2006" it will find everything in that folder, and each entry offers the option of opening the folder.  Kind of indirect, but I can live with that.  Overall it seems like a pretty cool plaything.

[allowe]

I can't offer help with Google Desktop as I've used the free version of Copernic for years and it works great with Firefox (and everything else!). But I would recommend that to you.

But that is NOT the program I desire. I need to open a folder full of files, not a specific file. You're right; my desktop search program works fine for that.

Check out FDwin as a good start. But it could be so much better.

My needs are more like this: I want to open an Explorer window to this folder:
C:\Backup\Firefox\Profiles\1exs2nw5.default\colorzilla\palettes

I type in just this: palettes

FDwin gives me a list of the (few) folders that contain that string. I click it and there's Explorer, open to that folder.

Now that I'm used to it, I can't believe how long it takes other people double-clicking this and double-clicking that just to get to where they want to be!

Anyone?

AL