
Xyplorer paper folders windows#
SetTags and TagSpaces use this approach, with SetTags additionally using the target tracking property of Windows shortcuts to allow files to be retrieved by tag after moves or renames. This is more robust than the database approach and allows tagged items to be retrieved on any platform using only native search, but changing the names of folders and files will result in files that are linked by paths (such as linked Excel spreadsheets) having their links broken.
Xyplorer paper folders software#
As free versions of software frequently limit the number of files stored or the number of tags applied, it is difficult to test performance in this situation.Īnother approach to tagging is to embed the tags into the file or folder name. Database performance becomes a critical factor if many thousands of file links are stored. Searching replaces folder browsing in the database architecture. It represents what File (once Windows) Explorer could have been. XYplorer is actually a file manager closely resembling File Explorer, but with additional tagging functionality.

They also observed that users had a much richer concept of information than folders or tags or a combination of them could represent. The authors concluded that neither tagging nor folders was superior to the other for information retrieval: best results were achieved by combining their use. A study was conducted in 2008 compared tag and folder-based retrieval on email messages with two clients, one labeling messages with tags and the other grouping them into folders. Historically, a hierarchical folder structure is easier to implement than a tag retrieval system and much more suited to fixed structures such as computer operating systems. The conventional approach has been to put them into a hierarchical folder structure, but with the advent of mobile devices with small screens and the requirement for minimal user cognitive load, the filesystem has become completely hidden and file managers are not part of the main operating system. He has developed niche software for information management.įinding electronic documents and emails can be a problem. Showing the Information Bar.Simon has been involved in software development since the days of paper tape. One of them, Show Information Bar in the List, let's you display an Information Bar in the file list - a strong visual hint that this folder is a Paper Folder. Ctrl+Shift+F9) with a couple of related settings in the button's right-click menu. There is a toolbar button "Paper Folders" (see Tools | Customize Toolbar. The Paper Folder dropdown in the Breadcrumb Bar lists all your Paper Folders. The Breadcrumb Bar offers fast access to them as shown in the following shot: Note that you can have as many Paper Folders as you like. Paper Folders are automatically saved behind the scenes, you don't have to care about this. The easiest way to populate an existing Paper Folder is by dragging or pasting files into it. This method is especially useful with search results that you want to preserve for later use. A piece of cake.Īnother way to create a Paper Folder is to turn a normal folder into one using the command Toggle Paper Folder in menu View | Paper Folders. If the folder does not exist you are prompted to create it on the fly. Alternatively you can paste for example "paper:My Collection" into the Address Bar and press Enter. To create such a Paper Folder you can use the command New.

Paper Folder "Don's Collection" in the 2nd pane. The naming convention for Paper Folders is "paper:". It's just a plain list of items.įunctionally, Paper Folders are comparable to so-called Drop Stacks. You can open and edit them in every editor. The files are formatted as UTF-16LE and located by default under the application data folder in the subfolder "Paper".
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Technically, Paper Folders are simple text files that contain the full paths to items, one per line. And they take up almost no space and not a single byte is copied to "fill" them since internally they are just lists of pointers to items. The crucial difference to normal folders is: They can contain items from all over your system, a hand-picked selection of file and folders. Paper Folders can be used just like normal folders in virtually all contexts in XYplorer: You can bookmark them, search them, filter them, branch view them, tag their items, generate reports on them, copy their stuff, paste stuff into them, drag stuff into them, color their contents, customize their icons, cache their thumbnails, show custom columns for them, save their folder view settings, etc. You can haveĪs many as you want, and you will want many. Fast, light-weight, easy-to-use, portable. Paper Folders are a ground-breaking new implementation of
