For people like me who like to have everything within reach no matter where it may be located, today's Bits du Jour offers an interesting tool, Virtual Folder:
http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/virtual-folder/

I guess I'm wondering what the difference is between this and simply creating a folder on my drive and droping a bunch of shortcuts into it?

Tom S..

Hello Alexander,

In fact, you can do the same in EverDesk too using the QuickBoard. Create as many QuickBoard tabs as you want and drag there any folders and files you want to have access to, regardless their original location.
When compared with Virtual Folder, EverDesk makes it possible to create more than one virtual storage and keep there not only folders, but single files too. Besides, when selecting a folder on the QuickBoard, you can immediately see its actual location in the folder tree on the left.

Regards,
Vladimir

Tom S. wrote:

I guess I'm wondering what the difference is between this and simply creating a folder
on my drive and droping a bunch of shortcuts into it?

Tom S..

I guess that I am with Tom on this one. I too do not see the difference between this program and using shortcuts.

--Ken

This little tool generated more comments at BdJ than I ever remember seeing in that site. The developer has been very open to suggestions, most of which were common sense, to the extent that I conclude that the program is still at an early stage of development, useful as it may be.

Re its usability, my main comment is that if one doesn't find any difference between this and using a bunch of shortcuts, then for them there really isn't one. Virtual Folder is indeed a rather specific (and idiosynchratic) solution to a problem that many may not have at all.

In my case, I rely rather too much on my desktop, drag-n-dropping the files on which I am working on to have at arm's reach. This helps me focus, but I then need to remember to copy them back to their original locations if changed. At the same time, I often need to look to the related project files and keep those folders open as well. Last but not least, every now and then someone will call and interrupt my train of thought by asking for something completely different, I will navigate away and then will have to switch back to what I was doing.

So I personally was looking for something that would help me keep what I need on my workspace without too much fuss. Shortcuts are not an option because the files are simply too many. EverDesk's quickboard is indeed an option but it's attached to a mail client that I don't need to keep open. Also, each work session is different so I don't need any permanent connection.

Interestingly, I read of this idea of 'virtual folders' a few days ago, as a feature of the new KDE windows manager for Linux and felt rather jealous, as Windows are still my main operating system.

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

Re its usability, my main comment is that if one
doesn't find any difference between this and using a bunch of shortcuts, then for them
there really isn't one. Virtual Folder is indeed a rather specific (and
idiosynchratic) solution to a problem that many may not have at all.

In my case, I
rely rather too much on my desktop, drag-n-dropping the files on which I am working on
to have at arm's reach. This helps me focus, but I then need to remember to copy them back
to their original locations if changed. At the same time, I often need to look to the
related project files and keep those folders open as well. Last but not least, every
now and then someone will call and interrupt my train of thought by asking for
something completely different, I will navigate away and then will have to switch
back to what I was doing.

So I personally was looking for something that would help me
keep what I need on my workspace without too much fuss. Shortcuts are not an option
because the files are simply too many. .

Alexander,

I am sorry if I keep asking questions about this program, but I am trying to better understand what if offers that shortcuts do not.

Rather than dragging and dropping files, why do you choose not to create a shortcut instead? Then you would not need to copy the files back to another location.

If you are interrupted, why not open another Windows Explorer window so as not to disturb your existing work?

And, how does this program help you address too many shortcuts?

I ask not to challenge your work style, but to learn of the possible shortcomings of shortcuts in relation to this program. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your patience,

--Ken

Personally, I have shortcuts to my most used folders and usually arrange the folders by date last accessed. I also have keyboard as well as icon shortcuts to my most used programs.

-c

A clarification & addition.
I meant that I arrange the files in each folder by date last accessed.
Also, (in XP) I drag files to folder shortcuts on my desktop which puts the file into the folder corresponding to the shortcut.
============

Cassius wrote:

Personally, I have shortcuts to my most used folders and usually arrange the folders
by date last accessed. I also have keyboard as well as icon shortcuts to my most used
programs.

-c

Ken wrote:

Rather than dragging and dropping files, why do you
choose not to create a shortcut instead? Then you would not need to copy the files back
to another location.

Not to make too big of a deal of it but, like Ken, I'm also still confused. I frequently create folders for projects and put shortcuts to other folders with relevant files in them into this folder. My feeling is that if Alexander says there's something useful here - and someone wrote a program to do it - then there probably is. I'd just like to understand how this program is different.

Tom S.

Tom S. wrote:

My feeling is that if Alexander says there's
something useful here - and someone wrote a program to do it - then there probably is.

Apologies for taking so long to resopond; this is a rather hectice period at work.

Tom, many thanks for your confidence in me, but even after all these years of CRIMPing and trying out methods of organising, I am still capable of silly mistakes such as purchasing useless tools :-) Time will show if Virtual Folder is one of them.

However, here is an example of something VF can do that can't be done with shortcuts: suppose you have a PROJECT folder at work, home and laptop; suppose also, as is often the case, that this folder is located in different drives in those three locations, i.e. in work it is at the infamous F: network drive, at home in D: and on your laptop on your G: USB backup drive. Suppose, also, that you use UltraRecall or some other information management program that includes shortcuts to your PROJECT folder documents. As you understand, those shortcuts will only work if the drive letter is always the same.

So you can use VF to create a single V: drive and, before starting work, making a virtual project folder within that drive; this way UltraRecall will always be pointing to V:\PROJECTS no matter where you are.

In other words, VF is a sort of graphical interface to Windows 'junctions' ( http://support.microsoft.com/kb/205524 ) or symbolic links. (Though as far as I know Windows does not support junctions to directories on remote shares as VF claims to do).

Hope this makes things more clear (to me as well by the way; I admit to have been baffled myself at first).

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

So you can use VF to create a single V: drive and, before starting work, making a
virtual project folder within that drive; this way UltraRecall will always be
pointing to V:\PROJECTS no matter where you are.

In other words, VF is a sort of
graphical interface to Windows 'junctions' (
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/205524 ) or symbolic links. (Though as far as I
know Windows does not support junctions to directories on remote shares as VF claims
to do).

Hope this makes things more clear (to me as well by the way; I admit to have been
baffled myself at first).

Thank you for the follow-up, Alexander. As you are moving files/folders between several locations, have you ever considered a service like Drop Box or Box.net?

--Ken

Yes of course; I use NomaDesk http://www.nomadesk.com

However, the speed limitations of internet data transfer mean that such services are not very useful for maintaining a library of, say, large PDF files such as downloaded papers --which is exactly what I would have UltraRecall and similar programs pointing at.

Hello everyone,
I?m the author of Virtual Folder and thank you for your attention to the program.
I write this program according to my own needs. Just as I wrote on the homepage, I use many file management tips to keep my files well-organized, but there are still a lot of inconveniences. For example when I build a website for a product, I have to get into the directory "D:\web\product\working\company1" first to create a web page, then open "G:\product\company1\team2\product5\introduction" for the text and "E:\picture\icon\arrow\gif" to insert some images, etc. It may drive me crazy if I have to repeat this all day long. So I write Virtual Folder to keep all the files/folders I need to use together.
What?s the difference between a shortcut and a virtual folder? First, virtual folder is more intuitionistic. Let?s continue the above example: just open the virtual drive and all the sources you need (images, text, flashes, etc)are listed there, this would make your work more organized. Secondly, a virtual folder can be opened directly at where it is, and this keeps the tree structure of your project, but shortcut needs to do a "jump" which would make me confused sometimes. Thirdly, virtual folders can be opened in any program (even in the command line). And in some cases, you have to type the path, you can just type "Z:\webpage" instead of "D:\web\product\working\company1", a shortcut can?t do this for you.
Just as Alexander said, Virtual Folder is still at an early stage of development, and I?ll become very excited whenever talking about the new version. It will allow users to create multiple virtual drives, map not only folders but also files in the virtual drive, and you can create folders in the drive to organize the virtual files/folders. These features make it possible to create a virtual drive as complex as the drive C if you really need that :-) , and you can completely reorganize your files according to your current needs. Get all the things done in a virtual drive! It?ll be released before May since there is still a mountain of work to be done. The program will convince you then!
PS: I need a new name for the coming version because of the change of main features. Could you please give me some suggestions?

Best Regards,
Zhenheng Dai
http://www.virtualfolder.net

Sigh, it seems that this forum doesn't support unicode. I edited the post in Word and copied it here, then all the quotation marks become question marks :-(

Hello Zhenheng,

(I assume that in Zhenheng Dai, Zhenheng the 'first' name and Dai the surname, after googling a bit. If I am mistaken please do tell me so :-)

Regarding the program name; I would personally keep the original name because I find that it is very descriptive of what the program does; I would simply put it in plural, i.e. Virtual Folders. Yes of course you can also have 'virtual files' but the folders are probably the most useful feature.

If you do want to change, I would suggest that you at least keep the 'Folders' component, e.g. Magic Folders, Folder Magic, Folderspace, Folderscape, Work Folders (perhaps making W: the default virtual drive letter), V-Folders, vFolders, Folder Power, Snap Folders...

For your info, version 2 of the software has been released. New features include:
- Map files
- Create folders to organize mappings
- Multiple virtual drives
- Automatically hide files and folders that don't exist
- Sharing the virtual drive in LAN

The software has a new name, Virtual Disk.

After having used v.1 for some time, I can say that it's simple but reliable software; what it does, it does well.

More at: http://www.virtualdisk.net/

Just a note to say that Virtual Disk is featured at Giveaway of the Day, today:
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/virtual-disk/

Looking at the description and comments on Virtual Disk, it occurred to me that one can accomplish the same thing (I think?) with many two-pane PIMs.

First, see a screen shot at

http://www.fileshome.com/organize_files_file_management_reorganize_files_167781.htmGoogle .

According to the comments on Virtual Disk, it has two or three disadvantages:
1) Some people claimed that one couldn't add a single file to Virtual Disk (but perhaps could add it to a folder in Virtual Disk?)
2) One can add only one folder (or file) at a time.
3) If one isn't careful, one will delete the original file or folder when one tries to delete just its "shortcut" link in Virtual Disk, and the original is not saved in the Recycle Bin.

Of course, some similar programs may not have these problems.

I tried using some of the 2-pane PIMS I have to achieve the same functionality of Virtual Disk.
Here are the results, in Win XP: (Of course, many of us already do this.)

ListPro: Could not drag or otherwise add file or folder links.

JotPlus: One can add both folder and file links to JotPlus and can add several at a time using drag-and-drop. However, the entire path is displayed, which can be very long, making it a bit of a pain to read the file or folder name.

TreePad Business: One can drag and drop both folders and files into TreePad Biz. Just the folder or file name is displayed, not the entire path. HOWEVER. The second time you add a link to a pane, be sure you are starting on a new line in TreePad. Otherwise the new link will become part of the last link you added. (Adding links to shortcuts gets one nowhere.)

MyBase: Dragging and dropping links into MyBase can be problematic and the displayed link is not pretty. A better way is to click "Capture" on the toolbar and then click either "Insert Local File Hyperlink" or "Insert Local Folder Hyperlink." The remaining steps are obvious. One can add several FILE links at one time just by highlighting the files, but only one FOLDER link at a time. Also, the folder links show the entire path; the file links show only the file name. As with TreePad, when one adds a new link to a pane that already has some, one must be sure to start on a new line.

So, it seems that among these three PIMs, TreePad works best as a "Virtual Disk." If anyone has a better alternative, please let us know.

ALSO: Virtual Disk and similar programs may have features of which I am unaware. If you know of such, please tell us about them.

-c

So, it seems that among these three PIMs, TreePad works best as a ?Virtual Disk.? If anyone has a better alternative, please let us know.

UR has no problems to import/link several files/folders at once, the link is stored in the URL attribute. One can also set whether linking the same file at another location will create another item or just logical link, whether to include subfolders when importing, whether it should also keyword content, whether using document title when available, whether it should map metadata to existing UR attributes, etc ...

Cassius wrote:

Looking at the description and comments on Virtual Disk, it occurred to me that one can accomplish the same thing (I think?) with many two-pane PIMs.

Well, yes and no; the problem with the PIM approach is that if the root path changes (for example the drive is assigned another letter) the links are lost. In one's own PC it should be possible to re-assign the drive letter, but not so in enterprise or nomadic environments.

So, for me, Virtual Disk is complementary to a 2-pane PIM, such as UltraRecall which I use. I use VD to make sure that my file paths will always be valid, and then I can link to the files in the virtual folders through the PIM.

Alexander

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

Well, yes and no; the problem with the PIM approach is that if the root path
changes (for example the drive is assigned another letter) the links are lost. In
one's own PC it should be possible to re-assign the drive letter, but not so in
enterprise or nomadic environments.

FYI, InfoQube provides a few mechanisms to help resolve file links:
1- Users can enter relative paths. Resolution will use that and the current path to find the file
2- If an absolute path to a file cannot be resolved, IQ will try a drive substitution (USB drive letters change often)
3- Users can create dynamic links. In a dynamic link, the link path is stored in fields with file name and path in separate fields to ease bulk link updates
4- Many hyperlinks can be embedded in a single item. The same with the HTML pane of course.

Yet to be implemented are 2 more link helpers:
1- Using Windows shortcuts. These don't work very well between 2 PCs but allow excellent tracking of file moves on the same PC.
2- Folder/sub-folder monitoring. IQ will monitor a list of folders and create/delete items to reflect the folder content

Details here: http://www.sqlnotes.net/drupal5/index.php?q=node/116