Why doesn't Microsoft update their outdated Documents folder?

[BillyJack]

Microsoft should have a folder for applications to put their documents and a user only documents.  It is stupid to consider putting our documents there when it is cluttered with app folders and their files which are not even documents and have no meaning to us. Just a big fat bucket to dump stuff into. After this is improved then let us set the document location. Then anytime an app or Microsoft wants to add a folder ask the user if they want it. We don't want My Pictures, Fax, etc. Apps have to put their docs in the app doc folder and the users docs such as pictures and actual user saved files to the user's documents folder. We can't organize our folders with it like this. I haven't put my docs in the documents folder ever, even before 98. It is un-organized, cluttered, and yes I have lost too many files this way. Not one user understands how to work with documents and stay organized the way this is. Please up vote this.

 

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[adrynalyne]

  On 01/07/2018 at 02:38, BillyJack said:

Microsoft should have a folder for applications to put their documents and a user only documents.  It is stupid to consider putting our documents there when it is cluttered with app folders and their files which are not even documents and have no meaning to us. Just a big fat bucket to dump stuff into. After this is improved then let us set the document location. Then anytime an app or Microsoft wants to add a folder ask the user if they want it. We don't want My Pictures, Fax, etc. Apps have to put their docs in the app doc folder and the users docs such as pictures and actual user saved files to the user's documents folder. We can't organize our folders with it like this. I haven't put my docs in the documents folder ever, even before 98. It is un-organized, cluttered, and yes I have lost too many files this way. Not one user understands how to work with documents and stay organized the way this is. Please up vote this.

 

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Opinions vary. 

[spaceelf]

  On 01/07/2018 at 02:38, BillyJack said:

Microsoft should have a folder for applications to put their documents and a user only documents. 

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If you feel that strongly about it you can make one yourself in your user profile, so why does Microsoft need to do that?

[DentedAphid7]

  On 01/07/2018 at 04:59, LostCat said:

If you feel that strongly about it you can make one yourself in your user profile, so why does Microsoft need to do that?

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yup. or get an external hdd to do that.

[BillyJack]

  On 01/07/2018 at 04:59, LostCat said:

If you feel that strongly about it you can make one yourself in your user profile, so why does Microsoft need to do that?

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Yep I already do just like everyone else but looking at file explorer tonight I started to think about how ###### these folders are organized and used after all these years. That is why I suggest Microsoft changes it. I could easily say why does Microsoft have to improve the OS just because we feel it is not that great when we can just make our own OS. If you think about the use case for the documents folder and how nobody uses it, at least tech savvy people, and how non tech savvy people probably don't even know where there files are, then you might realize how poorly implemented it is.

[spaceelf]

  On 01/07/2018 at 08:01, BillyJack said:

Yep I already do just like everyone else

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I don't.  I don't see why I'd ever want to.  I also don't see why most people would ever do that.

Edited July 1, 2018 by LostCat

[MS Bob 11]

There is a trick to fix this ######. Remove the "My Documents" folder from the Documents Library and let it rot and accumulate useless junk documents. Add your own clean personal folder to the Documents Library. Most programs Open/Save dialogs have the Documents Library easily accessible.

[Microft]

  On 01/07/2018 at 02:38, BillyJack said:

Microsoft should have a folder for applications to put their documents and a user only documents.  It is stupid to consider putting our documents there when it is cluttered with app folders and their files which are not even documents and have no meaning to us. Just a big fat bucket to dump stuff into. After this is improved then let us set the document location. Then anytime an app or Microsoft wants to add a folder ask the user if they want it. We don't want My Pictures, Fax, etc. Apps have to put their docs in the app doc folder and the users docs such as pictures and actual user saved files to the user's documents folder. We can't organize our folders with it like this. I haven't put my docs in the documents folder ever, even before 98. It is un-organized, cluttered, and yes I have lost too many files this way. Not one user understands how to work with documents and stay organized the way this is. Please up vote this.

 

Link to open Feedback Hub

https://aka.ms/AA1pizz

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Billyjack!

Yes, we (a lot of users) understand how the documents folder works, so please don't speak for the rest of us not understanding, because it only seems to be you.

You can organise Windows any way you like, save your own documents anywhere you like, you know, using the Save As option or moving them to another folder or better still, OneDrive (due to the awesome Autosave and Ransomeware protection.)

But I'm sorry that you don't know how windows works, least of all file management (Known as Housekeeping), but I'm guessing you're still on Windows 7? My Documents was renamed to Documents in later versions of Windows and from day one, even in Windows 1.x you could change the location of the folder. Just right click the Documents (or My Documents) folder and select Properties then the Location tab and select a new location (Find Target) from scratch or Move (which is recommended if you have  your application and programs data in there) what you have to a another location or drive, then you won't lose anything if you format the C:\ Drive (see, using OneDrive has an advantage there). It will still be called Documents though, but you can rename it. Oh and with OneDrive, Open it's Settings and select the Auto-Save tab and change Documents and or Pictures to OneDrive)

As for where Windows Programs and apps use for their data, you can also change this by adding and or editing Windows Environment Variables, but this may be a little beyond you right now.

So basically, everything you want to do in your spiel, you can do yourself, very easily. Oh and you can also change the location of the Pictures, Music, Download and Video folders by doing the same steps above for the Documents folder. Put the location on another drive or removable/external hard drive and you're good to go.

[linettereed]

I don't see any point for Microsoft making separate folders for app doc and user doc and as someone already mentioned you can make one yourself if you want to. Also, I don't really get it, how you lost too many files by not having separate folders.

[mikets]

You're asking for something that already exists. Unfortunately a lot of developers and users make bad assumptions and have their applications put their files in the wrong place. Add to that the fact that if you ask 100 people to sort 100 files for 10 applications into "User Documents" and "Application Documents" and you're going to get wildly differing opinions on what goes where.

 

If you want to know more, look up the documentation on the folders called Application Data, ProgramData, Program files.

All of these plus most user folders can be configured to be saved in a different location than the standard one. Unfortunately, a lot of bad developers fail to use the built in functions to locate these folders and instead just assume that no-one ever customizes them and write to the default location. Leaving you with some files (the well-behaved applications) in your custom location, and some files in the default location.

[neufuse Veteran]

I love how applications put all their data files in there....... that's exactly why we have the %appdata% folder........

[adrynalyne]

  On 12/07/2018 at 18:01, neufuse said:

I love how applications put all their data files in there....... that's exactly why we have the %appdata% folder........

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Which is easy to get to and browse for the typical layperson.... /s

 

appdata is used for files that aren’t meant to be touched or seen. 

[neufuse Veteran]

  On 12/07/2018 at 18:36, adrynalyne said:

Which is easy to get to and browse for the typical layperson.... /s

 

appdata is used for files that aren’t meant to be touched or seen. 

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you didnt read what I wrote...

 

I said applications put their DATA FILES in there

 

?

 

like adobe putting program data files in there...

visual studio putting more then just user projects in there...... etc

 

I have a least 10 folders in mine right now that are just data files, not things that should be user edited created by various ISV's...

[adrynalyne]

  On 12/07/2018 at 19:17, neufuse said:

you didnt read what I wrote...

 

I said applications put their DATA FILES in there

 

?

 

like adobe putting program data files in there...

visual studio putting more then just user projects in there...... etc

 

I have a least 10 folders in mine right now that are just data files, not things that should be user edited created by various ISV's...

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Hmmm, I don’t. I do have files that someone would want to back up at some point. 

[techbeck]

Change change the default save path. I  do not use My Documents for anything.

[sc302 Veteran]

The documents folder is very simple.  People save things there all the time.  It is an administrators nightmare with figuring out how to backup that location as everyone chooses that folder over every other folder that they have access to or personal network drives they have access to.  I would say the majority esp the more intellectually incapable know how to use that folder and find things in that folder as every program chooses to default there.   You can change the default document location as well as change the location to where "Documents" or "My Documents" resides which continues on to be the default location even if you have changed the physical location to where it is.  

 

You can go to c:\users\userprofile and right click "My Documents" choose the Location tab and change that to where ever you would like it to go.  Administrators have the ability to change that via group policies so that it applies to all users and have it in a central location for backups without the users knowing or interacting just continuing to do what they do on a daily basis.  

 

You could organize my documents better by making folders for projects or type of documents.  That is up to the end user to do, not microsoft.  Some people don't want to group their documents by type or application, it is your choice how you want to organize your stuff.