The whole concept behind Libraries


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Hey all,

I installed Win 7 RC Ed. last night. I haven't worked on Win7 before, all in all, I'm impressed by how Vista has developed into a more perfect creature.

Anyway, I love the Media Entertainment Center, but I couldn't grasp the whole concept behind Libraries, whenever I seem to click on the Explorer icon in the superbar, it opens a libraries window. What purpose do the libraries serve?

Is there any way I can change the functioning of the Explorer icon in the Superbar? As in anyway I can get it to open My Computer rather than the libraries window?

Regards,

Sibot

To change the Explorer link from Libraries to My Computer:-

Thanks to AndyJD, who provided us with this quick fix to change the linking of explorer icon on the superbar from Libraries to My Computer

If you press down shift and right click on the icon, choose properties. Then change the target from:

%windir%\explorer.exe

To:

%windir%\explorer.exe /n,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

Edited by sibot
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It's like DFS, you basically link a whole load of folders into a more manageable 1 location. This means if any data changes in any of those folders this is immediately reflected in the main "folder" (the documents library). Other applications can hook into the libraries too.

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It's like DFS, you basically link a whole load of folders into a more manageable 1 location. This means if any data changes in any of those folders this is immediately reflected in the main "folder" (the documents library). Other applications can hook into the libraries too.

Thanks for replying, I'll look into it a bit more. Sounds promising but wasn't the 'Personal Folders' in Vista doing the same thing?

Plus I saw that I can add multiple folders under one Library, I think its just a matter of getting used to it. But I'd still like an easy access to My Computer from the superbar, which is quite not possible as I found.

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Thanks for replying, I'll look into it a bit more. Sounds promising but wasn't the 'Personal Folders' in Vista doing the same thing?

Plus I saw that I can add multiple folders under one Library, I think its just a matter of getting used to it. But I'd still like an easy access to My Computer from the superbar, which is quite not possible as I found.

No the personal folders were physical folders.

Libraries are virtual folders. They group several physical folders.

The link on the superbar is to libraries; just get rid of it and drag the Computer link from the Start Menu instead.

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I LOVE Libraries ... they've made my working life much easier ... I have multiple drives and many folders stored around that I can't bundle together for reasons of organisation, but I am able to make my account view the folders I need to view at a quick glance.

They're simply my favorite thing about navigation in Windows 7 :)

All you do is drop any folders you want into the library you want... and you suddenly have quick access. It's basically a shortcut to all your most important files.

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One way is to open up explorer to the directory you want to pin .. in your case probably

... C:\Users\your name\Documents ...

then right-click on it in the lh panel and drag it down to the explorer icon in the taskbar .. that should pin it for you!

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Libraries is one of the coolest new features in Windows 7 in my opinion. Since I am currently triple-booting, Vista x64, Windows 7, and Ubuntu 9.04, this is especially useful. I can easily link my downloads, documents, pictures, etc.. folders from Vista x64 with Windows 7 and also link my separate media partition folders with Windows 7 as well. This makes accessing certain types of media infinitely easier as I can just find them all at one place. No need to figure out which of the locations the folders are in when I can just access them all at one location.

I haven't tried installing www.fs-driver.org on Windows 7 yet to see if I can access my ext4 partition, but if I can, the libraries will come in handy even more. *gonna try that now*

Edit: The IFS driver works when installing under Vista SP1 compatibility mode but fails to recognize the ext4 partition (would work with ext2/3 though). Hopefully an update will support ext4 then I'll be set ^_^

Edited by dlegend
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Well, the concept of Libraries has already been explained, but a quick shortcut for your Explorer question:

Just press (Windows Key) + E and by default it opens up a new Explorer window at 'Computer'.

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It takes time getting used to, but the whole concept is nice. Plus, you can create your own libraries to.

I'm not found of the icons though. I dont like the block of glass and the washed out musical note or picture

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Thank you everyone for replying!

It def gave me more insight on the concept behind Libraries and now that I've started creating libraries, eg. downloads, et al and added my personal folders to other libraries, it seems to be much more organized than before.

And ofcourse the quick access it provides is surely a benefit.

Thanks everyon! Windows 7 is pure genius!

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The link on the superbar is to libraries; just get rid of it and drag the Computer link from the Start Menu instead.

Have you tried that? Dragging a Computer link to the Superbar simply recreates the Libraries link. I haven't found a way to add 1-click access to the Computer window from the Superbar. You can, though, right-click the Libraries icon and select Computer from the top of the list.

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Libraries are awesome and one of my fav feature of Win7 - this is especially cool if you have Windows Home Server - and centralize your files.

I point my libraries to the server, and it collects there! Ultra cool!

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I don't find libraries useful. To me all comes to physical location anyway. Libraries are for people who keep their computer unorganized and that happens because of wrong folder/file structure in Windows.

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I've added my 3 directory long wallpaper directory to the Library thing and it makes navigating it so much faster/easier.

I'm in favor of it!

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I dont think you can add a link to My Computer in the superbar, it doesn't allow you to do so

If you press down shift and right click on the icon, choose properties. Then change the target from:

%windir%\explorer.exe
To:
%windir%\explorer.exe /n,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
Hope that helps :)
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If you press down shift and right click on the icon, choose properties. Then change the target from:To:Hope that helps :)

Wow, that worked! Thank you so much!

I've added the info to the main post.

Thank you again!

Regards,

Sibot

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I don't find libraries useful. To me all comes to physical location anyway. Libraries are for people who keep their computer unorganized and that happens because of wrong folder/file structure in Windows.

Interesting explanation. I actually never thought of it that way.

But I suppose for media management programs, having a singular library where all music files are stored for example makes it a lot easier for a MM app to index and add all your media in one shot, and comprehensively at that.

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I don't find libraries useful. To me all comes to physical location anyway. Libraries are for people who keep their computer unorganized and that happens because of wrong folder/file structure in Windows.

Libraries are about much more than organization, it's about sorting and metadata among other things. Even if you have a good folder structure, the library may actually still help you find things faster since your folders are stuck sorting in one way, libraries they can sort them just like your folder structure, or any other way that you have metadata for.

And then there's the fact that other apps can hook into the library music players can use the audio library instead of using it's own and probably slower database system. and network sharing with homegroups. This way your data isn't only easily shared, the index is also available for other computers.

Having a good folder structure is no replacement for libraries, it's just a good practice along with libraries.

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Wow, that worked! Thank you so much!

I've added the info to the main post.

Thank you again!

Regards,

Sibot

Glad to help but I can't take the credit for it, I think it was posted on Neowin before or I got it off the net beforehand, can't remember now :D

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