User\My Docs != Libraries\Docs !

Just ranting quietly to myself.
<rant ON>
They sure made a BIG MESS of the filesystem in Windows 7!
If I navigate to C:\Users\user\My Documents\My Talks\SAND and in it I click "New folder" then that new folder also appears in

C:\Users\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Documents\My Talks\SAND

(Brilliantly mis-named secret file location!)
I thought it should only appear there if I create a New folder in

Libraries > Documents > My Talks > SAND

but I explicitly created the new folder along the traditional C:\Users path, avoiding the Libraries thing altogether. But there it is! In my secret hidden Library storage location!

But I can't SEE my new folder from the Libraries path.

And I can't create a New folder inside Libraries > Documents > My Talks > SAND because there is no "New folder" click-button provided!

And if I try to move my new folder over to the SAND folder under Libraries, it complains that the source and destination folder is the same! (Its a LIE!) even though I can't SEE that new folder from the Libraries path! It pretends we are already there, but we arn't!

When I right-click "Properties" on C:\Users\user\My Documents it says

Location: C:\Users\user\My Documents

But when I click on a folder INSIDE My Documents, it says

Location: C:\Users\user\Documents (its a LIE!!)

even while the address bar at the top says C:\Users\user\My Documents

And in C:\Users\user there are TWO "My Documents" in there! One looks like a symbolic link (with the little [arrow]) but when you right-click "Properties" it LIES and tells you its a regular folder, but when you click on it it says Access Denied, Not Accessible! Only the OTHER "My Documents" (same name, same location, different thing!) lets you get access to your own documents.

What an unholy mess they have created from the once-simple folder hierarchy, one of the simplest, most elegant and powerful features an operating system ever had, with a root node and sub-folders. But now MicroSuck has twisted it all into loops, pretending that Desktop is a root node, and My Documents is a root node (its a LIE!!! its a LIE!!!!) and now they are telling you that files "included" in a library are actually in it, when in fact, invisible to the user, they are somewhere ELSE, but woe betide the unwary user who thinks their Library is just a folder (sure looks like one!) and starts creating sub-folders willy-nilly, cause when they go back those sub-folders are gone, or reappear somewhere completely different! And when you move your mouse into the address field at the top of an Explorer window, the address CHANGES under your cursor from, for example,

Computer > OS(C: )> Users > user > AppData > Roaming > Microsoft > Windows > Libraries > Documents > My Talks > SAND

to

C:\Users\user\Documents\My Talks\SAND

A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT path!!! Which one IS it? Why don't they provide at least ONE place where you can find out where a file is REALLY stored?!?!

Why oh why, oh me oh my!

<rant OFF>

Ok I just did a series of tests.

I surfed to Libraries > Documents and now there IS a "New folder" clickspot so I created a new folder in it called

Libraries > Documents > Lib-Doc

Now I thought this should not appear in the

C:\Users\user\My Documents\

path, but there it was! Not only there, but it also appeared in

C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries\Documents\Lib-doc

It appeared in all 3 places as if they were all the same location!

Next: I surfed back to

Libraries > Documents > Lib-Doc

and created a new sub-folder SubFolderLibDocPath

Then I surfed over to

C:\Users\user\My Documents\Lib-Doc

and created a new sub-folder SubFolderCUsersPath

Then I surfed over to

C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries\Documents\Lib-doc

and created a new sub-folder SubFolderAppDataPath

And ALL THREE new folders were visible and accessible from ALL THREE of the alternate paths. I even created a text file, and did Save-As three times, saving to paths

Libraries > Documents > Lib-Doc>SubFolderLibDocPath>LibDocPath.txt

C:\Users\user\My Documents\Lib-Doc\SubFolderCUsersPath\CUsersPath.txt

C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries\Documents\Lib-doc\SubFolderAppDataPath\AppDataPath.txt

and found that ALL THREE text files in ALL THREE sub-folders were all visible from ALL THREE paths! As if they were all one and the same place!

But then how on earth did it ever happen that I have two distinct folder locations (my original complaint) that is:

C:\Users\user\Documents\My Talks\SAND

and

Libraries > Documents > My Talks > SAND

the first contains all my files I've been working on, the second file contains only SOME of those files (some duplicates) that I must have worked on that one day, (although they have different Date Modified's) and NONE of the rest! How did this come to pass? And by the way, the AppData path to the SAND folder had the same contents as the Libraries>Documents path.

Why did I not replicate that same asymmetry in my series of tests?

And what did I do wrong to create that original asymmetry in the first place? Why can't I replicate that mistake? Was it perhaps when doing a Save As, I saved to

Libraries > Documents > My Documents > My Talks > SAND

instead of

Libraries > Documents > My Talks > SAND

? (or vice-versa?) Same place, different names, not the same after all?

Geesh am I ever confused!

I have found a hint of what is going on under the hood. When I surf over to

Libraries > Documents > My Talks

I can see a "New Folder" clickspot. But if I browse down one more level

Libraries > Documents > My Talks > SAND

the "New folder" clickspot is GONE! But if I go up one and down again, for example to

Libraries > Documents > My Talks > PercepCon

there IS a "New folder" clickspot there at that same level! So the absence of the "New folder" clickspot is a warning to the user not to create a new folder there. But then HOW DID I CREATE IT THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE if there was no "New folder" clickspot?

And what's a guy to do if he wants to create a sub-folder inside his library? Do I have to go around the long way through the C:\Users path and create it there?

This is the problem with MicroSuck -- they introduce new "features" that have everyone going round it crazy circles just trying to learn how to do what they've been doing for years, because now everything is different and you have to start from scratch!

(Oops! I'm ranting again!)

Here's another test:

From Libraries > Documents

I clicked "New folder" and called it "New folder1"

Then I entered "New folder1" and in it I created "New folder 2"

and in it I created "New folder 3"

and in it I created "New folder 4"

and in it I created "New folder 5"

to produce this structure

Libraries > Documents > New folder1 > New folder2 > New folder3 > New folder4 > New folder5 >

and there was STILL a "New folder" clickspot available!

And ALL FIVE LEVELS of the hierarchy were visible from ALL THREE of the alternative paths!

You should watch some of these videos on how libraries work: windows 7 libraries explained - Google Search

Here's another discovery.

the files in this sub-folder of my SAND folder...

C:\Users\user\My Documents\My Talks\SAND\ForestAfterImage

ForestScene1.jpg
ForestScene2.jpg
ForestScene3.jpg
ForestScene4.jpg

appear in the Libraries path but now they are in the SAND folder, not in a sub-folder!

Libraries > Documents > My Talks > SAND >

ForestScene1.jpg
ForestScene2.jpg
ForestScene3.jpg
ForestScene4.jpg

The sub-folder ForestAfterImage/ has vanished! And the library has dumped all its contents into SAND, flattening the file structure!

But you can discover their true location by right-click Properties, which show

Location: C:\Users\user\Documents\My Talks\ScienceAndNonDuality\ForestAfterImage

(although at first the \ForestAfterImage part of the path is hidden beyond the right end of the little text window, you have to click it and scroll right to even see it!)

So when Windoz7 includes a folder in a library it flattens all its sub-folders and lies to you about their location unless you know how to investigate more closely.

slehar said:

I have found a hint of what is going on under the hood. When I surf over to

Libraries > Documents > My Talks

I can see a "New Folder" clickspot. But if I browse down one more level

Libraries > Documents > My Talks > SAND

the "New folder" clickspot is GONE! But if I go up one and down again, for example to

Libraries > Documents > My Talks > PercepCon

there IS a "New folder" clickspot there at that same level! So the absence of the "New folder" clickspot is a warning to the user not to create a new folder there. But then HOW DID I CREATE IT THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE if there was no "New folder" clickspot?

Even if there is no New Folder button, you can still Right-click on the library and choose \New\Folder.

James