Windows 7: Weird reference/link created after drag/move into My Library

malcolml · 13 Jan 2011

Thank you to everyone who have replied so far, however I seem not to have been able to get something clear: I fully understand the differences between move/copy, dragging, left-click dragging, right-click dragging and choosing "move here" or using shift/ctrl/alt combinations etc. to get all the various move versus copy versus shortcut behaviour.

I'm asking about something a little more advanced here: I want to know about the intended behaviour of the Windows Library itself when moving files around using it. Should changes made using the Windows Library be reflected on the HDD as you would normally expect if making those changes directly, or is it expected that some sort of reference is created like I've tried my best to explain? Or, is this a bug?

Kari · 13 Jan 2011

I am not able to reproduce behavior like you describe.

I just played a bit with my Pictures library. When I copy files inside a library from a folder to another, and then check the physical locations, the copy is to found in both original location and location(s) where I just copied it. When I move a file, it's only to be found in the new location where I moved it.

Here, I played with an image with a name Screenshot0027.jpg. I opened Pictures library, then copied the file to four other folders, making two copies with right click copy & paste, and two copies with right button drag > Copy here. Then I searched Pictures library, and all five locations were found (original and four copies):

Weird reference/link created after drag/move into My Library-libraries_1.png

Using explorer, not libraries, I also checked all five physical locations and the file was in all five locations.

Now I deleted the four copies I had just made, and using right button drag > Move here I moved the image to another folder in Pictures library. The image is still to be seen in library, but properties tell it's now in a physically new location, exactly where it should be. Searching the library also reveals that only one copy of this image is to be found:

Weird reference/link created after drag/move into My Library-library_2.png

Just to be sure, even though I already new the answer, I double checked using this time context menu cut & paste function. Result is the same; image is still in the library but in a new physical location.

Kari

whs · 13 Jan 2011

Quote:

I want to know about the intended behaviour of the Windows Library itself when moving files around using it. Should changes made using the Windows Library be reflected on the HDD as you would normally expect if making those changes directly, or is it expected that some sort of reference is created like I've tried my best to explain

As was explained before, the library is just a bunch of links to the folders (a container if you want). You do not move files around in the library - you move files in folders or between folders.

As a convenience, the system moves a file to the default folder if you move/copy it to the library. But that is not the proper way of operating.

I am sure that your problem will not occur if you operate folder to folder.

Tepid · 13 Jan 2011

More possible to think of it as Smart Favorites?

I suppose after having really thought about it.
If you have a tendency to move files around a lot, having links to them in one location can help.

But I have seen it advertised more as a clutter reducer. Save your files anywhere and just access them through the library. My problem with that approach is....

People will not care where they are saving things and then when they really want to find them, they may not be able to. Or if they want to move stuff, things just might get lost due to the notion that everything is where it should be, when they really are not.

Maybe I just don't know libraries cause I don't use them, but that was my take on them.