How best to organize read (used) files without making a new folder

[Firepin12]

Hi i have the problem that i have a large archive (30000) for example of documents, pdf etc. which i want to have ALL in one Folder. I wanted to somehow mark/flag/color certain files in this folder which i already read for example, so that i know which file is read and which not when viewing them in the windows explorer.

Unfortunately it seems that windows explorer has not such a functionality. Color Programs seem to have only have the ability to color folders but not any files. The filename could have a different color or the symbol or such. I read in Mac osX it is very easy to change the colors of files.

Is there a program which can color Files or is there another file explorer which can mark files as read for better organization. I have a workaround that i create empty .txt files with the same filename as the read file so that i know if the file is double and there is a txt beside it (while sorting by file name of course) so than this is a read file/zip/pdf. But instead of that i want to have another option without creating all those empty txt filename duplicates.

The solution should be portable because if i bring my files to another pc on a harddrive the info should be somehow accessable on another pc as well. A portable file explorer perhaps is capable of that. I THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP and am waiting to hear your advice on how you keep track of your archives.

 

[Ztruker]

Can't you accomplish this by changing the name of the file, maybe add a special character, like @ # $ to the name?

 

[boohbah]

another way would to group the files in a folder, add the column " date accessed" and select it, this would group the files as they were last opened,
not the same as a visual indicator on the file but a start in the right direction.

 

[MilesAhead]

I haven't tested it with a folder with so many files. But you could try CommentExplorer if using the up/down arrow or clicking with the mouse to select a file is good enough. When a file is selected, if you made a comment for that file, it is shown in the top left corner of the Explorer window. The data file created is local to each folder. It is done with hotkeys and a tray program. Therefore it should be portable. I believe it requires folder view option "display full path in title bar" be enabled to function. But there's a Readme.txt in the download with details.

Edit: In your case you would highlight a file, hit the hotkey and comment(maybe just the word "read" or whatever you like.) That comment is shown when the file is selected. The arrow keys have much better response than the mouse.

You may download from Miles Ahead Software
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