Libraries Questions

[dragotron]

OK, my last OS was WinXP. I'm trying to figure out the new Libraries feature. Some aspects of it are really cool and necessary being able to collect multiple locations into one folder... I like that.. However there are a couple things that I don't really get how to handle and am wondering what others have done;

-My Documents.. Is this folder even there? Or is there just a proxy link to the name My Documents to satisfy older software configurations?

Can I create my own Libraries? Can I take a folder, give it a new icon and then somehow make it its own library or is that only for the categories windows has specified?

thanks

 

[logicearth]

-My Documents.. Is this folder even there? Or is there just a proxy link to the name My Documents to satisfy older software configurations?

If you keep the Hidden files hidden...It will be in C:\Users\[your-username]\My Documents I rename this folder to just Documents along with the rest of the My * folders. (Right-click rename is supported here.)

Can I create my own Libraries? Can I take a folder, give it a new icon and then somehow make it its own library or is that only for the categories windows has specified?

Yes, the easiest way is to right-click "Libraries" in the left plane and go to "New." You can then assign folders to that library.

 

[dragotron]

Interesting.. thanks! I love that you can also view and sort all of the files from different folders as if they were one. Very cool stuff! You can even view and sort by tags of photos... Now to find the best 64 bit software for managing and tagging photos

 

[BeechV35Pilot]

Now to find the best 64 bit software for managing and tagging photos

It may not be 64-bit but Google's Picasa works very well under Windows 7 x64 and I highly recommend giving it an eval. Over the last 6 months Google introduced facial recognition features into Picasa that will automatically tag photos with names you assign, after grouping the photos in virtual folders based on what it thinks are the same faces.

I am very amazed at its algorithm for grouping faces, as it was able to group my children's faces from a very young age (approx 2 months) up to their present ages with something like 98% accuracy.

The key to using this feature is after adding your root photo folder as a library is to let it do its thing overnight.

 

[logicearth]

Windows Explorer has built in support of editing and adding tags to images. There is also Windows Live Photo Gallery that can aswell. Several other third-party software is available as well.

 

[dragotron]

thanks Beech!
that sounds like a wild feature in Picasa I will give it a shot.. can Picasa actually be used as a decent image viewer as well? like, select an image and scroll through? Like Acdsee style?

Logic, didn't know that.. thanks.. already started tagging a few!

 

[BeechV35Pilot]

thanks Beech!
that sounds like a wild feature in Picasa I will give it a shot.. can Picasa actually be used as a decent image viewer as well? like, select an image and scroll through? Like Acdsee style?

I have never used ACDsee so I cannot answer this, but Picasa's photo viewer launches pretty quickly and does provide full navigation features when browsing a photo.

 

[mbannon]

Speaking of Libraries - Is it possible to set up the shortcut to My Documents to be directly accessible by clicking Documents instead of requiring two clicks? When I first set up Windows 7 there were two folders under Documents - My Documents and Public Folders (or Public Documents, I forget which). I deleted Public Folders and now only My Documents show. I want My Documents to show as a menu with only one click when I click on Documents.

 

[dragotron]

thanks for all the info i'm creating my own Libraries now and its pretty cool... DOes anyoe know if you can create your own unique icons for your unique libraries to?