Can I change the color of file names?

  • Thread starter Thread starter SF
  • Start date Start date
S

SF

This is an interesting problem.
In a folder I have a list of about 75 agents that I have sent book proposals
to. Over the coming weeks and months, those agents will be responding to my
inquiries. Some will want to see a few chapters (I hope) but most will
probably be sending rejection notices.

What I'd like to do is color code the actual name of the Word documents (the
75 query letters) in the explorer window so I can tell at a glance which
agencies have responded and which ones are pending. For example: The name of
the agencies rejecting my work would be in red, the ones requesting samples
would be in blue and so on.

Is this possible?

Right now I'm dragging the names into separate folders labelled: Rejects,
Requests, Pending, etc.
But this is cumbersome because I have to search in different folders to find
out he status of the different agents.
 
are you using an email client to do this ? namely Outlook or Outlook
express.. If you are wanted to color code the different email that comes to
you.. there is a way in message rules.. I'm just not sure that is what you
are doing... are they documents or letters (emails) sorry I'm confused about
what you need.. trying to help! Rainy
 
This is an interesting problem.
In a folder I have a list of about 75 agents that I have sent book proposals
to. Over the coming weeks and months, those agents will be responding to my
inquiries. Some will want to see a few chapters (I hope) but most will
probably be sending rejection notices.

What I'd like to do is color code the actual name of the Word documents (the
75 query letters) in the explorer window so I can tell at a glance which
agencies have responded and which ones are pending. For example: The name of
the agencies rejecting my work would be in red, the ones requesting samples
would be in blue and so on.

Is this possible?

Right now I'm dragging the names into separate folders labelled: Rejects,
Requests, Pending, etc.
But this is cumbersome because I have to search in different folders to find
out he status of the different agents.
Click to expand...

There may be third party programs that do this but I don't know of any.

What about renaming the files? Example:
Pending-Pub1
Reject-Pub2
Request-Pub3

All publisher names would be in the same folder -making it easier to locate
the file for a single publisher. A sort on name (could even add the "view
in groups" option) would separate them into the desired categories.
 
SF said:
This is an interesting problem.
In a folder I have a list of about 75 agents that I have
sent book proposals to. Over the coming weeks and months,
those agents will be responding to my inquiries. Some will
want to see a few chapters (I hope) but most will probably
be sending rejection notices.
What I'd like to do is color code the actual name of the
Word documents (the 75 query letters) in the explorer window
so I can tell at a glance which agencies have responded and
which ones are pending. For example: The name of the
agencies rejecting my work would be in red, the ones
requesting samples would be in blue and so on.
Is this possible?

Right now I'm dragging the names into separate folders
labelled: Rejects, Requests, Pending, etc.
But this is cumbersome because I have to search in different
folders to find out he status of the different agents.
Click to expand...

If you're running XP on a drive that is formatted with NTFS,
then you can change the color of file names by compressing the
file. Also, if you're running XP Professional edition you could
use file encryption to implement another color change.

First off, go to Start -> Control Panel -> Folder Options.
Click on the View tab.
In the Advanced Settings box, make sure there's a check mark
next to "Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color".
Click OK.
Next, open the folder that you have these Word documents stored
in.
Right click a file of a publisher that's requesting samples and
select Properites.
Click on the Advanced tab.
Click on "Compress contents to save disk space".
Click OK twice.
If you're running XP Pro, then you can use the same procedure
on the rejections and select "Encrypt contents to secure data".
Click OK.
Make sure you select the option to only apply encryption to
this file.
Click OK twice.

You should now see the files that are requesting samples
displayed with blue names. The rejections will show up as
green. The agencies you've received no replies from would still
show up in black.

Note: Be careful using file encryption. You don't want to
encrypt the folder that contains those files. You should also
only encrypt files that if they were lost it would not be that
big of a deal. That's why I suggest encrypting the rejections.
Personally, I'd stay away from file encryption. Instead I'd
append a few letters to the names of the rejection files,
something like RJfilename.doc. That way when you arrange all
files by name you would see the rejections grouped together. To
do this simply click on the file to hightlight it, hit the F2
key, click on the left arrow on your keyboard to move the
cursor to the beginning of the filename, enter RJ and hit the
Enter key.

Nepatsfan
 
Thank you Nepatsfan!
I don't have XP-pro, but simply making the rejects blue has helped
immensely.
What a great idea!
As for the other categories, I'm going to take Sharon's advice and append
the names. I don't expect to be overwhelmed with requests for samples so it
will be pretty simple to change those few.

Thanks again.
 
SF said:
Thank you Nepatsfan!
I don't have XP-pro, but simply making the rejects blue has
helped immensely.
What a great idea!
As for the other categories, I'm going to take Sharon's
advice and append the names. I don't expect to be
overwhelmed with requests for samples so it will be pretty
simple to change those few.
Thanks again.
Click to expand...

You're welcome. Glad to hear that idea helped. Hopefully, you
won't be seeing too much blue.

Good luck with your book.

Nepatsfan
 
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