Customize MyDocuments

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I learned long ago that when the system crashes and the drive has to be
formatted, I did not want my personal files to be there too. So I NEVER put
my personal files on the same drive with the operating system. That would be
crazy!
However, that is where "My Documents" is. And with XP, it seems to have
become a religion. Is there anyway to reassign the location of "My
Documents" so that I don't have to navigate away from it every time some
application thinks my files should be there?
 
Lost_in_sight said:
I learned long ago that when the system crashes and the drive has to
be formatted,
Click to expand...


For anybody who knows what he's doing, the need to do that is extremely
rare.

I did not want my personal files to be there too. So I
NEVER put my personal files on the same drive with the operating
system. That would be crazy!
Click to expand...


I don't think it's crazy at all. It's a choice. People have different need
and ways of working, and what's right for one person isn't necessarily right
for everyone. In particular, if their backup scheme is one that backs up
their data, but not the operating system, separating the operating system
and their data on different partitions facilitates that backup. For those
whose backup scheme consists of making an image of everything on the hard
drive, there is much less value to separating data on its own partition.

However, that is where "My Documents" is. And with XP, it seems to
have become a religion.
Click to expand...


Not at all. It's easy enough to change.

Is there anyway to reassign the location of
"My Documents" so that I don't have to navigate away from it every
time some application thinks my files should be there?
Click to expand...


Sure. The free Microsoft TweakUI will do this, and many other useful things,
for you.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp (if you have
SP1 or SP2 installed)

or
http://download.microsoft.com/download/whistler/Install/2/WXP/EN-US/TweakUiPowertoySetup.exe
(if you don't have SP1 or SP2).
 
Ken-You're right of course, it depends on the individual. I'm obviously very
challenged to keep my system running, because I'm always wanting to load new
software, add a new piece of hardware, or just because I'm a clutz! I need
to have a system that I can recover easily, because it is so often necessary.
See my other posts.
I'll check out the tweaks you mention. Why aren't these things mentioned in
the Help directory? I've struggled with this for years! thanks again.
 
Lost_in_sight said:
Ken-You're right of course, it depends on the individual. I'm
obviously very challenged to keep my system running, because I'm
always wanting to load new software, add a new piece of hardware, or
just because I'm a clutz! I need to have a system that I can recover
easily, because it is so often necessary. See my other posts.
I'll check out the tweaks you mention. Why aren't these things
mentioned in the Help directory? I've struggled with this for years!
thanks again.
Click to expand...


You're welcome. Glad to help.
 
With XP, every program I load wants me to file under My Documents, and most
do not offer the option to remember where I put my files. Many do not even
remember during a session! If this complete reliance on the My Documents
structure is not religion, it's awfully cultish!

Again, I would like to know how to change the registry entry to a new global
setting, and - dare I hope? - To create unique settings for each software
application, so they will automatically go to the folder I want them to use.

After checking out the tweakui package, I was surprised that moving
MyDocuments was as simple as a right mouse button drag. This is helpful, but
as I impy above, I would like to do more than just MOVE MyDocuments.
 
Each program must use the CSIDL value to locate the path for a special
folder. Poorly designed programs tend to default to "%userprofile%\my
documents" folder, whereas the user may have relocated the folder already.
I'd say that it's the fault of that particular application, not Windows, as
Windows provides all the API needed to locate the special folder path
programmatically. It's upto the third-party software manufacturers to use
that facility.

CSIDL:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...llcc/platform/shell/reference/enums/csidl.asp

<Q>

CSIDL values provide a unique system-independent way to identify special
folders used frequently by applications, but which may not have the same
name or location on any given system.

</Q>


--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


With XP, every program I load wants me to file under My Documents, and most
do not offer the option to remember where I put my files. Many do not even
remember during a session! If this complete reliance on the My Documents
structure is not religion, it's awfully cultish!

Again, I would like to know how to change the registry entry to a new global
setting, and - dare I hope? - To create unique settings for each software
application, so they will automatically go to the folder I want them to use.

After checking out the tweakui package, I was surprised that moving
MyDocuments was as simple as a right mouse button drag. This is helpful,
but
as I impy above, I would like to do more than just MOVE MyDocuments.
 
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