Windows7How

How Windows 7 Libraries Organize Your Data

December 2, 2009

Now that Windows 7 has been released, several of you are probably already taking advantage of the neat new features – Aero Peek, Jump Lists, new Taskbar, XP Mode, or whichever tickles your fancy and makes your work easier. Again, we turn to a feature which has not captured the press as much as the others. This new feature may forever change the way you organize and access your data from now onwards. This new feature is called, simply, Libraries. So, what exactly is this and what does it do? Furthermore, how do you use it? That first question we will look at here. For the second question, see Part II.

It is easy to see this feature at work in Windows 7; simply open up Windows Explorer and you will be presented with them – Pictures, Videos, Documents, and Music. It would be all too easy to forget about these and just continue working in the Windows operation system (OS) as you did in Windows Vista or XP. That would be a big mistake, though, as these are much more than simply re-named file folders.

If you are familiar with the Windows Vista feature Search Folders, then you will begin to grasp the usefulness of this Windows 7 feature. It is interesting to note that this implementation is what Microsoft was working on for the original Windows Vista release, but the full version did not reach the final release. Instead, you had the Search Folders feature. Libraries take that concept much further and refine it in Windows 7.

It is probably easier – especially if you are any kind of programmer – to think of the Libraries feature as an advanced ‘pointer’ system within the OS. The Library can point to a file anywhere on your Windows 7 OS, on networked computers, or even on a portable hard drive. It does not matter where the files actually are, it only matters that Libraries know where it is. This means that you can now find all of the pictures on your entire computer and the network it is attached to by going into one location – no more searching through Windows Explorer. Simplifying your computing experience is what this is all about, these Libraries.

And, it is not only media files like photos, music and videos. It also includes Documents. For a business environment, this is immensely useful. If you are in a company that likes to have all of its documents stored in a secure location on the corporate servers, you will still be able to find them all via the Documents Library in the same place you find your personal expense reports and such. The Libraries can be customized to reflect the best use for the user’s situation. That sure sounds good; to have to look in only one place to find the file for which you are looking. So simple.

I believe you can already see how useful this new Windows 7 feature will be to you and others. So, in Part II, we will look at them and see how it all works.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Tags: aero peek, data, documents, jump list, libraries, music, organize, pictures, search folder, taskbar, videos, vista, win 7, windows 7, windows explorer, xp mode