How to Add Notes to Your Files and Folders
With hard drives becoming both bigger and cheaper, we now
have 100’s of thousands of files. But, the problem now
becomes how do we find that ONE particular file? Most users
try and get around this by using descriptive file names. So
rather than call a file something like “list.doc”
they might call it “thanksgiving acceptances 2007.doc”.
In general this should work pretty well as Windows will accept
file names up to 255 characters in length. However in practice,
lists of very long file names are difficult to quickly scan
and are often truncated by Windows Explorer. Using the “Search…”
utility is another way (right click on Start and choose “Search…”).
You can use it to find a file even if you only know a part
of the file name, or even to search within files for some
phrase. But, I have discovered an easier way. I’ve been
using a built-in but little-used Windows feature. This involves
the use of the “Comments” field. It’s part
of all files and folders in Windows just like name, size and
date created. Most users don’t know about this field
as the Comments field is by default not displayed in Windows
Explorer in XP.
Showing this field is easy. Open any folder in Windows Explorer
and right click on a blank space in the field title bar. That’s
the grayed out area that says “Name Size Type”
etc. When you right click you will see a list of fields displayed
with some checked. To display the Comments field, simply check
that field. Once checked you now see that field on the right
hand side of your Explorer window, though you may have to
scroll to the right to see it.
The Comments field will be blank, since you haven’t
added any comments yet. I’ll get to that later but first
we have to tell Windows to now add the Comments field to every
window. To do that select Tools / Folder options / View from
the window where you just added the Comments field. Then press
the “Apply to all folders” button. NOTE: If you
have customized folder views for different folders you may
want to skip this step as it will give all your folders the
same view.
Now here’s how you add comments: Just right click a
file, select “Properties” then click the “Summary”
tab. You can then enter your comments directly in the Comments
box at the bottom of the Windows. Whatever you enter will
then be displayed in the Comments field in Windows Explorer.
Pretty cool eh? But here are a few additional tips that make
the comments field even more useful:
When searching for a particular file you have commented, remember,
you can sort on the Comments field in Internet Explorer by
clicking on the title, just like any other field. Sorting
will group all your annotated files together, which makes
them easier to scan when looking for a particular file. Sorted
comments are also in alphabetical order, so try to annotate
systematically using meaningful keywords at the start of your
comments.
Many desktop search programs index the Comments field. That
makes searching your comments even easier.
Finally, you can comment your files even more quickly by using
the free HobComment Explorer Extension utility that makes
the Comments field available directly off the context menu
when you right click a file. You can get HobComment from here:
http://www.dr-hoiby.com/CommentExt/index.php (14KB)
http://www.dr-hoiby.com/CommentExtXP/ (12KB) <= XP users
may need this as well
