Guide | How To [Tutorial] Windows Libraries

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Aura

Level 20
Thread author
Verified
Jul 29, 2014
966
Hey guys, Yoan here AKA Aura with a small tutorial for you.

You all know what a Library is obviously. When you open your Windows Explorer, you'll have in the left tab a folder icon named "Libraries" that regroups under it the four basics Windows libraries : Documents, Pictures, Music and Videos.

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When you click on one of these librairies, everything that you'll find in it will be related to it's name. If you click on the Music one, you'll mostly see is files with a music type extension (.mp4, .mp3, etc.). If you click on the Video one, you'll see video files (.mkv, .avi, etc.). But does all the files that are associated with the file type related to the library name will be displayed in that library ? And does all the files displayed in a library have to contain a file type that matches the library name ? The answer for both of these questions is NO. And this is where my small tutorial begins ![/font][/align]

What is a library ?

For of all, we have to understand what a library is under Windows. Most people think that a library is a folder, it's not. Also, a lot of people think that a library will only returns file types that matches the library name, and like I stated above, it's not. A library returns the contents of a set of folders that are related to this library . Which means, when you click on a library, it will display the content of every folders that are included (linked) in that library, files and folders. Let's take the default Documents library. You'll notice that if you click on it, it will display all the folders and files that you have in your C:\Users\NAME\Documents (depending on how your library is set). Why is that ? Because the Documents library include your C:\Users\Name\Documents folder in it, which means that everything in this folder will be shown when you click on the Documents library, no matter the extension type of the files present in it. Libraries can then be created for multiple purposes in order to centralize all the files and folders needed when you're looking for something specific in one location.

Here you can see the default folders that are included in Windows default libraries :

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You can see that every librarie have in it's default folders location, the current user folder for the specified type of library and and also the same folder, but for the public user, which means that this folder is available for everyone. This makes easier the share of files and folders between users through the libraries.

How to create a library ?

Now that you've learned what a library is, and how it can be useful to centralize all the files and folders you might need for one subject in one location, let's create one as an exemple. Let's say I'm an heavy coder/programmer and that I use multiple IDEs for my work, and all the projects created by these IDEs have their own separate folder. Wouldn't it be much easier to have access to all my project in one location, get there in a few clicks ? Creating a library that will include all these project folders will help us achieving that. Let's start by creating a library. Right-click on "Libraries", then go to the "New" option and select "Library" (not that hard, it's the only option you have).

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A new library will then appear in your library tab and window.

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The name "New Library" doesn't seem really catchy for the future library containing all of our projects, right ? Let's rename it into "Projects" by either selecting it and hitting F2 (rename), or right-clicking on it and select "Rename".

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There you go, we now have a new Library identified as Projects ! But what will happen if we click on it already ? It will returns no result, as it doesn't include any folders in it yet. Let's change that by adding the folder locations where all our different projects are stored. First, let's right-click on our Projects library and select "Properties". The following window will then appear :

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You'll notice that there's nothing under "Libary locations", which explains why our library doesn't display anything when we click on it. It's there that we will add all of our folders containing our projects. Click on "Include a folder ..." then browse to the desired folder you want to add, select it then click "Include folder". Ta-da ! You've now included a folder that your library will go search his files and folders from.

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Now, let's repeat the operation for all of our folders. And here's the end result ! Our Projects library will now return every files and folders located in our project folders that we included in our library's locations.

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Now let's see what our library returns if we click on it. If I created my library well, all the projects (files and folders) located in the IDE Project folders should show up. Looks like I created my library well ! All the projects (files and folders) that were directly under the project folers I added to my library locations are now showing ! Et voilà, I now created a quick way to access all my projects in a few click, all in the same location ! Each tab represents a different folder that is in my library locations and will list every files and folders it contains.

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Few tips and tricks

  • The set save location button allows you to identify the folder where the the files will be saved if you ever decide to save a file straight in the library itself. The targetted documents will be identifed by a checkmark infront of it's name, in this case, it's my Eclipse Projects folder;
  • If you ever lose one of Windows default library (let's say the Music library), you can always restore the default libraries by right-click on "Libraries" and then selecting "Restore default libraries";
  • You can add folders to any of the default Windows libraries by right-clicking on them, selecting "Properties" and selecting "Include a folder ..."
  • You can change libraries' view mode like in any other folders;
  • You can share your libraries with other users by right-clicking on the library and selecting "Share with". This options also allows you to share your library with no one and lock it securely. You can also create your own sharing rules for that library;

The End

That's it folks, that's all for this tutorial ! I know it was a very basic one, but I noticed that a lot of people on this forum lacks basic knowledge of Windows, and I decided to make a serie of tutorials based on Windows features in order to help them gain a bit more control on their system. If you have any questions on this tutorial, anything you want me to detail more, explain me, feel free to post in this thread or let me know via PM. Thank you.
 
D

Deleted member 178

first thing i do when i reinstall Windows is to relink my medias/docs folders to the corresponding library and set them as default.
 

Aura

Level 20
Thread author
Verified
Jul 29, 2014
966
first thing i do when i reinstall Windows is to relink my medias/docs folders to the corresponding library and set them as default.

It's way easier to use libraries than to use the folders individually so it's a good practice yes.
I have a library for my pictures, one for my videos, one for my coding/programming projects, etc. Also, having a good folder structure helps having structured and organized libraries.
 
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