How is everyone managing their access to different folders/projects in explorer?

[Slasher]

How is everyone managing their access to different folders/projects in PDM/explorer?

I'm just attaching them to quick access?

I've seen some people create shortcuts of folders then bring those shortcut on their desktop or some central location. I'm interested to see how you do it?

Thanks!

[DanPihlaja]

I put a folder on my desktop. Than I attach that folder to Quick access.

Then drop shortcuts to all the regular folders that I access inside that folder.

The most used ones, I rename with an underscore at the start of the name to bring it to the top.

Reason:
You can't rename quick access items without renaming the original folder it is linked to.
But you CAN rename a shortcut.
Sometime I want a specific name on my shortcut even though I am accessing a general folder.

[Frederick_Law]

Network location in Quick access could slow down File Explorer because it need to check if they're available all the time.

[DanPihlaja]

Network location in Quick access could slow down File Explorer because it need to check if they're available all the time.

This is another (although unintentional) reason that I only have 1 folder there, and it is on my hard drive.

That is really good to know, @Frederick_Law !! Thank you.

I just checked and I had 2 other folders attached to quick access and they were both network locations.

Lately I have been noticing a huge lag when accessing the network, like it is doing a search. I just removed those two folders and we will see if that fixes that problem.

[Slasher]

@Frederick_Law Big if true! I'll test this soon; thank you (this may actually be why PDM is asking me for my credentials when I launch explorer every morning)

@DanPihlaja Actually one of the things I don't like about quick access is not being able to sort easily (unless u pin/unpin etc.); with shortcut that should be easy to manage.

[mp3-250]

quicksearch to lookup for folders or files inside the vault than jump into that folder from RMB menu.

in sw2023 there is a bug that makes explorer freeze when clicking on shortcuts on the desktop

[DanPihlaja]

@Frederick_Law Big if true! I'll test this soon; thank you (this may actually be why PDM is asking me for my credentials when I launch explorer every morning)

@DanPihlaja Actually one of the things I don't like about quick access is not being able to sort easily (unless u pin/unpin etc.); with shortcut that should be easy to manage.

You CAN drag and drop the items in quick access to change the order. But you can't automatically sort as far as I know.

[Slasher]

You CAN drag and drop the items in quick access to change the order. But you can't automatically sort as far as I know.

Should have clarified; windows folders I can drag; but anything PDM related is undraggable for me (Win 10 - PDM 2020).

[Frederick_Law]

Try to avoid folders in OneDrive or other network drive. Every time something change, it'll sync.
A new file, sync.
Modify a file, sync.
Delete a file, sync.
Some program put Temp folders in Document. I got 10000s files in OneDrive recycle bin.
Can't turn it off. Delete the folder in OneDrive will delete the local folder.

[Damo]

I've seen some people create shortcuts of folders then bring those shortcut on their desktop or some central location. I'm interested to see how you do it?

This is pretty much what I do.
Current/ongoing project folders are shortcutted to a folder on the desktop, currently contains 8 separate ongoing project folder shortcuts.

I'm fortunate I suppose in that I work alone. All files are stored on my machine locally.
I keep all work related projects, (including SW settings, templates, parts library, etc.) in one folder in the root directory on a separate SSD Drive. (Not the OS drive.)
539GB, 332,333 Files, 11,189 Sub-Folders.

PS. Perhaps I am missing something. What is "Quick Access" ..?

[Slasher]

This is pretty much what I do.
Current/ongoing project folders are shortcutted to a folder on the desktop, currently contains 8 separate ongoing project folder shortcuts.

I'm fortunate I suppose in that I work alone. All files are stored on my machine locally.
I keep all work related projects, (including SW settings, templates, parts library, etc.) in one folder in the root directory on a separate SSD Drive. (Not the OS drive.)
539GB, 332,333 Files, 11,189 Sub-Folders.

PS. Perhaps I am missing something. What is "Quick Access" ..?

It's a Windows feature. You can pin your PDM folders to it. That's what I've been doing, but am thinking of trying something different hence this post. Quick access has some limitations, though can be very convenient as it's very accessible.

[SPerman]

Try to avoid folders in OneDrive or other network drive. Every time something change, it'll sync.
A new file, sync.
Modify a file, sync.
Delete a file, sync.
Some program put Temp folders in Document. I got 10000s files in OneDrive recycle bin.
Can't turn it off. Delete the folder in OneDrive will delete the local folder.

I work on OneDrive and it's not that bad. A local cache is created, and the sync happens in the background.

[AlexLachance]

Quick access is how I roll. One of my collegue does as you said, a folder on her desktop with a bunch of shortcuts to different things that she would want to access.

Another one has some sort of quick-access bar in his Windows Menu which he can then access the desired folders quickly.

[bnemec]

"C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS PDM\Search.exe" is pinned to Start and Task Bar. That's my gateway to vault as normal user. From there search for something, rest of navigation is ~95% where used and contains tabs.

[Slasher]

"C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS PDM\Search.exe" is pinned to Start and Task Bar. That's my gateway to vault as normal user. From there search for something, rest of navigation is ~95% where used and contains tabs.

Whaaaat; search has it own executable file? That's so cool; thanks for sharing that; just added it .

[Slasher]

Here's a gif file showing a slightly different way that I didn't know was possible in windows (win 10):

[Damo]

It's a Windows feature. You can pin your PDM folders to it. That's what I've been doing, but am thinking of trying something different hence this post. Quick access has some limitations, though can be very convenient as it's very accessible.

image.png

Oh.. It is in the navigation panel.
This is why I don't know of it. I haven't used navigation panel in explorer since XP.

Thank you for the tip.

[Damo]

Here's a gif file showing a slightly different way that I didn't know was possible in windows (win 10):

I do this too. This is a variation on the desktop folder filled with shortcuts.
It is a good solution as it is always available regardless of how many windows are open.
The taskbar is never obscured and always accessible.
Another varition of this is to simply pin that same folder to the start menu.

[Uncle_Hairball]

Here's a gif file showing a slightly different way that I didn't know was possible in windows (win 10):

Don't 'upgrade' because awful Win11 doesn't allow that.

[Damo]

Don't 'upgrade' because awful Win11 doesn't allow that.

Really..?!?!?

I'll never understand software people who roll out "upgrades" incorporating unnecessary alterations to the UI or REMOVING existing useful features.
Both can have detrimental effects on learnt behaviour and almost always result in initially decreased productivity.
Or worse, terrible errors.
I should think upgrades would be about patches and fixes at least, or new beneficial/useful features at best.

[SPerman]

Someone deciding cut, paste and rename would be better off as an icon.