In this month article, I would like to talk about how to have an inside-out search and organize your files and folder.
As you might have experienced trying to find a document or an email while working on your projects with deadlines is not so every convenience. That’s why I would like to give you some tips below so you can get on top of finding information on your PC with an east of a Window. The first option for your PC is Google Desktop. Yes, there are other tools out there also that you can install on your computer if Google is not your preference.
The good things about Google Desktop are easy to install and east of use. It works really well with most recent Windows operating system. As you might have in might this is free as your gmail account. It works well with google applications like Google Doc witch let you create Word and Spreadsheet with the ability to share with your colleagues and friends who also has gmail account. Google Desktop comes with Gadgets side bar on your PC desktop. These Gadgets are lovable, useful and free of cost. The Gadget side bar is very obvious loaded on your desktop (the screen when you first logged in or turned your computer on) right side. My favorite applications are the News Reader, weather forecast, facebook, gmail calendar and the wireless connection indicator. You can also click the plus button to add more applications of your own like sport news,
Just after a few minutes of installing Google Desktop, the desktop search is ready for you to try your first search of files with a key word. Google Desktop by default indexes your files, folder, pictures, bookmark and email so you can later on search them later as quickly as you imagine. Google Desktop can be downloaded from http://desktop.google.com.
If you just want the search function without the gadgets, Microsoft Desktop Search or Microsoft Search is the program that you should have. Similarly to the indexing functionality of Google Desktop, Microsoft Search opens another window of it’s own program to let you have an customized type of documents that you are looking for whether it’s a Word document or an email. I personally like the interface of Desktop Search better than Google Desktop because of the customization availability.
Both softwares’ makers promise to keep the end user’s privacies. The search functionality is 100% local without Internet connection.
In this paragraph, I would like to introduce the the geek’s command line. Yes, sounds tacky but it won’t be that difficult for you to give it a try. There might be times where you would like to have a picture of what are in the folder of “My Documents” or your network drives at work. If you would be interested, you might be attempted to bring your camera and take a picture of the opened windows to take some pictures for a history of what it looks like for now. Well, there are many ways you can do this without purchasing a camera just to do this task. Now, I am going to show you a very cool tool already built-in to your Windows operating system. It’s called the “tree” command. To give it a try, follow me by going to the Start menu then a button called Run (in between Search and shutdown button). If you can’t find the Run button, you can also use a shortcut keys by press and hold the Windows key on your keyboard then at the same time press R key. Now the Run box appears for you to type in. Type cmd in the box then press Enter on your keyboard. You can now see another command line windows appear. While focusing on the command line window, type “cd my documents” and hit Enter. Type “tree -a >> printtree.txt” then hit Enter. Now the file is created printtree.txt is created in the “My Documents” folder and ready for you to open. You can now see all the subfolders as tree view when open the printtree.txt that you have just created. Copy and paste the list into a Word document so you can highlight and note for later change tracking. How about if you want to print the folder tree on your network drives at work? While having the command prompt opened, type N: then Enter. This will move your current location to N: drive. Your network drive might be other letter than N. So use the one that you have for example P:. If you don’t know which letter it is, open Windows Explorer program to have a look.
In conclusion, above tips and tools are to help you find and local the exact
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