01-03-2005, 05:56 PM
|
|
Thinker
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 399
|
|
Where do most users locate My Documents?
The inflexible way that WM2003 apps like PocketWord etc handle File>Open operations (with this 'All Folders' stuff, and difficult navigation), has caused me repeated confusion over the last couple of years. It still seems non-intuitive. But to minimise the problem and simultaneously recover some RAM storage, do most users move the My Documents folder from the device root to a CF or SD card? Are there any downsides of doing that please?
--
Terry, West Sussex, UK
Using iPAQ 2210 with WM2003.
|
| |
|
|
|
01-03-2005, 07:15 PM
|
|
Swami
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 4,584
|
|
Well, you can't move My Documents, but you can have more than one of them. I have a My Documents folder in RAM, one in my Built-In-Storage and one on my SD card. In each of the latter two cases it is important to ensure there is no ignore-my-docs file in that storage root, or the OS will expect to use and search the entire media for files rather than just the My Documents folder.
The files in each My Documents folder are treated in the file open dialogs as one location. If you have a Pictures folder under My Documents on the SD card and a Work folder in Main Ram, a file open dialog/page at My Documents will show both folders under it.
The difference, and I don't consider it a problem, is that the sync'd file folder on the desktop only get the files in the main Ram My Documents. So you just need to decide if a file changes significantly enough and you need to automatically copy the most recent version between devices or not.
|
| |
|
|
|
01-03-2005, 07:27 PM
|
|
5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 5,211
|
|
The "upside" (though it's still annoying) of the non-RAM My Documents not getting synced is that it's not RAM. So even if you hard-reset, you haven't lost the document like you would if it were RAM (so the sync for backup reason is a little less important).
To save RAM I install as many programs as necessary to ROM, move big files like mp3s, jpgs, and PDFs to CF, and use RAM for stuff that I really need synced, and put the rest to ROM or CF.
As said earlier, you can make a My Documents directory in the root of ROM or a storage card and the device's built-in apps will see it as all being one My Documents directory internally. Just make sure you delete the "ignore_my_docs" file if present.
So, for example, themes need to be in a My Documents directory AFAI remember, so I put them in a My Documents directory in ROM to move them out of RAM.
|
| |
|
|
|
01-06-2005, 09:32 AM
|
|
Thinker
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 399
|
|
Thanks both. I've set up a My Documents folder now in 4 places: the original (under the root), CF Card, SD Card, and iPAQ File Store. (The latter purely for 'symmetry'; at present it's empty.)
Kati: Could you amplify on what you mean by 'ROM' in this context please? Do you mean what I've called File Store? Surely that can't be ROM, or you wouldn't be able to create, delete and edit files in it?
As a follow-up question, am I right that there are broadly 3 categories of program in terms of how they open files:
1. Look at all folders on the device, in the familiar way, just like the PC, so My Documents is just one folder like any other. (I wish that was the only type!)
2. Look only at My Documents, and its sub-folders. (This was the type that prompted my original query, i.e. like Word, Excel, etc.)
3. Look only at My Documents plus only one level below. (For example, I have a dictionary app called MDict which can only see its dictionary, wordnet20.mdx, if I place that in \SD\My Documents\SD Library, rather than in the subfolder I'd prefer \SD\My Documents\SD Library\Reference
--
Terry, West Sussex, UK
Using iPAQ 2210 with WM2003.
|
| |
|
|
|
01-06-2005, 10:54 AM
|
|
Pupil
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 35
|
|
I really hate how you CANNOT make the default My Documents folder to one in your storage card. Is there a way that I don't know about? Or how you can't make the pictures taken by the camera default into a My Pictures folder in the storage card.... :cry:
|
| |
|
|
|
01-06-2005, 04:19 PM
|
|
Swami
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 4,584
|
|
Kati did mean Built-In-Storage (Dell) and iPAQ-File-Store when she referred to ROM. These areas are actually left over Flash ROM that is available after the OS and internal apps use up what they need. Most folks just leave of the flash part, because we are to busy. That's why we have acronyms in the first place. To busy to say or type Read Only Memory. 
Many programs do have options to change the defaut storage location for new documents. Word, Excel and Notes do. Does the camera app not allow that? |
| |
|
|
|
01-07-2005, 05:10 AM
|
|
Pupil
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 43
|
|
The ROM in most new PPC devices is actually EEEPROM (embedded electronically eraseable programmable read only memory). It works like any switched ROM except that it can be erased and reprogrammed on-the-fly... making it not really as Read Only as the name might imply. It is not RAM, however, as that implies volatile memory.
__________________
In pocket:* Sprint PPC-6700In car:** iPaq hx4700
|
| |
|
|
|
01-07-2005, 08:29 AM
|
|
Thinker
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 399
|
|
Thanks for the explanatory follow-ups. Now understood. It was that 'read only' implication that confused me.
--
Terry, West Sussex, UK
Using iPAQ 2210 with WM2003.
|
| |
|
|
|
01-07-2005, 09:50 PM
|
|
|
01-08-2005, 04:41 AM
|
|
Pupil
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 45
|
|
After six months of having a IPAQ 2210, I still have not seen a simple but comprehensive explanation of the directory structure. I recently purchased the SPB Pocket PC Tips and Tricks, partly because I expected it to include the explanations I need, but it doesn't. For something so important, and so non-intuitive, I need to understand it so I don't get frustrated when odd things happen. :?
Terrypin's 3 categories of programs has made a dim light bulb come on for me. Can someone please confirm this as terrypin requested.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by terrypin
As a follow-up question, am I right that there are broadly 3 categories of program in terms of how they open files:
1. Look at all folders on the device, in the familiar way, just like the PC, so My Documents is just one folder like any other. (I wish that was the only type!)
2. Look only at My Documents, and its sub-folders. (This was the type that prompted my original query, i.e. like Word, Excel, etc.)
3. Look only at My Documents plus only one level below. (For example, I have a dictionary app called MDict which can only see its dictionary, wordnet20.mdx, if I place that in \SD\My Documents\SD Library, rather than in the subfolder I'd prefer \SD\My Documents\SD Library\Reference
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by sven
The files in each My Documents folder are treated in the file open dialogs as one location. If you have a Pictures folder under My Documents on the SD card and a Work folder in Main Ram, a file open dialog/page at My Documents will show both folders under it.
|
Sven, Do you mean a Work folder under My Documents in the main ram?
Why do I end up with a "my documents' folder under "my documents" on the CF card? (when I rename/move a file to the CF Card )
Is there any way for word/excel/etc to see files that are two or three levels deep in the directory structure?
If everyone recommends deleteing "ignore_my_docs" what was the point of it in the first place?
If you do rename or delete "ingore my docs" do you need to reset before the it takes effect?
It's taken me over an hour to compose this message, because I have been experimenting as I go. :mecry: |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Linear Mode
