How to edit all file attributes (eg. Bit Rate, Comment, etc)

[Sandi]

Is it possible to edit the attributes listed for a file in XP?

I don't mean just the timestamp attributes. XP lists dozens of file
attributes

For most of these attributes I've never seen show any info (eg bit
rate, comments, etc).

Am I right in thinking many of the attributes Windows Explorer can
show are from inside the "data" part of the file such as an MP3's
tags? In other words, some attrbutes can only be edited for certain
types of file.

Is there any more info to be found about these obscure file
attributes?

 

[Paul Randall]

Is it possible to edit the attributes listed for a file in XP?

I don't mean just the timestamp attributes. XP lists dozens of file
attributes

For most of these attributes I've never seen show any info (eg bit
rate, comments, etc).

Am I right in thinking many of the attributes Windows Explorer can
show are from inside the "data" part of the file such as an MP3's
tags? In other words, some attrbutes can only be edited for certain
types of file.

Is there any more info to be found about these obscure file
attributes?

As you poke around in various folders, you see that the list of attributes
varies from one folder to the next. Just because there is a column for an
attribute doesn't mean that there is a valid value for that attribute for
every file in the folder. The recycle bin folder has about the largest
number of attributes because it is likely to contain a wide variety of
files. Through VBScript and the Shell.Application object, you can access
the attributes, but I believe they are mostly or all 'read only'.

You might try the script I posted here:
http://groups.google.com/g/78d7fef5/t/33e20952f1cd6185/d/27197677e7a7e4c3
to see the attributes of the files in your recycle bin. Be sure to run the
script under CScript or you will have a huge number of message boxes to deal
with.

If you are specifically interested in modifying MP3 file tags, I don't think
the shell.application object can do it, but there may be free scripts that
can, by carefully modifying the file containing the tags.

-Paul Randall

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

You might try the script I posted here:
http://groups.google.com/g/78d7fef5/t/33e20952f1cd6185/d/27197677e7a7e4c3

Nice code!

 

[John John - MVP]

The proper name is "Metadata". You can edit some of the metadata by
right clicking on the file and selecting "Properties and then clicking
on the Summary tab. Click on the Value column to edit the metadata.

John

 

[Tim Slattery]

Am I right in thinking many of the attributes Windows Explorer can
show are from inside the "data" part of the file such as an MP3's
tags? In other words, some attrbutes can only be edited for certain
types of file.

Some file formats have space for attributes (MS Office files, JPGs),
some don't (*.txt) files. In XP using NTFS, you can generally edit
this kind of attributes on any file by using
right-click|Properties|Summary.

XP uses NTFS Alternate Data Streams to store attributes on files that
have no place to store them. Vista dropped this ability. Look here:
http://members.cox.net/slatteryt/Streams.html for a discussion.

 

[Paul Randall]

Nice code!

Thanks!

 

[Sandi]

As you poke around in various folders, you see that the list of
attributes varies from one folder to the next. Just because
there is a column for an attribute doesn't mean that there is a
valid value for that attribute for every file in the folder.
The recycle bin folder has about the largest number of
attributes because it is likely to contain a wide variety of
files. Through VBScript and the Shell.Application object, you
can access the attributes, but I believe they are mostly or all
'read only'.

You might try the script I posted here:
http://groups.google.com/g/78d7fef5/t/33e20952f1cd6185/d/
27197677e7a7e4c3 to see the attributes of the files in your
recycle bin. Be sure to run the script under CScript or you
will have a huge number of message boxes to deal with.

If you are specifically interested in modifying MP3 file tags,
I don't think the shell.application object can do it, but there
may be free scripts that can, by carefully modifying the file
containing the tags.

-Paul Randall

Thank you for the info. The script stuff is too advanced for me!

 

[Sandi]

Some file formats have space for attributes (MS Office files,
JPGs), some don't (*.txt) files. In XP using NTFS, you can
generally edit this kind of attributes on any file by using
right-click|Properties|Summary.

XP uses NTFS Alternate Data Streams to store attributes on
files that have no place to store them. Vista dropped this
ability. Look here:
http://members.cox.net/slatteryt/Streams.html for a discussion.

Thank you. I'm going to try and read that but it looks quite chewy!