Tool for marking/labelling (NTFS) files/folders?

[David Winter]

Hello guys,

I'm looking for a tool that will allow me to permanently tag files in
the Windows XP (NTFS) file system with custom attributes.

When I was still using Macs, this was possible using "labels" that you
could give a name and color and then slap on files - things like
"urgent", "private", "delete in 2004" etc. Very handy.

The idea is to tag files and folders and later use these tags to copy,
move or delete them - that's why I can't use the "Archive" attribute.
It changes when you edit a file or create a new one. I want something
I have complete control of.

I'd be grateful for suggestions.

 

[David Candy]

Look on the Summary Info tab in the properties.

 

[David Winter]

Look on the Summary Info tab in the properties.

Great - seems I missed that one.

Now the big question (and the solution to this is probably totally
obvious as well ...):

How do you *find* files with certain attributes? Windows built-in
search feature doesn't seem to support this, i.e. after putting for
example the word "urgent" in a file's comment field, it wasn't found
when looking for files containing the string "urgent".

As I said: I need to "collect" files with certain tags later for
purposes of deleting, moving etc.

TIA.

 

[David Candy]

Windows built in search can find it. But it's meant for web site indexing (like your own google) so is mainly a web programmers tool that. That means simple and user friendly it is not. You must turn Index Server on.

Basically you enter in the Containing Text Field only. This will search everything, name attributes, and content (depending on other settings and servioce pack level).

Type Indexing Service in Help and there will be a link to start it, use Help in the Index Server management console. It's very, very advanced (while leaving out anything actually useful).

From help

Sample queries
The following provides examples of queries for various purposes.

To search for Long form Short form Result
A specific value {prop name=DocAuthor}= Dalal Ketan{/prop} @DocAuthor = Dalal Ketan Documents authored by Dalal Ketan
Values beginning with a prefix {prop name=DocAuthor} {regex}George*{/regex}{/prop} #DocAuthor George* Documents whose Author property begins with "George"
Documents with any of a set of extensions {prop name=filename} {regex}*.|(exe|,dll|,sys|){/regex}{/prop} #filename *.|(exe|,dll|,sys|) Files with .exe, .dll, or .sys extensions
Documents modified after a certain date and time {prop name=write}>96/2/14 13:00:00{/prop} @write > 96/2/14 13:00:00 Documents modified after February 14, 1996, at 13:00 Coordinated Universal Time
Documents modified after a relative date {prop name=write}> -1d2h{/prop} @write > -1d2h Documents modified within the last 26 hours
Vectors matching a vector {prop name=vectorprop}={ 10, 15, 20 }{/prop} @vectorprop={ 10, 15, 20 } ActiveX documents with a vectorprop value of { 10, 15, 20 }
Vectors where each value matches a criterion {prop name=vectorprop}>^a 15{/prop} @vectorprop >^a 15 ActiveX documents with a vectorprop value where all values in the vector are greater than 15
Vectors where at least one value matches a criterion {prop name=vectorprop}=^s 15{/prop} @vectorprop =^s 15 ActiveX documents with a vectorprop value where at least one value is 15