Windows Explorer question

Factual Questions
1

Hi all,

I have a question about saving a file in Windows Explorer. Is there any way that a single document can be saved in two different directories and then “linked” together in some fashion so that I could work on the copy in one directory and have saves effect both copies.

I am working in a project in which, from both an organization and configuration management point of view, this would be a really useful feature.

Is there such a thing? Thanks

2

Create a shortcut to the file and then place the shortcut in the various directories.

3

Right-click on the document and select Create Shortcut and put the new shortcut in the second directory.

4

Shortcuts may not always produce the desired results. They are an instruction to the shell (i.e. Windows Explorer), and in some circumstances will not work as expected.
The correct solution is a NTFS Symbolic Link, created with the mklink command in a CMD window. This creates a file system object in one location that connects to a file in another - the link is basically indistinguishable from the real file entry. The link can also be to a remote NTFS volume over SMB.

5

Well, the correct solution is to have 1 copy of the file in a folder that is accessible by everyone who needs it.

6

Agree it’d be nice if the OP could tell us what his real business problems and goals are.

ISTM he’s jumped to the conclusion that a synced file in two places is the answer to his problem(s). IMO the reality is that he’s chosen the least bad solution from the ones he knows about. There’re much smarter ways to do whatever *really *needs doing. Once he can tell us what that is.

7

Newer versions of windows have the directory sync functions (SYNC CENTER).

the gotcha is that it synchronizes entire folders. Change one, it changes the other.

Typical use is - have your “work folder” on your laptop sync’d to the server folder. Whenever the laptop is on the network, it will update one or the other folder with the latest version. However, only works when both folders are online to each other; and if the document is updated in both locations, IIRC the older one gets lost. It’s not “multiway” but I suppose you could have several laptops/PC’s sync with the same server folder.

8

Alrighty then. Let’s say I am using a shared drive (call it "q:" for purposes of this example) and in q drive I have a folder for my “Vehicle” project and another folder for my “Powerplant” project, which is not part of the Vehicle project but does have some overlapping requirements, one of which is some basic research on turbine blades.

So I’ve got a document called “Turbine notes” my Powerplant folder that I update from time to time as I do my research. Bear in mind that for each project I’m juggling various facets of things and there might be a couple of other projects I have some involvement in as well.

Additionally, because I bring my work laptop on business, and because I am sometimes in airports that advertise free wifi but don’t functionally have free wifi I would like to maintain some docs on my hard-drive as well.

If on May 7th I’ve done my latest bit of research and note-taking on turbines I would like to save one “Turbine notes” doc and have the same saving action take place on the other copies. Even if I “save as” it would be handy to have all of them save as rev 2 for example, without me having to do anything beyond setting a document property (or something of that ilk) once only, until I unset it.

Does this make sense and is it possible?

9

Not if you mean May 7th, 2017.

10

You’ve got 2 or 3 overlapping issues here. As I think I understand it:

  1. You are the only person who ever reads or edits these files. Nobody else touches them to either read or to write.
  2. You keep them on some server at your office on the “Q:” drive. Your employer’s IT department manages this server and gave you the “Q drive” as a (the?) place to keep your files.
  3. You like to keep a local copy of some of these Q files on your laptop sometimes. Mostly so you can work when remote without needing a live internet connection.
  4. You organize your files into folders by project and have some files that pertain to more than one project. So you’d like to have at least the appearance, if not the reality, that the file is found in each project folder it pertains to.

Each of 2, 3, and 4 are really separate desires that need separate solutions. They all need to work together though. #1 is a key assumption I got from reading between your lines. If #1 is not true then we’ve/you’ve got a bigger more complex problem to solve.

If I’m right that an IT department controls your storage then you’ll probably have to check with them for the laptop sync part. They may not be cool with you moving the contents of “their” Q drive to an account of yours at Google’s or Microsoft’s cloud storage.

It’s probably a real bad idea to think in terms of multiple copies of the file in different project folders. That way lies all sorts of versioning issues and once you have two that are different, which one is definitive? If they get separated and then different edits are made to each unwittingly, even picking the newest one will lose you some edits. Don’t go there.

As suggested by others above, the lightweight way to solve this is simply keep the one and only file in the e.g. “powerplant” folder and put a shortcut to the file in the “vehicle” folder. That preserves your navigating simplicity without introducing any risk of multiple versions.

That does NOT solve the problem of edits made to the Q drive copy vs. edits made to the laptop’s copy. Again that’ll need to be reslved according to whatever IT solutions your company uses. There may be cloud solutions, or Windows folder sync engine solutions or 3rd party file management solutions. Or even a company internal website for file sharing and storage. Whatever they already use is (probably) what you’re stuck with.

Rest assured that keeping files in sync between a roving sometimes-connected laptop and a server infrastructure is a solved problem from 15+ years ago now. Windows has built in tools for that. And unless this is a 10 person company you’re far from the only worker there with this use case.

11

Thanks for the response.

Your first three assumptions are correct.
Regarding your comment about versioning issues, that’s exactly the issue I’m trying to deal with. I’m a reasonably competent computer user but regarding any background functions, I’m no IT guy.

As an amateur lover of science, however, I envision an IT version of Einstein’s “spooky action at a distance”. So there have been some recommendations upthread that, without greater detail, I won’t know how to implement.

I welcome any recommendations. Thanks

12

I have used Bittorrent Sync with success as far as “spooky action at a distance”. If you install it on both your office computer and your laptop, configure the office computer to sync the master folder, and then produce a sharing link and paste it into BitTorrent Sync on your laptop, it will create a folder on your laptop with identical contents, and both copies are magically kept up to date. The open-source analogue, if you prefer that, is Syncthing (just beware it is still on version 0.something).

Since you are the only one editing the files, there is no need for a version-control system, unless you need to simultaneously keep around different/old versions of the same file(s).

13

step 1.

On the shared drive, use symbolic links to make a file appear in multiple locations. here’s a good guide: https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16226/complete-guide-to-symbolic-links-symlinks-on-windows-or-linux/ (you’ll want to use soft links)

Step 2. set those files up to be available offline, using this guide: https://www.howtogeek.com/98793/how-to-use-offline-files-in-windows-to-cache-your-networked-files-offline/ . if your company is big enough to have a dedicated IT person, check with them to see if there isn’t some other, more preferred solution.