The folder libraries in Windows 7 enable you to access your content more easily.
Among the useful new features of Windows 7 is the way it can group together files in what it calls ‘libraries’. This means that, for example, you can display all of your music files in a single Explorer window regardless of where they’re actually located on the hard disk. Not only does this make it easier to find files when you need them by going to a single location, you can also use libraries with the search feature, enabling you to filter the contents of a library (sorting photographs by the date they were taken, perhaps).
As well as helping you find your content more easily, you can save files to a library too. Each library has a defined save location in the form of a folder, and when you add files to a library that’s where they’ll be written to. For example, files added to the Pictures library will be written to the user’s Pictures folder. The libraries feature is aimed at ensuring that people who aren’t familiar with a PC’s file system can still locate and store files easily.
When you install Windows 7 you’ll find standard libraries for Pictures, Videos, Documents and Music. It’s possible to customise these by adding extra folders, so you can include files stored on a second hard drive for example. You can create your own libraries, so if you’re working on a project you can set up a library for everything associated with it, whilst still having the photos in the Pictures folder, Word files in Documents and so on.
The Windows Media Player and Media Centre applications integrate with your libraries, giving you a more useful and consistent view of the media files on your system. As long as new files are added to the library they’ll always be available in the program without you having to add them manually.
(For a complete step-by-step guide to Windows 7 folder libraries, look out for The Essential Windows 7 Handbook, on sale from Magnesium Media and newsagents now).
