Managing Files, Folders, and Search Methods

New to Windows NT 4.0 users is the My Documents folder, which is the default location for storing user documents and files. Windows 98 users will notice a new location for the My Documents folder. It is stored with other user profile settings in the Documents and Settings folder. Users who share computers cannot read each other's documents.

A subfolder of My Documents that is called My Pictures provides a place to store graphics and digital images from sources such as digital cameras. With Web View enabled, you can view images by using thumbnails (see Figure 9.1) or full screen previews, zoom in and out, pan left and right, scroll up and down, and print images.

Figure 9.1 My Pictures Window Displaying Thumbnails View

If the picture or image is stored on a drive that uses the NTFS file system, you can enter and view text descriptions of picture attributes, such as title, subject description, or category. Additional columns can also be displayed in the folder.

For more information about changing folder views and using Web view, see Customizing Folders later in this chapter.

My Documents is a system folder that cannot be deleted. However, you can rename the desktop shortcut, rename the folder, and redirect the My Documents folder to a network location by using Group Policy.

Note

If you upgrade to Windows 2000 from a Windows 98 workstation that had redirected the My Documents folder, Windows 2000 Professional redirects My Documents to the same location.

To change the location of the My Documents folder

1. Right-click My Documents on the desktop, and then click Properties .

2. Under Target folder location , type a destination, or click FindTarget to view locations (see Figure 9.2).
   Figure 9.2 Target Tab of the My Documents Properties Dialog Box

Group Policy Settings That Affect My Documents

You can use a Group Policy setting or a combination of Group Policy settings to control the My Documents folder. On a Windows 2000 Server, Group Policy has a special Folder Redirection component. For more information about using Group Policy with Windows 2000 Server, see Group Policy and Introduction to Desktop Management in the Distributed Systems Guide .

Table 9.1 lists some of the Group Policy settings that affect My Documents and provides a brief description of each. Before you change a Group Policy setting, you should be familiar with using Group Policy and with using Microsoft Management Console (MMC). To make changes to these settings, you must log on as a member of the Administrators group. You can find these Group Policy settings by using the Group Policy MMC snap-in and then following this path:

Local Computer Policy\User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Desktop

Table 9.1 Group Policy Settings That Affect My Documents

For additional information about Group Policy settings, including a more complete description of each setting, follow the preceding path to the Group Policy setting, right-click the Group Policy setting, click Properties , and then click the Explain tab, or refer to the Group Policy Reference on the Microsoft Windows 2000 Resource Kit companion CD.