Acting on file management feedback

Posted January 30, 201212 yr

FPCH Admin

As we approach our next public milestone, we will begin to circle back to topics we covered in the blog and talk about the changes we’ve made to the product since the Developer Preview. As we've said often, we read the comments, newsgroup discussions, and reviews that have been written about Windows 8 and track the feedback carefully. We listen to this feedback by taking into account the source of the feedback and factoring in the intended audience for features as well as trying to reconcile conflicting feedback (no matter how many thumbs up votes there might be, we can promise that, for any design worth discussing, there are conflicting and equally valid points of view). Of course, we always consider the engineering feasibility of any changes we make—compatibility, security, performance, and so on. Ilana Smith, a lead program manager on the Engineering System team, authored this post. --Steven

We previously published three blog posts that discussed the new file management experience in Windows 8: one about the Summarizing blog post comments[/b] As we prepare for the beta, we thought we would update you on some of the key issues, and the changes you should expect to see. Conflict: identifying duplicate files during conflict resolution In Windows 8, we have a new experience for selecting the right file when file name collisions are encountered during a copy or move. L. Brown said:

A compare button to show if files are equal in the "Choose" dialog would be really great!

Frequently, the reason two files have the same name is because they’re copies. Making a choice between two identical files is usually pointless – it’s unnecessary for a copy operation, and often unnecessary for a move operation. We looked at several methods of identifying duplicate files and decided that checking the file name, file size and date modified attributes was the most effective approach. They can be used to identify the vast majority of duplicate files quickly, efficiently, and with good backward compatibility compared to other methods like file hashes. In the beta, we’ve added a new option to the detailed conflict resolution dialog. By checking the box in the bottom left of the dialog, you can filter out all files that match on name, size (down to the byte) and time (down to the [url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms724290(v=vs.85).aspx" target="_blank">granularity of the file system timestamp: 2 seconds for FAT, 100 nanoseconds for NTFS). The system will skip copying or moving these files. This functionality adds no additional time to the operation, works both locally and across networks, and on all types of systems and storage. [url=http://blogs.msdn.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-01-29-43-metablogapi/4024.2_2D002D002D00_CP_2D00_blog_2D00_post_2D002D002D00_skip_2D00_hide_5F00_1B44BC03.jpg" target="_blank">http://blogs.msdn.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-01-29-43-metablogapi/1374.2_2D002D002D00_CP_2D00_blog_2D00_post_2D002D002D00_skip_2D00_hide_5F00_thumb_5F00_5B0EA288.jpg We’ll skip copying files with the same name, date, and size This check box is deselected by default (to ensure users opt into the changed behavior), but it persists once you select it. Copy: system changes JL asked:

You know when you start a big copy job and realize that you are doing it over the wireless so you grab a network cable and plug it in? Does the file copy know to utilize the faster connection now?

If both sides of the copy operation are on Windows 8 machines, yes, it will be able to take advantage of the increased network throughput on the fly, thanks to advancements in the [url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365233(v=vs.85).aspx" target="_blank">Server Message Block (SMB) protocol to support multiple channels. Tobi asked:

Will it be possible to pause the copy operation and resume it after reboot/sleep/hibernate?

In the beta, when a system sleeps or hibernates, the copy operation will automatically pause, and when the machine wakes, you can choose to resume the copy by clicking the depressed pause button. (We decided not to have copies automatically resume on wake, as the system environment may have changed significantly in the interim and we do not want to cause an error.) Copy: handling confirmations and interrupts gawicks asked:

Please please display all the copy 'error dialogs' after the copying has completed so I don't have to sit in front of the machine all the time.

We have two types of user interaction that can occur during a copy job - we break these into two groups, “confirmations” and ”interrupts.” Confirmations like “Are you sure you want to permanently delete this file?” need to be completed before the copy operation can start. Interrupts are issues that the system encounters while copying, things like “File not found,” “File in use,” and file name conflicts. The system presents all confirmations before it starts to move or copy files. While copying, any interrupt issues are queued and presented once the system has completed all the work it can. In the beta, we’ve made improvements in how confirmations are presented, making sure they don’t get lost amongst existing running copies. Explorer: navigation pane scrolling issue xpclient said

Please fix the infamous Windows 7 navigation pane scrolling bug.

(See Explorer: respect picture orientation metadata [/size] Raf asked

Will you support *lossless* picture rotation?

In Windows 7 and 8, JPEG rotation is lossless when both image dimensions are divisible by 16 (standard image sizes). Additionally, Explorer now respects EXIF orientation information for JPEG images. If your camera sets this value accurately, you will rarely need to correct orientation. Look for a future blog post where we will discuss this in more detail. [url=http://blogs.msdn.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-01-29-43-metablogapi/4011.3_2D002D002D00_Win_2D00_7_2D00_Orientation_5F00_6CEB3655.jpg" target="_blank">http://blogs.msdn.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-01-29-43-metablogapi/4034.3_2D002D002D00_Win_2D00_7_2D00_Orientation_5F00_thumb_5F00_13B94C96.jpg Images in Windows 7 Explorer [url=http://blogs.msdn.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-01-29-43-metablogapi/3056.4_2D002D002D00_Win_2D00_8_2D00_Orientation_5F00_0C9A101E.jpg" target="_blank">http://blogs.msdn.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-01-29-43-metablogapi/6683.4_2D002D002D00_Win_2D00_8_2D00_Orientation_5F00_thumb_5F00_3368265E.jpg

Images in Windows 8 Explorer Explorer: Overlay changes to improve performance In Windows 8, we continue to prioritize great performance. We pay close attention to milliseconds of lag and look for reductions. In Explorer, we found an opportunity for improvement in delays caused by icon overlays. In Windows 7, we have a padlock icon overlay to indicate a private file. (You might recall that, due to the increase in shared files, it had superseded the ”palm up” overlay for shared files.) We recently found that checking for these overlays was adding about 120 milliseconds to our Explorer library launch tests. This might not seem like much, but we consider this a big delay. http://blogs.msdn.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-01-29-43-metablogapi/6574.5_2D002D002D00_Padlock_2D00_overlay_5F00_5A363C9E.jpg Overlays have limitations – they can only show a single state, add a lot of visual noise, and can be confusing. The padlock overlay has been removed this information is conveyed better by the “Sharing status” column. This column has these advantages:

Explorer: pin to Start On Marina’s [url=http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/10/11/reflecting-on-your-comments-on-the-start-screen.aspx">post about the Start screen, Boots112233 said:

Half of the items in my Windows 7 Start Menu are shortcuts to folders and one is to a file […] How can I do this in Windows 8 if the start screen won't allow shortcuts for folders?

In the beta, you can now easily pin your favorite folders to Start, and take advantage of the rich customization functionality that we built into it to arrange the folders into groups and into any order you want. [url=http://blogs.msdn.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-01-29-43-metablogapi/7563.6_2D002D002D002D00_pin_2D00_to_2D00_start_2D00_ribbon_5F00_2529AD6E.jpg" target="_blank">http://blogs.msdn.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-01-29-43-metablogapi/3857.6_2D002D002D002D00_pin_2D00_to_2D00_start_2D00_ribbon_5F00_thumb_5F00_79E51666.jpg "Pin to Start" from the Windows Explorer ribbon Additionally, just as in Windows 7, you can pin shortcuts to executables to Start directly from Windows Explorer, which can be very useful for applications that don’t add themselves to the Start screen by default. [url=http://blogs.msdn.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-01-29-43-metablogapi/2870.7_2D002D002D00_MoGo_2D00_tile_5F00_72C5D9EE.jpg" target="_blank">http://blogs.msdn.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-01-29-43-metablogapi/6165.7_2D002D002D00_MoGo_2D00_tile_5F00_thumb_5F00_6BA69D76.jpg Documents folder, a custom executable, and Event Viewer pinned to Start Explorer: PowerShell Jamie Thomson said:

Really liking the "Open Command prompt" option in the File menu however I prefer to use PowerShell so would like an "Open PowerShell prompt" option too.