Finding Things Using Microsoft Windows

I think I just got 99 times better at finding things on my computer thanks to Indexed Tags  and Preview Pane.

To get Preview Pane click the blue and white square in the upper right corner of Explorer (the name of the program Windows uses as a file browser window). Now every time you highlight a file, you see the first page of the file. For example I was trying to remember which test had a stern warning against cheating on the first page.  Looks like it's not this one:

Preview pane is not cutting edge - my mom's old Windows 2000 computer uses it.  I just didn't know where it was in Windows 7 for some reasons.  My other discovery, tags with indexing is more profound.

Putting tags on my files will be enormously useful. In teaching I have increased my amount of spiral curriculum , which helps students learn but it has also increased the difficulty of finding all the mentions of a given topic.  For example since I teach density in multiple chapters, I need to be able to go back later and see when I first mentioned density, what level I have tested density at, which homework examples I've recycled from the last time I taught density, etcetera.  By tagging density throughout the year in every file that has it I make this easier.  I make it more portable for when I teach a different version of chemistry too (New York State Regents, SAT, A.P., etc).

Windows won't find tags if you don't tell it to fully "Index" those parts of the drive.  To do that, hit the blue "?" while you are in Explorer and look up Index FAQ's. 

Then to tag, the Explorer file window has a space to add tags at the bottom every time you highlight a file.

One way to

Comments

[Roddy Gibbs]

Hi Evan,

First, I'm definitely going to make use of this feature. I consider myself computer-savvy enough, but this is new to me.

I'm sorry for the unrelated comment, but I've been trying to get in touch with you about a book review you once wrote. Could you please E-mail me when you have the time.

Thanks!