I constantly backup and keep revisions of documents stored on my computer. For sorting and identification purposes typically create a folder with name conjured up using the current date and time. I usually create a folder name with the following format:
‘yyyymmdd hhmmss’. This allows me to see exactly when a ‘snapshot’ was taken and they pretty easy to sort in the correct order.
Opening Windows Explorer, browsing to the desired folder, selecting
File--> New -->Folder and then renaming the folder, IMHO, takes way too much effort. I find it a lot easier to just open Windows Explorer, right clicking on a folder and then selecting
‘New Date Folder’ from the context menu . This speeds things up significantly and requires a lot less thought.
The
‘New Date Folder’ option can easily be added to your context menu as well. First open up notepad (or your favorite text editor) and enter the following text:
@echo off
SET MONTH=
SET DAY=
SET YEAR=
SET HOUR=
SET MIN=
SET SEC=
SET MONTH=%DATE:~4,2%
SET DAY=%DATE:~7,2%
SET YEAR=%DATE:~10,4%
SET HOUR=%TIME:~0,2%
IF "%HOUR:~0,1%" == " " SET HOUR=0%TIME:~1,1%
SET MIN=%TIME:~3,2%
SET SEC=%TIME:~6,2%
md "%1\%YEAR%%MONTH%%DAY% %HOUR%%MIN%%SEC%"
Save that document some place on your local hard drive as a batch file. The batch
‘datetime.bat’ in the folder
C:\Batch is what I will use for this example. Next, open up Windows Explorer and select
Tools --> Folder Options from the menu bar. This will open the Folder Options Dialog. Select the
File Types tab. Scroll to
Folder in the
Registered file types list and click the
Advanced button. In the Edit File Type dialog click on
New. Type
New Date Folder in the
Action field and
cmd.exe /c c:\batch\datetime.bat "%1" in the
application field. Click OK on each of the open dialogs until you get back to Windows explorer. You should now be able to right click on a folder and be able to select
New Date Folder to create a new subfolder with the current date and time.
One thing to note is that this will not work on network folders unless they are accessed via a mapped drive. Also, you may have to work with the precision on the
SET lines in the batch file to work with your system's regional settings.
If you are uncomfortable or unfamiliar with any of the concepts discussed here you should probably refrain from doing this yourself and consulting someone who has a greater comfort level. I am sure you don’t want to inadvertently change anything that could potentially lead you to some computer headaches.
Labels: How-To, Information, Tech
AddrMon
New Date Folder
October 2005
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