Windows 7 Explorer annoyance.

[Grenou]

I am attempting to transfer files.
I have opened Explorer twice, once on the left and once on the right and
want to transfer Folders in the left hand Explorer to a new location.
This should be easy.
Having done the same for years, in previous version of Windows, I (silly me)
expected it to work the same in Windows 7 Explorer.

Sometimes when I Cut a folder from one location and Paste it into a new
(quite different) folder in another, I get the following :
"Folder in Use"
"The action can't be completed because the folder or a file in it is open in
another program.
Close the folder or file and try again."

This is complete twaddle, nothing is open in another program.
The only activity is two instances of Explorer.
No open files anywhere.

It doesn't happen all the time, and goes away when I reboot, which is the
only time I can then Cut&Paste the Folder to where it is supposed to go.

This never happened in XP (I avoided Vista).

Can anyone throw some light on why this happens?

Grrr.

Grenou.

 

[Ophelia]

I am attempting to transfer files.
I have opened Explorer twice, once on the left and once on the right and
want to transfer Folders in the left hand Explorer to a new location.
This should be easy.
Having done the same for years, in previous version of Windows, I (silly
me) expected it to work the same in Windows 7 Explorer.

Sometimes when I Cut a folder from one location and Paste it into a new
(quite different) folder in another, I get the following :
"Folder in Use"
"The action can't be completed because the folder or a file in it is open
in another program.
Close the folder or file and try again."

This is complete twaddle, nothing is open in another program.
The only activity is two instances of Explorer.
No open files anywhere.

It doesn't happen all the time, and goes away when I reboot, which is the
only time I can then Cut&Paste the Folder to where it is supposed to go.

This never happened in XP (I avoided Vista).

Can anyone throw some light on why this happens?

No and I know exactly what you mean. I can't open two instance of Word
either

 

[Bob Hatch]

No and I know exactly what you mean. I can't open two instance of
Word either

In my Word 2007 after I open the first document/instance of Word I just
select the menu button, New, select the document type and I get a second
Word. I can do this as many times as I want. It works the same if I open
several different saved documents.


--
"To announce that there must be no criticism
of the President, or that we are to stand by
the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic
and servile, but is morally treasonable to the
American public."
Theodore Roosevelt
http://www.bobhatch.com
http://www.tdsrvresort.com

 

[Grenou]

No and I know exactly what you mean. I can't open two instance of Word
either

If this happened all the time, I could accept that there is something I am
doing wrong (it never happened before).
But is is a half-hearted now-it-works, now-it-doesn't, is what drived me
potty.
At least Explorer could be consistent in being stupid :-((

Thanks Pink Lady

Grenou

 

[Ophelia]

In my Word 2007 after I open the first document/instance of Word I just
select the menu button, New, select the document type and I get a second
Word. I can do this as many times as I want. It works the same if I open
several different saved documents.

Thanks, Bob. I am using Word 2000 so perhaps that makes a difference? I
will try your method though.

 

[Ophelia]

If this happened all the time, I could accept that there is something I am
doing wrong (it never happened before).
But is is a half-hearted now-it-works, now-it-doesn't, is what drived me
potty.
At least Explorer could be consistent in being stupid :-((

Thanks Pink Lady

hehe thanks Fushia lady))

 

[SC Tom]

I am attempting to transfer files.
I have opened Explorer twice, once on the left and once on the right and
want to transfer Folders in the left hand Explorer to a new location.
This should be easy.
Having done the same for years, in previous version of Windows, I (silly
me) expected it to work the same in Windows 7 Explorer.

Sometimes when I Cut a folder from one location and Paste it into a new
(quite different) folder in another, I get the following :
"Folder in Use"
"The action can't be completed because the folder or a file in it is open
in another program.
Close the folder or file and try again."

This is complete twaddle, nothing is open in another program.
The only activity is two instances of Explorer.
No open files anywhere.

It doesn't happen all the time, and goes away when I reboot, which is the
only time I can then Cut&Paste the Folder to where it is supposed to go.

This never happened in XP (I avoided Vista).

Can anyone throw some light on why this happens?

Grrr.

Grenou.

Instead of doing a cut and paste, just drag the file(s) from the (for
example) left instance of Explorer to the right instance. I do it that way
all the time and have never gotten an error message. When doing it from my
USB pen drive to a folder on my C: drive, I do it one of two ways- either
drag it over, then delete the source, or right-click drag and pick 'Move'.
No errors ever that way either.

 

[Grenou]

Instead of doing a cut and paste, just drag the file(s) from the (for
example) left instance of Explorer to the right instance. I do it that way
all the time and have never gotten an error message. When doing it from my
USB pen drive to a folder on my C: drive, I do it one of two ways- either
drag it over, then delete the source, or right-click drag and pick 'Move'.
No errors ever that way either.

True, that does work, but cutting and pasting 'should' too, hehe.

I am re-doing my Photo folder, slightly more efficiently than before.
There are thousands of images to move.
Pulling across (copying) and then deleting is twice the amount of work that
it should be.
Silly Microsoft, they didn't get that quite right :-(

Thanks for responding SC Tom

Grenou

 

[Grenou]

Thanks that sounds useful.

Grenou

I suggest you d/l and install "Unlocker" and use it. Many programs quit
improperly and do not release all files that are in use.

Eric

 

[Ophelia]

True, that does work, but cutting and pasting 'should' too, hehe.

I am re-doing my Photo folder, slightly more efficiently than before.
There are thousands of images to move.
Pulling across (copying) and then deleting is twice the amount of work
that it should be.
Silly Microsoft, they didn't get that quite right :-(

Oh noooooooooooooooooooo I have that job to do yet

 

[Dave]

True, that does work, but cutting and pasting 'should' too, hehe.

I am re-doing my Photo folder, slightly more efficiently than before.
There are thousands of images to move.
Pulling across (copying) and then deleting is twice the amount of work
that it should be.
Silly Microsoft, they didn't get that quite right :-(

Thanks for responding SC Tom

Grenou

So far this has worked for me but I've only been using 7 for a couple weeks
now. When you drag files, highlight all you want to move and use right mouse
click instead of left mouse click. When you drop you will have the option of
copying or moving, moving deletes files after copying.
HTH,
Dave

 

[Ophelia]

So far this has worked for me but I've only been using 7 for a couple
weeks now. When you drag files, highlight all you want to move and use
right mouse click instead of left mouse click. When you drop you will have
the option of copying or moving, moving deletes files after copying.

Oh, thanks, Dave! I have saved that!

 

[Dave-UK]

True, that does work, but cutting and pasting 'should' too, hehe.

I am re-doing my Photo folder, slightly more efficiently than before.
There are thousands of images to move.
Pulling across (copying) and then deleting is twice the amount of work that it should be.
Silly Microsoft, they didn't get that quite right :-(

Thanks for responding SC Tom

Grenou

To move lots of files I find it easier change to details view.
Then select the files and drag them to the new folder.
To select a range of contiguous files in a block, hold the Shift
key and select the first file.
Then, still with Shift key held, select the last file.
That will select all the files in between.
Then drag the lot to the new folder.
To select several files in a random order press the Control key,
select the first file, and with the Control key still held, select
another file, then another.
Each file will remain selected.
Then drag one and the others will follow.

 

[news.eternal-september.org]

I suggest you d/l and install "Unlocker" and use it. Many programs quit
improperly and do not release all files that are in use.

Eric

 

[Ophelia]

To move lots of files I find it easier change to details view.
Then select the files and drag them to the new folder.
To select a range of contiguous files in a block, hold the Shift
key and select the first file.
Then, still with Shift key held, select the last file.
That will select all the files in between.
Then drag the lot to the new folder.
To select several files in a random order press the Control key,
select the first file, and with the Control key still held, select
another file, then another.
Each file will remain selected.
Then drag one and the others will follow.

<saved> thanks.

 

[Grenou]

So far this has worked for me but I've only been using 7 for a couple
weeks now. When you drag files, highlight all you want to move and use
right mouse click instead of left mouse click. When you drop you will have
the option of copying or moving, moving deletes files after copying.
HTH,
Dave

Hah, this moving of folders/files is becoming farcical.

Instead of Cutting & Pasting, I have dragged some 20 folders across to their
new home.
4 Folders refused to move and gave me the you-can't-do-this error.
I then opened the folders with the intention to move the contents manually,
make a New Folder with a similar name and file everything in there, then
move that later.
In the destination folder I right-clicked, selected New>Folder.
Nothing showed.
I did that again, nothing showed, no new folder.
I then moved to another folder and went back: there were 2 blank folders.

It has done this before and will likely do again.

It seems that I am spending 80 % of my time trying to get Windows 7 to run
as well as XP, which is somewhat annoying.
I rather continue with Image editing and graphics work I normally do,
grrrr.

Grenou

 

[Stubbo of Oz]

I am attempting to transfer files.
I have opened Explorer twice, once on the left and once on the right and
want to transfer Folders in the left hand Explorer to a new location.
This should be easy.
Snip ....................

FreeCommander ( a dual pane file manager) is a lot easier to use than
Windows Explorer.

It is freeware - get it here:-

http://www.freecommander.com/

 

[Tom Lake]

I am re-doing my Photo folder, slightly more efficiently than before.

There are thousands of images to move.
Pulling across (copying) and then deleting is twice the amount of work
that it should be.
Silly Microsoft, they didn't get that quite right :-(

You don't have to go through all that. Use the RIGHT mouse button to
drag. Then when you drop the folder on the new window, a menu will
come up asking if you want to copy or move the folder. Choose move
and you won't have to delete the original.

Tom Lake

 

[Grenou]

You don't have to go through all that. Use the RIGHT mouse button to
drag. Then when you drop the folder on the new window, a menu will
come up asking if you want to copy or move the folder. Choose move
and you won't have to delete the original.

Tom Lake

Thanks Tom.

Grenou

 

[Grenou]

FreeCommander ( a dual pane file manager) is a lot easier to use than
Windows Explorer.

It is freeware - get it here:-

http://www.freecommander.com/

That looks interesting, I'll investigate.
Thanks for the link, Stubbo

Grenou