My Documents
Encyclopedia
On Microsoft Windows
computer operating system
s (except for Windows NT
, simply "Documents" on Windows Vista
and Windows 7), My Documents is the name of a special folder
on the computer's hard drive that the system commonly uses to store a user's documents, music, pictures, downloads, and other files.
first introduced the "My Documents" folder in Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2
, as a standard location for storing user-created files. The folder—located under the root of the hard drive that Windows is installed on—is displayed (but not stored) directly on the user's desktop
.
In Windows 2000
, Windows XP
and Windows Server 2003
set up the "My Documents" folder (by default) in the user's profile directory, as \Documents and Settings\[user name]\My Documents\ (alias %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\) on the same hard drive that Windows is installed on. Note that "My Documents" in these operating systems is one of a number of Special Folders
- a concept introduced in Windows 2000 to add a layer of abstraction between the user interface's presentation of the folder and its physical location and contents. As such, "My Documents" in file load/save dialogs (and in Windows Explorer
) doesn't appear as an absolute path. A user can change the physical location of "My Documents" by right-clicking on the "My Documents" icon, selecting the
Windows Vista
renames "My Documents" as, simply, "Documents". "My Music", "My Pictures" and "My Videos" have also lost their prefix, and have moved to directly under the user's profile directory (C:\Users\[user name]\ alias %USERPROFILE%\).
As of Windows 7, The "Documents", "Pictures", "Music" and "Videos" folders appear displayed in Windows Explorer
with a "My" prefix but are actually still stored in the file system without the prefix (as in Windows Vista
). This raises the question whether Explorer will prevent you from creating a new folder named "My Documents" or if it will prevent you from creating "Documents" because of a name collision. The answer is that in both cases, Explorer assumes you are creating "My Documents" and will prompt for a user intervention.
An application can convert environment strings in a user-supplied path (e.g. "%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\") to an actual path by (for example) calling the function ExpandEnvironmentStrings. In .Net, use System.Environment.ExpandEnvironmentVariables.
introduced two additional special folders with a "My" prefix: "My Music" and "My Pictures". In Windows XP
, as with "My Documents", these folders can be pointed elsewhere by using Microsoft
's TweakUI
utility.
"My Music" and "My Pictures" are not present in Windows Server 2003 by default unless enabled using the start-menu customization.
Installing Windows Media Player
10 or 11 on Windows XP adds a "My Videos" folder which Windows Media Player uses to store video files that are shown in its media library.
Many other applications have adopted the "My" naming convention when placing folders in the user's "My Documents" directory:
Additionally, Windows XP and higher may add a prefix to "My Documents" et al. (for example, "My Music", "My Photos). The prefix is generally the user id of the owner for the particular folder at the time the folder was created. The value of the prefix is controlled by undocumented section in the desktop.ini file which stored in the former folder and has the following structure:
The functionality of DeleteOnCopy section can be indirectly inferred from Microsoft
's support article and from other workaround articles on the web.
Many Windows programs keep the My Documents folders as the default saving location. If the user's desired saving location is not the My folder, the user needs to navigate to their desired saving location on each save, as opposed to other programs that store the last working directory in the registry. However, these folders are virtualized at the shell level and can be pointed to different physical file-system directories using tools like TweakUI
in Windows XP.
, administrators can configure the location of "My Documents" (and other Special Folders) through Group Policy
settings. Corporate desktop deployments commonly redirect "My Documents" to a folder on a file server
.
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
computer operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s (except for Windows NT
Windows NT
Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. It was a powerful high-level-language-based, processor-independent, multiprocessing, multiuser operating system with features comparable to Unix. It was intended to complement...
, simply "Documents" on Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
and Windows 7), My Documents is the name of a special folder
Special Folders
On Microsoft Windows, a special folder is a folder which is presented to the user through an interface as an abstract concept, instead of an absolute folder path...
on the computer's hard drive that the system commonly uses to store a user's documents, music, pictures, downloads, and other files.
Overview
MicrosoftMicrosoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
first introduced the "My Documents" folder in Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2
Windows 95
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products...
, as a standard location for storing user-created files. The folder—located under the root of the hard drive that Windows is installed on—is displayed (but not stored) directly on the user's desktop
Desktop environment
In graphical computing, a desktop environment commonly refers to a style of graphical user interface derived from the desktop metaphor that is seen on most modern personal computers. These GUIs help the user in easily accessing, configuring, and modifying many important and frequently accessed...
.
In Windows 2000
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
, Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
and Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003 is a server operating system produced by Microsoft, introduced on 24 April 2003. An updated version, Windows Server 2003 R2, was released to manufacturing on 6 December 2005...
set up the "My Documents" folder (by default) in the user's profile directory, as \Documents and Settings\[user name]\My Documents\ (alias %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\) on the same hard drive that Windows is installed on. Note that "My Documents" in these operating systems is one of a number of Special Folders
Special Folders
On Microsoft Windows, a special folder is a folder which is presented to the user through an interface as an abstract concept, instead of an absolute folder path...
- a concept introduced in Windows 2000 to add a layer of abstraction between the user interface's presentation of the folder and its physical location and contents. As such, "My Documents" in file load/save dialogs (and in Windows Explorer
Windows Explorer
This article is about the Windows file system browser. For the similarly named web browser, see Internet ExplorerWindows Explorer is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user interface...
) doesn't appear as an absolute path. A user can change the physical location of "My Documents" by right-clicking on the "My Documents" icon, selecting the
Properties option, and entering a new folder location (path) in the Target tab.Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
renames "My Documents" as, simply, "Documents". "My Music", "My Pictures" and "My Videos" have also lost their prefix, and have moved to directly under the user's profile directory (C:\Users\[user name]\ alias %USERPROFILE%\).
As of Windows 7, The "Documents", "Pictures", "Music" and "Videos" folders appear displayed in Windows Explorer
Windows Explorer
This article is about the Windows file system browser. For the similarly named web browser, see Internet ExplorerWindows Explorer is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user interface...
with a "My" prefix but are actually still stored in the file system without the prefix (as in Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
). This raises the question whether Explorer will prevent you from creating a new folder named "My Documents" or if it will prevent you from creating "Documents" because of a name collision. The answer is that in both cases, Explorer assumes you are creating "My Documents" and will prompt for a user intervention.
An application can convert environment strings in a user-supplied path (e.g. "%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\") to an actual path by (for example) calling the function ExpandEnvironmentStrings. In .Net, use System.Environment.ExpandEnvironmentVariables.
Other "My" folders
Windows 98Windows 98
Windows 98 is a graphical operating system by Microsoft. It is the second major release in the Windows 9x line of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on 15 May 1998 and to retail on 25 June 1998. Windows 98 is the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid...
introduced two additional special folders with a "My" prefix: "My Music" and "My Pictures". In Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
, as with "My Documents", these folders can be pointed elsewhere by using Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's TweakUI
TweakUI
Tweak UI is a free user interface customization application first released by Microsoft in 1996 to aid end users in customizing the Microsoft Windows operating system. By itself, it does not do anything that would not otherwise be possible...
utility.
"My Music" and "My Pictures" are not present in Windows Server 2003 by default unless enabled using the start-menu customization.
Installing Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
10 or 11 on Windows XP adds a "My Videos" folder which Windows Media Player uses to store video files that are shown in its media library.
Many other applications have adopted the "My" naming convention when placing folders in the user's "My Documents" directory:
- Windows MessengerWindows MessengerWindows Messenger is a client by Microsoft that is included in the Windows XP operating system. Designed for use by corporate users as well as home users, it was originally created as a streamlined and integrated version of MSN Messenger...
and Windows Live MessengerWindows Live MessengerWindows Live Messenger is an instant messaging client created by Microsoft that is currently designed to work with Windows XP , Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Mobile, Windows CE, Xbox 360, Blackberry OS, iOS, Java ME, S60 on Symbian OS 9.x and Zune HD...
create a "My Received Files" folder when used for the first time. "My " (or "Saved Games" since Windows Vista) is becoming an increasingly common place for games (especially those published by Microsoft Game StudiosMicrosoft Game StudiosMicrosoft Studios is the video game production wing for Microsoft, responsible for the development and publishing of games for the Xbox, Xbox 360, Games for Windows and Windows Phone platforms. They were established in 2002 as Microsoft Game Studios to coincide with the release of the Xbox, before...
) to store a player's saved game and settings files. This practice aims to make it easier for users to keep their saved games if they uninstall a game, and if they eventually migrate their files to a newer computer (using the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard, for example). For networks with a shared "My Documents" [see Group Policy below], computers that have copies of the same game installed often can not run the same game at the same time. MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's TweakUITweakUITweak UI is a free user interface customization application first released by Microsoft in 1996 to aid end users in customizing the Microsoft Windows operating system. By itself, it does not do anything that would not otherwise be possible...
does not include the ability to re-path the "My Games" folder.
Additionally, Windows XP and higher may add a prefix to "My Documents" et al. (for example, "My Music", "My Photos). The prefix is generally the user id of the owner for the particular folder at the time the folder was created. The value of the prefix is controlled by undocumented section in the desktop.ini file which stored in the former folder and has the following structure:
[DeleteOnCopy]
Owner=
Personalized=39
PersonalizedName=My Pictures
The functionality of DeleteOnCopy section can be indirectly inferred from Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's support article and from other workaround articles on the web.
Criticism
The use of "My" items on the PC and on some web sites has encountered criticism for various reasons since their introduction. Confusion may occur between the My Documents folder and system folders that are similarly used, such as My Pictures or My Videos.Many Windows programs keep the My Documents folders as the default saving location. If the user's desired saving location is not the My folder, the user needs to navigate to their desired saving location on each save, as opposed to other programs that store the last working directory in the registry. However, these folders are virtualized at the shell level and can be pointed to different physical file-system directories using tools like TweakUI
TweakUI
Tweak UI is a free user interface customization application first released by Microsoft in 1996 to aid end users in customizing the Microsoft Windows operating system. By itself, it does not do anything that would not otherwise be possible...
in Windows XP.
Group Policy
On Windows machines which operate as part of a Windows Server domainWindows Server domain
A Windows domain is a collection of security principals that share a central directory database. This central database contains the user accounts and security information for...
, administrators can configure the location of "My Documents" (and other Special Folders) through Group Policy
Group Policy
Group Policy is a feature of the Microsoft Windows NT family of operating systems. Group Policy is a set of rules that control the working environment of user accounts and computer accounts. Group Policy provides the centralized management and configuration of operating systems, applications, and...
settings. Corporate desktop deployments commonly redirect "My Documents" to a folder on a file server
File server
In computing, a file server is a computer attached to a network that has the primary purpose of providing a location for shared disk access, i.e. shared storage of computer files that can be accessed by the workstations that are attached to the computer network...
.
See also
- Windows ExplorerWindows ExplorerThis article is about the Windows file system browser. For the similarly named web browser, see Internet ExplorerWindows Explorer is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user interface...
- Special FoldersSpecial FoldersOn Microsoft Windows, a special folder is a folder which is presented to the user through an interface as an abstract concept, instead of an absolute folder path...
- My BriefcaseBriefcase (Microsoft Windows)In Microsoft Windows, the Briefcase is a special folder that supports simple two-way file synchronization between itself and another folder. The Briefcase is designed for mobile PC users so that they may transfer it to a removable drive and have it synchronize with the computer to which the...
- Occasionally used to store files - Home directoryHome directoryA Home directory is a file system directory on a multi-user operating system containing files for a given user of the system. The specifics of the home directory is defined by the operating system involved; for example, Windows systems between 2000 and 2003 keep home directories in a folder...
- Windows Shell namespaceWindows Shell namespaceIn Windows Shell programming, the Windows Shell namespace is an organized tree-structured hierarchical representation that Windows Explorer facilitates to graphically present file system contents and other objects to the end user...