File Tooltips?

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This may sound crazy, but here goes anyway.

Does anyone know of a utility that will attach a tooltip to a file?

What I would like to do is this:

1. Download a file.

2. Create a tooltip and attach it to the file.

3. Save the file for later use.

4. Later (usually much later), when I cursor over the file in Windows Explorer, I want to see the tooltip with the info that I entered.

The reason for my asking this is that I often download utilities that I come across on the net and save them for later use. More often than not, by the time I get around to looking at these files, all I see is a cryptic file name and I forget what they were and why I downloaded them (aging brain cells, you know).

Anyway, am I nuts or does such a thing exist?

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I don’t know of any way to do what you want, but two possibilities:

1] Save a small Readme.txt file with brief info copied from the download site, including the url for future ref, and save it with the file. This is what I do, and I also save each download in its own subfolder.

2] Add some comments in the Properties of the file – see below – but you will need to right click the file to read them.

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I do the same as Leif, but I take it one step further and do a save as, and change the name of the file. For example instead of “advisor.exe” I change it to “Belarc Advisor.exe”
All donwloads are also in their repective folders (ie) all from Microsoft in a Microsoft folder etc.

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Hello –

I also create a separate folder (i.e., Program Files/Belarc) and then add a file called something like “InfoBelarc” to the folder.

Curious

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In addition what Leif said in 1) –

I always create a text file with the same name as EXE file (this way they are keeping together in Windows Explorer). In the text file I include following information:

– the full name of the program
– version (if applicable)
– date created (if available)
– size (to check if downloaded file is damaged)
– brief (of full) description of the program
– source (web page the file downloaded from or support page)
– link to check for updates (if not the same as previous)
– and also installation key, if needed.

It helps me many times: when I decided to install downloaded program after three or four years, I discovered that the program is already a couple versions behind…

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Why not just rename the cryptic filename to something that makes more sense to you?

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No John, you’re not nuts. I don’t know if there is a Santa Claus, but there are such utilities about. Here’s a few that came to mind:

IT Solution & Services Annotater Page

FileTip, still downloadable at Downloads – FileTip 1.2 – PC World

Both

Related, and maybe useful: Explorer Notes

Alan

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Thanks to all who replied to my post. Everyone had excellent suggestions and I will consider all of them. It seems like the easiest thing to do right now is to use the properties/summary/comments field. I will explore the other possibilities when I get the time.

Just a thought–wouldn’t it be a great feature if a file tooltip showed the contents of that comments field? That would have been a nice Vista add-in. Here’s a chance for you software utility writers to solve a problem with your expertise.

Again, thanks to all.

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wouldn’t it be a great feature if a file tooltip showed the contents of that comments field

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[/indent] Total Commander is a very good alternative for Windows Explorer, with two panes and many useful features. A kind of “Swiss army knife” shareware program. It has an option to put comments, if available, in a sort of tooltip if you hover over the filename.

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It is possible to show comments in the tooltip; see post 434,760.

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Hans,

Thanks for your excellent reply. However, none of the Windows XP systems that I use display a tooltip when the cursor is on a filename or a folder. Is there some other setting to turn on this feature?

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To turn on the tooltips in Windows Explorer:
– Select Tools | Folder Options…
– Activate the View tab.
– Scroll down the list until you see ‘Show Pop-Up Description For Folder And Desktop Items’.
– Make sure the check box for this item is ticked.
– Click OK.

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Thanks, Hans. It looks like your tips give me just what I needed. Woody’s is the only place to come to for Windows help.

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