Folder content is displayed at partition level too. Probably a beginner question

[Mike]

Hi everyone,

I didn't found any information about it yet. So here is my situation:

I only added main folders to the database and never entire partitions. Because all had sub-folders and the files were only contained in them, I only experienced a special behavior today that I was not familiar with from other software.

a) When I click one of the main folders in Media & Folder, I see its contents in the File Window. That was expectable.
b) But I also see the contents when I click on the partition folder. This is completely unknown to me.
c) If the files are in a subfolder of the main folder, then they are no longer visible at partition level. That was expectable too.

Detail: the content still seems to be in the expected folder when I look at the address. Windows Explorer shows the same thing. So the files I see at the partition level in iMatch seem to be some kind of "links", at least that's how they behave.

So that there is no misunderstanding:
1. At partition level (in iMatch) I see the content that should actually be in the folder.
2. I only see the content that is directly in the folder but not in its subfolder.
3. I don't see files which are really directly on the partition (in Win Explorer).

This behavior can be good but also unpleasant, depending on your file organization.

Is this a normal behavior I have to learn, a bug or a specific feature that can be turned on and off?

Thanks!

[Mario]

I'm not sure that I can follow. What do you mean by "partition level"?`

When you index a folder from drive C:, say "C:\data\", IMatch shows in the Media & Folders View:

1. The Database node right on top
2. Below that a disk node for C:
3. The folder you have added



When you click on the folder, you see the files in this folder (data). Optionally also files in the sub-folders of this folder (Image Tests, ...), recursively.
How the files are displayed and grouped depends on the File Window settings, see: The Hierarchical Display Mode (Displaying files in sub-folders, child categories etc.)

When you click on the C: node, you see all files indexed on that disk.

When you click on the Database node, you see all files in your database.

[Mike]

To stick with your example exactly:

Partition: BOOT (C:)
Folder: "data" (including images)
Subfolder: "Image Tests" (including images)

I added "data" to the database.

When I click on C: I expected to see "0" images, but I see the images from "data". And I also see images from all other folders that are in the hierarchy just like "data" directly on the C :.

I don't see the images from "Image Test" when I click on C :. But I expected that and it's normal.

The previous file arrangement did not put me in this situation and I did not know this type of display from other software.

In iMatch case, this looks like an intended behavior, but I wasn't sure.

[Mario]

How many levels of the selected object (drive, media, folder) you see depends on the hierarchy mode you set for the File Window.
My post above included a link to the corresponding section in the File Window documentation.
I you have not yet worked with that, read the help topic. It will explain why IMatch behaves as it does. And how you control the number of levels, the grouping etc.

[Mike]

I know and often use the display of the hierarchies in the file window. In this case I chose the minimum, i.e. only one level.

I assumed that when I click on C: I actually only see one level, and as I was used to, that would only be files directly on C: or the folders themselves like "data" but not the contents of "data" . In my mind that was already two levels. At least from the point of view of a click on C:

Sorry, I expected what I was familiar with.

I'll take a closer look at the explanations tonight, maybe I was inattentive.

[Mario]

When I click on C: I see as many levels in the File Window as I have configured. When I set to show 1 or 2 levels, I see only these. Note that the drive level does not respond to "Show Hierarchy". It shows the files from the number of levels you have enabled, either in one bulk or, if "Show Hierarchy" is on, grouped by folders.

[Mike]

Note that the drive level does not respond to "Show Hierarchy".

That was the missing element in my case. The "level count" skips the partition and only begins at the level of the imported folder.

When I loaded my first 300000 files, they happened to be organized in such a way that they did not reveal this property, and I assumed other familiar concepts.
Because of this, I wasn't sure if I was seeing a bug, a preset, or a convention. It was the latter.

Thank you for the hints