Moving MUD from ~/Documents to ~/Library

[LabMonkey]

Dear Apple Discussions,

I am trying to move the Microsoft User Data folder from the ~/Documents
to ~/Library folder. In Office v.X there was actually an option to do
this, but in 2004 there is no longer one.

I have tried moving the folder to, yet whenever I open up 2004 it
recreates the folder under ~/Documents.

Any ideas how to get around this?

Thanks,
LabMonkey

 

[LabMonkey]

Also, I have looked at the other posts about moving the MUD folder by
creating an alias. I would just like to hide the folder.

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Dear Apple Discussions,

I am trying to move the Microsoft User Data folder from the ~/Documents
to ~/Library folder. In Office v.X there was actually an option to do
this, but in 2004 there is no longer one.

I have tried moving the folder to, yet whenever I open up 2004 it
recreates the folder under ~/Documents.

Any ideas how to get around this?

Thanks,
LabMonkey

You can move the folder to wherever you want, including a network location.
(I personally think ~/Library is a bad choice, but that's not relevant.)
Once the folder is moved, make an alias for it and move the alias back to
the ~/Documents folder. It should work fine. Of course, Entourage, all other
Office programs and the Database Daemon, should be closed when you move the
folder and make the alias. (Close the Database Daemon using the activity
monitor after all other programs are closed.)

 

[LabMonkey]

Thanks for the response.

I had already done that.

What I would like to do is not see the MUD folder in my Documents -
neither the actual, nor an alias. It was doable in v.X

Why is moving it to ~/Library a bad choice? (just curious)

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Thanks for the response.

I had already done that.

What I would like to do is not see the MUD folder in my Documents -
neither the actual, nor an alias. It was doable in v.X

There are several ways to make a file/folder invisible. THe UNIX one is
to place a period at the begining of it's name (which you can't do since
you can't modify the name) and the other is to set a flag in the
resources to make it invisible in the FInder. I use FileBuddy for that,
but I'm sure there are plenty of other apps out there you can use the
same way.

Why is moving it to ~/Library a bad choice? (just curious)

Well as far as I am concerned, the Entourage identities belong in
~/Documents and the rest (scripts, templates, custom dictionaries...)
belong in ~/Library/Application support, but that's probably only a
personal view.

Corentin

 

[CyberTaz]

Afraid I don't have anything to offer re hiding the MUD, but I am
curious as to why you want to do so.

If due to user activity in the Documents Folder, itself, I would go one
step further than Bob and recommend that it _not_ be used for user file
storage. That folder is quite actively used by applications (such as
Office), and the more activity it incurs the greater the likelyhood of
errors that could be catastrophic. The Apple Discusions Forum is loaded
with such tales of horror. Unfortunately many programs point to it as
the default save location, which not only suggests that it can be used
for personal files, but that it _should_ be (especially true of
cross-platform apps developers who primarily write for Windows OS and
seem to equate it with the 'My Documents' folder found there).

IMHO, user hierarchies should be created & maintained separately from
those utilized by the OS & apps. Personally, I don't even store my user
files on the same HD as my OS & apps.

Regards |:>)

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

That's what I do too. Give over ~/Documents/ to all the programs that want
to use it--Quicken, AppleWorks, Acrobat, Microsoft--and keep my own stuff
elsewhere.

My own files are in a subfolder in the ~/Document folder for the very
same reasons.
I just created an alias of my folder in the sidebar in the Finder so
that I can quickly get there from anywhere.

Corentin

 

[LabMonkey]

Thanks for all of the feed back.

The main reason I want to move MUD to ~/Library is just to clean up
"MY!" Document folder. I have managed to move out all of the other
folders, but this one is persistent. I don't use Entourage so there
aren't any emails stored in there. The only things in there are:
/Entourage Temp (empty), Normal.doc (template) and /Office 2004
Identities (which contains a Database file, which I can't seem to open)

I sort of see why you would want to have it in Documents, but why can't
I specify where to place it? Anyone know why it was changed from Office
v.X to 2004? As it is just a folder what does it matter where it is
located?

I will try the Finder resource trick to see if that works.

Also I will look at the .plist of v.X as it had a key in there which
specified the location of MUD. Knowing how the registry works perhaps
all you need to do is add a key to the current plist?

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Thanks for all of the feed back.

The main reason I want to move MUD to ~/Library is just to clean up
"MY!" Document folder. I have managed to move out all of the other
folders, but this one is persistent. I don't use Entourage so there
aren't any emails stored in there. The only things in there are:
/Entourage Temp (empty), Normal.doc (template) and /Office 2004
Identities (which contains a Database file, which I can't seem to open)

I sort of see why you would want to have it in Documents, but why can't
I specify where to place it? Anyone know why it was changed from Office
v.X to 2004? As it is just a folder what does it matter where it is
located?

I will try the Finder resource trick to see if that works.

Also I will look at the .plist of v.X as it had a key in there which
specified the location of MUD. Knowing how the registry works perhaps
all you need to do is add a key to the current plist?

The database file in /Office 2004/Identities is the Entourage database which
contains all the stuff (email, tasks, addresses, etc. for that identity.)
any attempt to open it should open entourage.

 

[LabMonkey]

Ah, I didn't install Entourage.

So the only reason I have MUD is because of Entourage?

If I were to install Entourage would I then be able to move MUD to a
different location?

Thanks.

 

[LabMonkey]

You were right, the file doesn't have a .doc extension. In fact it has
no extension. I just assumed it had one (as I hide the extensions) and
didn't look at the "Get Info" pane.

I will try what you suggested.

Thanks.

 

[LabMonkey]

Okay, I just deleted the Entourage folders and they came back when I
opened up Word to try and tell it of the new location for the Word
template.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[LabMonkey]

Hehe, you know how guys are -

I followed your instructions to the letter. There is no longer a Normal
in MUD. Only problem is: when I delete MUD and open up Word it gets
created again, this time with only the Entourage folders.

I double checked to make sure Entourage wasn't installed - it isn't.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[LabMonkey]

The only thing in my Address Book is my name.

When I try to delete it a message comes up saying that

"You must specify another Me contact before you can delete the selected
contact.

Select a different contact, and then click This Contact Is Me on the
Contact menu."

So unless there is a similar trick to move the "Office 2004 Identities"
folder, I think we are at the end of the road.

Irritating, aren't I?

Any idea why this was changed from v.X to 2004?

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Sorry, I can't think of anything else. We can hope someone more
knowledgeable comes along.

 

[LabMonkey]

Okay, I at least came up with a way of hidding the folder - thanks to
Corentin and the mention of resources.

There is a command in /Developer/Tools called setfile which allows you
to change the resources of a file.

$setfile -a V Microsoft\ User\ Data

and the folder is now hidden from the Finder. I know it isn't moving
the folder, but at least I no longer see it.

Thanks for all of the help.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Okay, I at least came up with a way of hidding the folder - thanks to
Corentin and the mention of resources.

There is a command in /Developer/Tools called setfile which allows you
to change the resources of a file.

$setfile -a V Microsoft\ User\ Data

and the folder is now hidden from the Finder. I know it isn't moving
the folder, but at least I no longer see it.

Thanks for all of the help.

I'm glad it did the trick. Thanks for providing the comand for whoever
else might want to do the same thing.

Corentin

 

[Barry Wainwright [MVP]]

Hehe, you know how guys are -

I followed your instructions to the letter. There is no longer a Normal
in MUD. Only problem is: when I delete MUD and open up Word it gets
created again, this time with only the Entourage folders.

I double checked to make sure Entourage wasn't installed - it isn't.

Thanks for all the help!

That's correct - word uses the contacts stored in the entourage database.