Where did Favorites folders go in Document Explorer v8?

Where did Favorites folders go in Document Explorer v8?

• sana234

  Hello Bill,

  The Favorites feature in Visual Studio 2005 represents a change over previous versions of VS in that VS Favorites are now separate from IE Favorites.  We heard strongly from customers that they wanted VS & IE Favorites to be separate, so we created the new Favorites toolwindow, which can store links to local & online docs, and searches (which stores the filter-state and the query so it can be re-executed later).

  While it was a step in the right direction, the Favorites implementation is limited.  You can't create new folders or categorize your Favorites - although you can order them however you'd like.

  We are aware that we have a lot of room to make Favorites better and we will be looking at that for future versions of VS.

  Thanks much for your feedback and let us know if there are specific things that are most important to you.

  Thanks,
  Jeremy Jones

  
  
  

• Frank Loizzi

  Jeremy,

  Thanks for getting back; good to know that a folders feature was indeed missing and that I wasn't just too stupid to find it

  I will tell you that I'm a heavy user of VS help/doc explorer. While I very much approve of the new version overall, the use of folders will be sorely missed by me and anyone like me who uses Favorites as a reference to organize topics and not just as a quick in-and-out. Please please please add back ASAP!

  The lack of folders is especially bad if you have other instances of the help on your computer. For example, I have the new version of Infragistics for Visual Studio 2005 (a UI component lib if you haven't heard of it), and favorites entries from their help  are mixed in with the help for VS STudio 2005, and vice versa. So my problem above is doubled. Ugh.

  Finally, since you asked for specific items , a 3rd thing I've noticed is that the ability to move Favorites items around is, well, lame, if you'll forgive my saying so. Drag n' drop ability has actually been removed, and there isn't even a 'move to top' or 'move to bottom' capability. This is just plain going backwards usability-wise, IMHO.

  Well, that's all I've got, and this incident/item is close as far as I'm concerned; thanks for listening.

  -Bill B

  
  
  

• Jitendra Shahani

  I spent too much time also looking how to create folders in Document Explorer. and didn't like the way that SQL Books on line uses the same interface with completely different settings and favourites.
  

• Recycled Gardens

  I too spent more time than I would like to admit looking for this feature. I am glad that help favorites have been separated from IE favorites, but without the ability to organize, my bookmarks are rapidly become so cluttered as to be useless. Please make restoring this essential feature a priority.

  Another feature I would love to see brought back is a running history list. This feature was part of the old Visual C++ integrated help and disapeared years ago. It was a simple list of all documents viewed in your current session with the most recently viewed document at the top of the list. With a simple click, you could jump back and forth between several related documents. Very, very useful when when going back and forth between (for example) a knowledge base article and API documentation.

  Thanks,
  Al

  
  

• bronce32

  I guess I'm in the minority but I liked the help favorites in the IE favorites folder. I have a shortcut to the IE favorites folder and I search on the folder to find links all the time. NOW THERE IS NO WAY TO SEARCH ON THE HELP FAVORITES LINKS

  Why didn't Microsoft just offer a choice to decide where to save the help favorites links

  maxmin

  
  

• sibot13

  All...

  Thanks so much for these suggestions, they are all completely on point! The Favorites feature needs to be a modern repository for storing the docs you want to hold on to. They need to be easy to organize, archive, associate with projects, share with friends, etc. There should be several simple gestures to add Favorites. And they should be searchable. Windows Live Favorites is a good example of where things are going.

  We heard lots of feedback that customers wanted Help Favorites separate from IE Favorites. We build that, but we didn't have the bandwidth to make Favorites a "prime time" feature.

  Also, I completely agree that we need a History of docs viewed. It should be easy to navigate this list and view docs or add them to Favorites.

  Thanks again for the suggestions, we are working on our strategy for delivering a great modern Help experience that incorporates these features.

  Thanks!
  - Jeremy Jones

  
  
  
• Where did Favorites folders go in Document Explorer v8?