PC library organization will keep your music in easy-to-access order

You’d like to find a song to play on your computer as you clean. You downloaded it and have played it once before. But now you can’t find it. It’s hidden in the 20,000 other songs you have uploaded to your hard drive. Or you may have accidentally moved it into another folder and now it won’t open. Maybe you just simply misnamed it. All you want is to play that song at this moment and get some work done. 

So, let’s take a look at how you can organize your PC library in a way that makes losing a song a thing of the past.

Windows 7 Libraries

In order for you to move forward with your pc library organization, it will be helpful to know what libraries are in the first place. 

We’ll focus on Windows 7 and its Libraries program. Before, your files — such as music, movies, documents, pictures, and more — were flung across files and folders all over your hard drive. In the simplest terms, a library will offer you a chance to put all of these files into one location, no matter where they are actually stored on your computer. 

For music, you can use a preset library (or create your own) and simply tell Windows which files you want included in your new library. Everything will still be located in the same spots, like before, but now, with the libraries program, they’ll show up in a single window. Libraries are simply a way of organizing all of your files — music, movies, family photos, work documents, etc. — into one simple to find and easy to use place, without having to physically move them from where they’ve being stored. Who said pc library organization could be this easy?

What Can Be Done with Libraries?

One can create a new library and arrange items by folder, date, and other such properties. They can choose to include or remove folders as well as change the default save location for a file. For your music library, there will be a default “music” library already available to you. The other three defaults will be documents, pictures, and videos. 

If you’re interested in creating a new library, simply click the Start button on the lower left of your screen. Click your user name, which in turn opens up your personal folder. And then click Libraries. On the toolbar, press New Library, type a name and press enter. And there you have it; you’ve just created a new library to help organize all your disparate files into one easy to reach location. 

To arrange items within your music library, you will go to the Arrange by menu, which is located in the library pane and above the file list. There you will be able to arrange your music the way you want, such as with the artist in mind so that, without any hassle, you can find any of that artist’s songs all grouped together.

Thus, when it’s cleaning time, you go to your music library and can play the special song without any further hassle.

Resources:

Microsoft:  Libraries.

PC World:  Simplify File Organization with Windows 7 Libraries.

Above picture attributed to charlottel