The nature of the Grey "Folders" created when using "\" in folder names

HCL Domino Domino Forum
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I’ve been looking for documentation on the following problem but have been unable to find anything. If anyone can provide an expanation I would be very grateful.

Example: if you create a folder and type the following folder name in the dialog box Administration\Notes\Support then “Administration” and “Notes” will appear as grey folders, and “Support” will be a yellow folder.

These grey folders aren’t really folders - they appear to be placeholders or pointers to “real” sub-folders. The grey folders don’t exist as design elements (that I can find) and therefore there are no associated actions/menus.

The yellow subfolder however, is a design element and it follows that it has associated actions.

I’m no devleoper so maybe someone can explain this to me.

Background Info to what prompted this question:

I’ve had a problem with a user who has a HUGE nested folder system in his mail file. He’s used the flakey drag and drop, (which when you’ve no available actions seems the right thing to do) and has created multiple folders with the same name. Both things have caused some issues - fair enough I guess.

Anyway, because the way he creates folders is to name them as described above, putting these issues right is a nightmare, and ridiculously time consuming, because you can’t perform any actions on the grey “folders”. It takes a lot of recreation and renaming of real folders and moving the subfolders that do exist around - but as drag and drop is flakey, its a long task.

I’m still looking for documentation, if I find any I’ll post.

The flakey drag and drop - drag folder A to folder B. Folder A is put ABOVE folder B, even if it looks like it’s going to go INTO folder B. If you drag and drop folder A directly above folder B then immediately drag and drop folder A again into folder B, it works as expected.

Thanks

A.

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Subject: The nature of the Grey “Folders” created when using "" in folder names

“The grey folders don’t exist as design elements (that I can find) and therefore there are no associated actions/menus. The yellow subfolder however, is a design element and it follows that it has associated actions.”

You have it exactly right (except for the grey part; I’ve never seen these “virtual parent” folders show up differently than any other – but then again, I am somewhat colorblind). When you create a folder named Administration\Notes\Support, you’ve done just that: created one folder, not three. (This feature is referred to as cascading folders/views, just like doing the same thing to forms is called cascading forms, and doing the same thing to actions in R5 was called cascading actions.) Your post appears to be asking for information that you wish was true – that the “virtual parents” do exist somewhere, because that would make things easier for you. Sorry; they don’t.

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Subject: RE: The nature of the Grey “Folders” created when using "" in folder names

Hi Bruce

thanks very much for the info, it helps me understand what’s going on. I was unable to locate any documentation about this feature but I’ll look again using the correct terms -and even if I don’t find any, your post explains it well.

I think its not very friendly for users who just don’t understand why they don’t get the same menu on the grey folder as on a yellow folder - particularly users who are used to grey folders and grey folders with red dots etc etc from previous clients. When someone has a monster filing system, and there are no actions available and the drag and drop doesn’t work properly…say goodbye to a few hours if the data needs to be reorganised for whatever reason.

Thanks again for your help, much appreciated :slight_smile:

A.