Link to a File

Link to a File

A File Link is a Zoot item which represents a file on your disk drive. The File Link item behaves like any other Zoot item, but it includes a link to a file on your disk drive. This enables you to launch the file directly from a Zoot database.

To create File Links, use any of the methods you would use to import a file. During the import process you will be given the option to create a File Link instead of importing the file(s).

Zoot can examine the contents of the files referenced by File Links when processing rules and queries in a database. If the text portion of a file matches your query, the File Link will show up in your search results. Similarly, if the file contents match a folder's rules, the File Link will be assigned to that folder.

You can specify whether or not linked files are included in Rules and Queries two ways:

1. To turn on/off this behavior globally, choose Tools | Options and click the Tweak2 tab. Check or uncheck the "Process linked files in rules and queries" checkbox.

2. To turn on/off this behavior on an item by item basis, right-click a File Link item and choose Properties from the pop-up menu, then change the <Process File in Rules & Queries> property to Yes if you want the linked file to be processed during rules and queries, or no if you do not want the linked file processed.

Tip: You can create a rule+action to automatically specify whether or not particular File Links are excluded from rules and queries. For example, you might create a rule+action to exclude ".PPT" (Power Point) files from being processed in rules and actions. Simply create a rule that pulls in File Link item types that contain ".PPT" in the <Body> text, then create an action to set the <Process File in Rules & Queries> property to "No" for these items.

Notes:

Once you have imported files or created links to files, you can manipulate the Import or Link items like any other item. For example, you can add a due date, change the item color, or add data about the file in the document portion of the item. In this way you can use Zoot to catalog the files on your disk drive.

You can also create a shortcut to a file and paste the shortcut into a Zoot item's shortcuts collection. See the shortcuts section of the help file for details.

You can create a Folder Action which will create File Links with all of the files (or a subset of files) in a file folder. Click here for details.

Note that enabling this feature may slow down database performance, depending on the speed of your computer, the quantity of File Links in your database and the size of the files on disk. Make sure you have the Index linked files during processing option checked.