On one computer I have a HD where I set some labels on some files and folders. I thought it would be at the system level so I would see those files highlighted on another computer if I plugged in the HD there. Apparently, it does not work like that because I do not see the files in the colours I assigned. I plugged the HD back to the other computer and I see the colours.
My question is where can i see a list of the files that have colour labels assigned? I thought it would be under settings/preferences/label assignments, but they are not listed there. Is there a place I can go to view the files and folders that have the label assigned? I could I suppose do a file search for that label assignment, but with thousands of files that will take a while
Is there a way to plug the HD into another computer and see them there? I have the same label on both DO instances.
Edit:
To assign a label, I right click and choose whatever label I want. I do have some folders set in the preferences/label assignment... and those work fine, but every file/folder i labeled by right clicking on it and assigning does not show up on that list
You can find your label assignments in (at least) three locations in your preferences, namely 'in Specific Folders', 'Label Assignments' and 'Label Definitions' (the names could be different in version 12).
As for the portability of existing labels, that may depend on your settings in > Preferences > File Operations > Metadata > Copy Alternate Data Streams (or the first of the checkboxes, depending on your settings).
The hard drive is likely formatted in a file system other than NTFS. If so, the label information is stored in
/dopusdata\ConfigFiles\foldercolors.oxc
The labels should be visible if you copy the file to the second PC. If the HD receives a different drive letter on the second PC you need to edit the <pathstring> entries.
You may also need colorgroups.oxc from the same folder, at least if you have added any extra label definitions or edited the default ones.
That file defines the labels that can be applied, while foldercolors.oxc defines what they are applied to.
Edit: It's best to use File > Exit Directory Opus to shut Opus down, copy the files over using File Explorer, then restart Opus. Sometimes that isn't needed, but some of the information can be cached in memory and won't notice the file on disk being changed externally while it's running.
The only option I can find is Label Assignments... and that only shows me the stuff I created in this section. The labels I created by right-clicking on the file/folder do not show up here
I cannot find the other 2 options. I do see an option for Label in folder formats... but they seem to all be blank.
The first option ""Apply changes automatically in the metadata panel" was not enabled on PC1 ... I enabled it... do I have to re-label everything for it to write the data to the drive? If so, I think the best way would be to search for the label and then in the results, right click and select label to do them all at once?
BTW.. the drive is NTFS
Edit:
I chose 1 file that had a label assignment... right click.. selected reset.... and then right click and set it "solid red" like before.
I realized that PC2 did not have a label called "solid red", so i created it with the same settings as PC1. Though on PC1 it does not look the same. Solid red does a faded red background with red writing, but on PC2 everything is red and cannot read the file names. Yet the settings are the same as far as I can see. Regardless of that, the label name is the same.. but the files on PC1 show no label.
Edit 2
both systems had a label called Pastel Red. Likely a default. On PC1, I labeled a file using pastel red. Connected to PC2 and the file is the "solid red." So i cannot see the file name. I right click on it and choose Pastel REd and it then changes to Pastel like on PC1. I connect back to PC1 now that i changed the label on PC2 and on PC1 it no longer registers.
Labels named "Solid Red" and "Pastel Red" are not part of the defaults. You'd need to copy over the colorgroups.oxc file I mentioned above to get those working on the new machine. Otherwise Opus may see the NTFS ADS metadata saying the file has one of those labels, but not know what the label is (e.g. which colors or icons to use for the file/folder).
Also, if you create a completely new label and give it the same name, that won't work. Labels are identified by a unique ID behind the scenes, not by their displayed names. (This lets you rename them without breaking all existing data that would still use the old name, and which is scattered around drives such that updating all of it after a rename would be difficult and time consuming.)
colorgroups.oxc is in a text (XML) format, so you can open it up to see the IDs I mean, and get an idea of how things work under the hood, as well as check that IDs match between two machines.