Microsoft Shows Improved File Name Collisions (Conflicts) Dialog Box in Windows 8
Recently Microsoft posted about the improved file management functionality in Windows 8:
Microsoft Official Video Shows Improved File Management UI (Copy, Move, Rename, Delete) in Windows 8
Windows 8 will feature pause / resume a running copy/move task along with many other improvements.
Advertisement
Today Microsoft has posted about some nice improvement in area of file name collisions (or conflicts) in Windows 8.
Here is what the official announcement says:
In the implemented design, there are two levels of control when acting on file name collisions (or “conflicts”).
- The primary experience is a simplified, one-click, bulk management of all conflicts, offering “Replace all” or “Skip all.” We call this the “Simple Conflict Resolution dialog.”
- There is also an option to enter the secondary experience which offers more information and more fine-grained control. This is the “Detailed Conflict Resolution dialog.”
Resolving file name collisions is an inherently tricky task, as it involves making a meaningful choice between two very similar things.
In Windows 7, there’s a lot of information to aid the choice, and more options about what action to take. For Windows 8, we thought we could improve this even further, so it’s easier for you to make the right decisions more efficiently, and get your file transfer tasks completed faster.
First, we looked at ways to keep the experience basically the same, but to incrementally improve it by optimizing for the key information that is necessary for the decision.
Advertisement
These designs introduced some concepts that really stuck around:
- Getting rid of unnecessary labels (like “Date modified:”) and obvious explanatory text enabled us to present the important details at a glance.
- Metadata adjectives were emphasized. Rather than requiring users to compare values like file size, using words like “Larger” gave users the right summary.
- Smart defaults were pre-selected, reducing the work for users.
The idea of optimizing for the “Replace all” or “Skip all” choice was introduced. Most of the time, you know exactly what you’re copying and why it is conflicting, and you can make a simple choice about what action to take.
The Detailed Conflict Resolution dialog also offers the following features to help when even more information is required to make the decision:
- Double-clicking the thumbnail opens the file.
- Right-clicking the thumbnail opens the standard context menu.
- The blue Source and Destination text are clickable, and open those locations in Explorer.
- Hovering on the thumbnail or link shows a tooltip with the full file path.
Quite exciting to see the interesting improvements in Windows 8 UI…
They really are trying to make up for their mistake with Vista!
also the multiple file copy, it stacks on one msg box,
Look’s good, but needs a very quick and efficient way to copy and replace ALL items with one click
@Teddy
It asks first if you want to replace, do not copy or select only the files you want, this is the option select only the files you want
Not so nice! For working environment it will usefull include option for numbering files on “Simple Conflict Resolution dialog”. Most times is our action.
I much prefered win 7, copy a file to a folder where the same number is already found. It shared files size (so I didn’t replace a larger file with a smaller one). in one action I could say rename it or overwrite the file in the destination folder.
Now I am forced to click advanced, click both files and then click ok… four clicks where I only had 1-2 clicks before… I just upgraded and this is a bad way to start…
Six years later, 3+ versions of Windows (now at 10.4)… and Windows 7 -still- handles it the best.