File Explorer - Date Accessed

[Jake]

Sorting contents of folders by Date Accessed has been rendered useless
in W7 because explorer itself accesses file metadata to display the
contents of the visible explorer pane. So it has been turned off by
default.

I know that once upon a time I turned it on only to observer the
phenomena described above.

Does anyone know if there is a real fix or this in W7? Does it work in
W8?

Jake

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Sorting contents of folders by Date Accessed has been rendered useless
in W7 because explorer itself accesses file metadata to display the
contents of the visible explorer pane. So it has been turned off by
default.

I know that once upon a time I turned it on only to observer the
phenomena described above.

Does anyone know if there is a real fix or this in W7? Does it work in
W8?

Jake

It works fine in this Windows 7 installation.

Try right-clicking on a blank area of a file pane, choose Sort By, then
More, and check Date Accessed.

Again right-click on a blank area, and Sort by Date Accessed is now
available to choose.

 

[..winston]

"Jake" wrote in message Sorting contents of folders by Date Accessed has been rendered useless
in W7 because explorer itself accesses file metadata to display the
contents of the visible explorer pane. So it has been turned off by
default.

I know that once upon a time I turned it on only to observer the
phenomena described above.

Does anyone know if there is a real fix or this in W7? Does it work in
W8?
As Gene noted, the Date Accessed field is not shown in an Explorer view.

It is incumbent upon the user to add the field (like other available fields)
- one route to add a column/field is to rt click on any current column, scroll and select 'More', then place a check box in the
desired field. Like earlier versions of Windows the columns can be rearranged.

 

[Jake]

As Gene noted, the Date Accessed field is not shown in an Explorer view.

It is incumbent upon the user to add the field (like other available fields)
- one route to add a column/field is to rt click on any current column, scroll and select 'More', then place a check box in the
desired field. Like earlier versions of Windows the columns can be rearranged.

Yes, I'm aware of that.

The datestamp for Date Accessed has been disabled in Windows 7. It has
to be manually enabled:

http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microsoft/enable-last-access-time-stamp-
to-files-folder-windows-7/

(sorry about the gravity wrap)

Before enabling it, you can sort by Date Accessed, but if you open a
file, then close it, then sort by Date Accessed again, nothing is
updated. After you enable it, just opening the folder, but not the file,
will cause the OS to update Date Accessed.

I have a drive networked that lives on an XP box. I can access files
there on the W7 machine and everything works as expected: opening the
folder does not update the Date Accessed field but opening the file
does.

It seems to be a well-known issue, I guess not many people here make use
of it.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Yes, I'm aware of that.

The datestamp for Date Accessed has been disabled in Windows 7. It has
to be manually enabled:

(sorry about the gravity wrap)

Before enabling it, you can sort by Date Accessed, but if you open a
file, then close it, then sort by Date Accessed again, nothing is
updated. After you enable it, just opening the folder, but not the file,
will cause the OS to update Date Accessed.

I have a drive networked that lives on an XP box. I can access files
there on the W7 machine and everything works as expected: opening the
folder does not update the Date Accessed field but opening the file
does.

It seems to be a well-known issue, I guess not many people here make use
of it.

Thanks for clarifying the issue. In looking into your OP, I had seen
only the surface manifestation...

I have now (after the next reboot) enabled the use of Date Accessed.

 

[..winston]

"Jake" wrote in message Yes, I'm aware of that.

The datestamp for Date Accessed has been disabled in Windows 7. It has
to be manually enabled:
http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microsoft/enable-last-access-time-stamp-to-files-folder-windows-7/

Before enabling it, you can sort by Date Accessed, but if you open a
file, then close it, then sort by Date Accessed again, nothing is
updated. After you enable it, just opening the folder, but not the file,
will cause the OS to update Date Accessed.
Thanks for additional details (including the link with workaround) that viewing Date Accessed was not sufficient but the files
accessed date being updated after use when sub sequentially viewed.

 

[Jake]

I have now (after the next reboot) enabled the use of Date Accessed.

Please let me know if windows explorer updates the field after only
displaying the file name in a window.

I can see why they turned it off. If you try to use it for anything
productive it's worse than useless.

For many years I've accessed (no pun intended) a shared folder and
clicked Date Accessed column to see what has been worked on lately by
anyone from a team of developers. I have resolved the issue for now by
hooking the drive up to an XP box. Not elegant.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Please let me know if windows explorer updates the field after only
displaying the file name in a window.

I opened up a file in IrfanView and its access time didn't change.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

Please let me know if windows explorer updates the field after only
displaying the file name in a window.

I can see why they turned it off. If you try to use it for anything
productive it's worse than useless.

For many years I've accessed (no pun intended) a shared folder and
clicked Date Accessed column to see what has been worked on lately by
anyone from a team of developers. I have resolved the issue for now by
hooking the drive up to an XP box. Not elegant.

Is "date [last] modified" no longer available in 7 then?

 

[Jake]

Is "date [last] modified" no longer available in 7 then?

Yes... It was Last Accessed I was interested in.