Happy #MapInfoMonday and a happy New Year!
When working with tables and workspaces in MapInfo Pro, it can sometimes be a bit hard to keep track of where a given table has been opened from, that is what folder or drive. This is especially tricky when accessing tables through workspaces where you only pick the workspace but you do not pick the individual tables.
Let see how you can get some help from MapInfo Pro to see where these files are stored on your network/computer.
Workspaces
For workspaces, we add a little feature to easily locate the folder of the current workspace to the statusbar. In the lower right side of the MapInfo Pro application window, on the Statusbar, you can open up the Workspace popup.
The Workspace popup shows the name of the currently open workspace in MapInfo Pro. If you click on the popup, you get three options: You can save changes to the current workspace, you can copy the full path of the workspace onto the Windows clipboard, and you can open Windows Explorer and highlight the workspace file.
If you don't have a workspace open when you open the Workspace popup, you will only be able to save the current session into a new workspace file.
Tables
For tables, we added similar capabilities with MapInfo Pro v2021. From the context menu that appear when you right-click on a table in the (Workspace) Explorer window, you can now copy the full path to the selected table and show the selected table in Windows Explorer.
If you use Open Containing Folder, a Windows Explorer window will be opened and the selected table will be selected in this window as you can see below. Notice that only the TAB file is selected. You will have to select the other files making up the table yourself if for example you want to add the files to a zip file.
If you have multiple tables selected, multiple Windows Explorer windows will get opened.
You can also copy the path to one or more tables via Copy Path from the Table context menu. If you have multiple tables selected, each table path will appear on its own line, like this:
D:\3. Demo\2. Maps\Denmark\Rebild\Streets.TAB
D:\3. Demo\2. Maps\Denmark\Rebild\Parcels.TAB
D:\3. Demo\2. Maps\Denmark\Rebild\Planning Zones Proposal.TAB
Sometimes you just want to see the location for a given table or layer. To see this, you just have to hold the mouse over a layer or table. The
Info Tip shown, will amongst other things hold the full path to the table.
Hopefully these small tips can you help you manage your tables and workspace and understand where they are stored.
As an additional info, I'd recommend that you read this post about 13 preferences you need to configure. One of these has to do with default file locations which can be helpful.
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Peter Horsbøll Møller
Principal Presales Consultant | Distinguished Engineer
Precisely | Trust in Data
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