Does everything has a log of folder changes?

[spooky]

Basically I saw a episode from a show, downloaded subtitles from inside the media player and after I saw it I send it to the recicle bin and later I permanently deleted everything. Now I want to know exacly WHEN I did all of that...

I have no idea how to recover that information but I do know that this excellent program may have a hidden gem feature that could help me, maybe a log of deleted files or new/removed files in certaing folder or something like that, is there any?

[harryray2]

You could try looking at the index journal..from the menu bar, Menu>Index>Index journal.

[void]

More information here:
Index Journal

[spooky]

You could try looking at the index journal..from the menu bar, Menu>Index>Index journal.

More information here:
Index Journal

Sadly it's set to the default 1024 KB, what I was looking was days ago and long lost...

[harryray2]

This wont, unfortunately, help you now, but for future reference, if you want to refer to file and folder movements it may be worth setting up a
separate, bare bones, instance of Everything just for the index journal.
I've set the maximum size to 0, which doesn't, apparently, put a limit on the size of the index journal.

I also, every so often, export the results to a CSV file.

If you're using Windows, do you have system restore enabled? Sometimes, not always, by searching the shadow copy, one can find old files.

There are also a number of programmes which will keep track of movements, but from what I can see, they have to be kept running in the background.

[spooky]

it may be worth setting up a
separate, bare bones, instance of Everything just for the index journal.

Why a separate one? I don't get that part.

I've set the maximum size to 0, which doesn't, apparently, put a limit on the size of the index journal.

@void do you confirm? I have a feeling it could become a giant file that way.

If you're using Windows, do you have system restore enabled? Sometimes, not always, by searching the shadow copy, one can find old files.

Oh I don't need the actual files, just the day I delete them or the day I've downloaded the subtitles just to log in when did I watch that show, I keep a register of everything I watch, a little hobby of mine.

[harryray2]

Precisely while I've set up a different instance, because of the size of the file...I regularly back up my normal instances, so I don't want the DB to be too large.

[void]

I've set the maximum size to 0, which doesn't, apparently, put a limit on the size of the index journal.

@void do you confirm? I have a feeling it could become a giant file that way.

0 = unlimited size.
Your Everything.db will grow very large.

Please consider enabling the Journal Logger.
I recommend using at least a journal size of 32MB.
If you have the available ram, consider increasing this to 128MB - 1024MB

[harryray2]

Thanks, I didn't know about this...could be useful. I'll play around with it.

How often does the log update, Is it on a daily basis, or when Everything is run each time?

[void]

Everything has an internal 64K buffer and once full, will write the changes to disk.
Everything will write to the log file on disk often.

[harryray2]

Is it possible to have it written in CSV format? It would make it easier to read if it was split into coloumns.

I currently have Everything saving all files to the Everything directory, which is fine, but the logs isn't saved to it's own directory...not a big deal, but wondering if possible to change directory.

Out of interest, where is the index journal taken from? I'm running Win 7.

[void]

I will look into an option to log as CSV.
Thanks for the suggestion.

Currently, Everything will only log as TXT.

You can set the log directory with journal_log_directory

[harryray2]

Brilliant, thanks...CSV format would be more useful.

[harryray2]

How can I keep the default format, but take out the id number and change the date format to UK?

I would also like to get rid of the double quote marks at the end "". Is it also possible to add the date modified?

Thanks.

[void]

Please try customizing your journal_log_format:

Code: Select all

/journal_log_format=#date:<DD-MM-YYYY hh:mm:ss> #action:<-6> "#filename:"

The date modified information cannot be added to the log format.


You can manually export as CSV from Index -> Index Journal -> Export -> Save as type: CSV

[harryray2]

Thanks, that works nicely.
I already export my index journal to a CSV file every so often, but the journal log is useful as it updates automatically..The only downside for me is that it's in txt format.

I just noticed that the journal log file generated is on a daily basis...Is there a way to append each day so that it's just one file? It's not that much of a biggie as I can merge the files with a text editor, but it would be useful.

[spooky]

Does journal_log works on portable?

[harryray2]

Yes, I use portable.

How are you entering it?
It should be journal_log=1 in the ini file, or if you enter it in Everything, it will be /journal_log=1

[spooky]

Yeah I changed the .ini and it worked. I'll test a bit to see how it works.

[spooky]

Lovely feature, but it logs literally everything, which I think is what most people using this feature wants, but is there an option to log only an specific drive or maybe omit certain folders? Most of the strings are windows files syncing or cache stuff from my browser.

[void]

The Index Journal was designed as an index Audit for the Everything Server to keep clients up to date.
All changes to the index are logged.



Please consider creating a new named instance that only indexes your desired folders and enable journal logging.

For example:

Everything.exe -instance "E Drive Journal"
Setup this new Everything instance to index only your E: drive.
Enable index journal logging for this instance.

[harryray2]

I just noticed that the journal log file generated is on a daily basis...Is there a way to append each day so that it's just one file? It's not that much of a biggie as I can merge the files with a text editor, but it would be useful.

[void]

Everything will always create a new log for each day.

There's currently no option to disable this.
I will consider an option to log to a single file.

For now, use a third party tool to append all the logs into one.

[harryray2]

Please try customizing your journal_log_format:

Code: Select all

/journal_log_format=#date:<DD-MM-YYYY hh:mm:ss> #action:<-6> "#filename:"

The date modified information cannot be added to the log format.


You can manually export as CSV from Index -> Index Journal -> Export -> Save as type: CSV

Can I do the same for the CSV file exported from the index journal?

[void]

Unfortunately, no.

What is shown is exported with CSV.

[harryray2]

OK, thanks, I'll try and sort it with a text editor...