Access Based Media Manager

[BlueSpruce]

I am seeking an Access based media manager that allows me to index documents, images, and audio files so I can quickly locate, view, and attach selected files to email messages.

 

[DHookom]

What do you mean by “index”? Do you simply want an inventory of file names with specific extensions?

 

[arnelgp]

maybe what you need to start is to look for FileDialog or something.
see Form1 and Module1 on this demo.

 

[isladogs]

Why do this in Access?
The best file search tool is called Everything. It indexes all files on your computer so is lightning fast. Better still it’s free.

 

[BlueSpruce]

What do you mean by “index”? Do you simply want an inventory of file names with specific extensions?

By index, I mean to categorize the file so I can filter my searches.

 

[KitaYama]

I can filter my searches.

The app that @isladogs mentioned can do that.
It comes with a pre-installed filters and you can add your own filters.
It can be as a sidebar or combo box at top.

You can also use a lot of settings for each filter to show them as you wish. Or limit your search to a set of pre-defined folders.

You can also use vba to run a search using any filter you like.

pth = YourPathToExeFile
SearchThis = "A part of your file name/extension/Or anything you know about the file"
fltr = YourFilterName
Shell pth & " -filter " & fltr & " -s" & " " & clsConst.Quote & SearchThis & clsConst.Quote, 1

 

[BlueSpruce]

Why do this in Access?
The best file search tool is called Everything. It indexes all files on your computer so is lightning fast. Better still it’s free.

I agree that Everything is a good tool. Nevertheless, I want to know if there's an Access based generic file manager available that I can add more features to, like scan documents, cascading combo boxes for categorising files, assign custom filenames, create/view folder trees, etc.

I can always build it from scratch.

 

[CJ_London]

I can always build it from scratch.

Way to go

I created an app for cataloging photos- it populated the file properties with keywords and used a tree view type form to create and catalog the keywords and view the files in a web browser control

But don’t think it meets your requirements as it is not generic enough

 

[Levi_79]

I am interested in something similar. I have a huge collection of movies, music videos, series.
I want to be able to tag files and search for tags and compile a list or a playlist (for example want to list all "rock" and "music video").
As i see Everything only searches in file names.

 

[isladogs]

@Levi_79
You could use my free app to do that

Extended File Properties

This shows a simple method of obtaining all the extended file properties for any type of file or group of files in a folder and its subfolders. There are over 320 extended properties including the dimensions of pictures and the duration of video files.

isladogs.co.uk

 

[DHookom]

Inventory in a table would need to be refreshed regularly. However I wanted to create a snapshot of all my files (mostly images) to look for duplicates across multiple hard drives. I asked AI to write the code for me. I just added the ability to store the file type based on this thread.

Sub ScanFilesToAccess()
    Dim db As DAO.Database
    Dim rs As DAO.Recordset
    Dim fso As Object
    Dim folderPath As String
    Dim folder As Object
    Dim file As Object

    ' Prompt user to select folder
    With Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogFolderPicker)
        .Title = "Select Folder to Scan"
        If .Show <> -1 Then Exit Sub
        folderPath = .SelectedItems(1)
    End With

    ' Initialize FileSystemObject
    Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    Set folder = fso.GetFolder(folderPath)

    ' Open Access table
    Set db = CurrentDb
    Set rs = db.OpenRecordset("FileInventory", dbOpenDynaset)

    ' Recursive scan
    Call ScanFolder(folder, rs)

    rs.Close
    Set rs = Nothing
    Set db = Nothing
    Set fso = Nothing

    MsgBox "Scan complete!", vbInformation
End Sub

Sub ScanFolder(ByVal folder As Object, ByRef rs As DAO.Recordset)
    Dim subFolder As Object
    Dim file As Object
    'add FileType with SELECT CASE extension?
    Dim strFileType As String
    Dim strExtension As String
    ' Loop through files
    For Each file In folder.Files
        strExtension = Mid(file.Name, InStr(1, file.Name, ".") + 1)
        Select Case strExtension
            Case "jpeg", "jpg", "img", "mov", "png"
                strFileType = "Image"
            Case "ACCDB", "MDB", "ACCDE", "MDE"
                strFileType = "Access"
            ' === ADD MORE === or use a small lookup table
            Case Else
                strFileType = "Other"
        End Select
        rs.AddNew
        rs!FileName = file.Name
        rs!folderPath = file.Path
        rs!FileSize = file.Size
        rs!DateModified = file.DateLastModified
        rs!FileType = strFileType
        rs.Update
    Next file

    ' Loop through subfolders
    For Each subFolder In folder.SubFolders
        ScanFolder subFolder, rs
    Next subFolder
End Sub

These are the references (AI mentioned some but missed one)

AI also gave me the structure for the table (I added file type based on this thread)