What replaced Briefcase on Windows 10

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One day while I was on my PC, my dad came upto me and asked me ‘Where is the old Briefcase?’ ‘What replaced Brieface on Windows 10’?. Lets dive into the details.

What is Briefcase

Microsoft Briefcase is an application for Windows that was included in the Microsoft Works suite. It allows users to combine multiple files into one file, making it easier to transport or backup data on floppy disks.

It was introduced in Microsoft Windows 95 through Microsoft Works 4.0 for Windows 95. Briefcase is deprecated since Windows 8, unless users are running the 2013 release of Works.

Microsoft Briefcase was a virtual folder where all of the user’s files appear as one, but any individual specific file or subset of files can be accessed by right-clicking on a specific file or set of files. It used PUST (Primary Update Sequence Table) technology for this function, which predates the more modern USN journaling system that is still used today by default when creating new folders or copying data.

Briefcase supported drag & drop functionality and it only worked on drives formatted with FAT16 or FAT32 file systems. Windows Briefcase synchronized files and folders within itself with those in any other folder, even on a removable writable media or the network, so that it appears to have all contents of the source folders. When using Windows Briefcase, users could drag any file or folder into an open briefcase to add them to it or drag out items from a briefcase back into the original location.

Advantages of My Briefcase

For those people who have a large number of files on their computer, it can be difficult to manage them. The Briefcase feature that comes with older versions of Windows such as XP and Vista, allows the user to store multiple files in one location. This then makes it easier for you to access all your important documents without searching through different folders trying to find them. If you’re looking for ways of managing your documents better, then taking a look at how Briefcase works and what new features were added may make this task much easier for you.

Supported Copy and Paste

Microsoft Briefcase used to behave like any other folder; that supports copy and paste and even drag and drop. So users can select more than one file and drag them to another location on the computer.

The user can even insert new information stored in other locations into the briefcase folder simply by dragging that data onto the icon for the folder displayed on their desktop screen.

Offline storage for sensitive data

When we use the term Briefcase, we refer to a file folder that is marked as offline storage by Microsoft Windows. In other words, it enables you to have a single place where all your folders with sensitive data can be stored. The user creates one folder and uses this location as the only source of truth for those files.

The main advantage is that even if there is a loss of connection or a problem with the network, everyone will still be able to access their files – given they were available at the time Briefcase was disconnected – from any device. All data stays in sync.

Mutiple copies of same file with different names

In addition to creating your own Personal Folders (PFs), Briefcase also lets you create multiple copies of the same file with different names, which was very useful when you want to keep multiple revisions or branches. If you make changes to one of the files in any copy, Briefcase automatically updates all other files too.

There are some free software that provide similar functionality – Syncplicity and SugarSync . However, these products have a number of limits on their services and features, including history depth, max file size, sharing options etc.

Briefcase, however, did not have such limitations.

What replaced Briefcase on Windows 10

In Windows 10 build 14942, Microsoft combined it’s functionality with that of File Explorer. Users can create compressed folders from within File Explorer using the Add New option in the context menu. In future updates, the contents of these compressed folders will be accessible via Cortana search results.

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When you upgrade from Windows 7, during the upgrade process, you can choose to keep or delete your Briefcase files. Deleting your briefcase files will completely delete them, while keeping them will remove them from the briefcase and allow you to use them like any other file on your computer.

Microsoft OneDrive

Instead of using other locations to store data, Microsoft introduced OneDrive, which works similar to Briefcase, but is more secure and easier to use.If you are looking for ways that you can reduce the amount of space taken up by your files, then OneDrive may be a good option for you. OneDrive also allows you to place multiple files in one folder. This is similar to Briefcase, but allows you to do it on your PC instead of just with cloud storage.

If you are having trouble upgrading your Briefcase from Windows 7, our qualified technicians can help you with that.

Author:
I am a computer engineer holding a bachelor's degree in Computer Science, complemented by a Master's in Business Administration from University of Strathclyde, Scotland. I currently work as a Senior IT Consultant in Melbourne, Australia. With over 15 years of...