Comment 17 for bug 855443

Hi there, and sorry if I dig out this old feature request.
But I have to disagree with Naim Zard!

Having Rednotebook copy all drop down files to data directory is an essential feature in my eyes!

I think, it has been agreed on, that having relative links is good, in order to make RB "portable" between different (file) systems. But as long as there is no easy way to sync all media data included with the journal, this is essentially useless and not user friendly.

Longer explanation:
The data directory is usually hidden (and might be integrated in AppData on Windows), so normal end users will never browse there manually. They want to put in files into the journal easily. And they should show up in the journal, so that they can view/access them with 1Click (or integrated for images). This should also work across synchronized systems, thus synchronising added media data is important. The expected complaint of the average user would be: "I added this picture to my journal at my home-PC and synced it with my notebook. Why is the picture not showing up on my laptop?" And than try to explain what symbolic links are, and how they work...
Moreover the expected behaviour form most users would be, that the program is self-consistent / -sufficient / -contained. Again the average user example: Downloading a picture to Downloads folder. Than dragging it to the program. After that, cleaning up the Downloads folder and thereby deleting the picture. And than asking the question: "Why is the picture I added to my journal not showing up any more? I added it to the program!"
I hope these two examples illustrate the problems I have, not copying media files to the journal directory!

As the journal is grouped by month, I would suggest to do the same for the media data. For every yyyy-mm.txt there should be a yyyy-mm folder where media goes to (if files are present). This way it would be easy to share/sync/archive/work on parts of the total journal.

Of course there should be options in the config-menu, where I can select the default behaviour. Optional a question box on drag&drop would be good (like "always ask what to do").
What is the best default behaviour, is clearly a matter of debate and opinion!
To me it always seems, that the average user sees a program as a closed thing, which is not referring to content outside of it ("I added it to the program!"). So in my eyes the "copy in data folder and set a relative link" should be default, to give the expected behaviour to the normal user.

It is my hope, that I could convince you, that saving drag&drop files to the data directory and adding symbolic links, would be an essential addition to RB! As you proposed this feature in reply 1, it is my feeling, that you are aware that this addition would make your program interesting for a wider audience.