Referring to MS Windows special folders in Emacs

Question

Is there a simple way to find a file on my desktop in Emacs? Instead of going the "C:\Documents and Settings\MyName\Desktop\" way...

Maybe there is a way to define aliases in my .emacs which I can use during find-file?

Answer 1

This question was asked before here. I think you may find bookmarks useful, but the linked discussion presents some other options as well. In addition, this blog article presents a few interesting options, such as ido-mode (part of Emacs as of version 22).

Answer 2

I use %USERPROFILE% as my home directory, so Desktop is always available as ~/Desktop. Easiest way to do this is to set HOME to match USERPROFILE. Detailed instructions at:

http://derekslager.com/blog/posts/2006/12/emacs-hack-1-installing-emacs-on-windows.ashx

Answer 3

Also remember that you can use environment variables in the minibuffer, so C-x C-f / $USERPROFILE/Desktop is at least slightly shorter than typing out the whole path.