Preventing the _notes folders from being created

[AllDayDev2]

Issue

Some users, particularly those that utilize a version control system like Subversion or Git, do not want the _notes folders to be created by Dreamweaver.

The _notes folders are created by Dreamweaver to maintain synchronization information and for Design Notes.

Design Notes can be used to to keep track of extra information associated with your documents, such as comments on status of the document (e.g. "in draft" or "complete"). Design Notes can be also shared between users of the same site by checking the Enable Upload Design Notes For Sharing setting. Other than for sharing with other users, the _notes folders are only used by Dreamweaver in their local storage locations and do not need to be uploaded to your server.

Solution

To prevent the _notes folder from being created by Dreamweaver, disable the Maintain Synchronization Information and the Maintain Design Notes settings for your site.

For more information, see these articles from the Dreamweaver documentation:

"Connect to a remote server" > Set Advanced server options: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/dreamweaver/cs/using/WSc78c5058ca073340dcda9110b1f693f21-7e97a.html

"Enable and disable Design Notes for a site": http://help.adobe.com/en_US/dreamweaver/cs/using/WS753df6af718a350a60097e0f131686fa2b4-7ffe.html

NOTE: Maintain Synchronization Information is a per-server setting. If you have more than one server for your site, you will need to disable this setting for each server.

[priester_gw]

I have CS5.5 installed on my computer along with Dreamweaver.

I never use Dreamweaver, nor have I even opened it.

I create my websites in Xara Designer Pro. The latest versiob Designer Pro X, just released is showing a warning every time I export an image that I need to save my document before the notes can refer to it!

I don't want Dreamweaver notes to refer to my non-Adobe image exports.

[AllDayDev2]

It is highly unlikely that the message you mentioned is in any way related to the Design Notes (stored in _notes folders) created by Dreamweaver.

This is especially unlikely because you have not opened Dreamweaver.

Dreamweaver must be opened in order to create Design Notes.

More likely, your Xara software is producing some kind of notes.

I recommend reaching out to Xara support or their community to ask about what this message means.

[priester_gw]

Hello Carey

Thank you for your prompt response.

I have reported it to Xara's R&D department. This problem is unique to the new version Designer Pro X released this week. I have been on the beta team for this product and have worked with Xara providing tutorials and content for 15 years. In that time, this is the first time I have seen this error message.

In the early versions of the beta, files associated with the WD icon were being created. This behavior seems to have stopped but I am still getting the error message.

I am pretty sure the problem resides in recent changes to Designer Pro X and that the code must be somehow causing the error message to appear.

[Blakilox]

This one has been flogged to death but this business of creating _notes folders everywhere is frankly fundementally stupid, the fundemental you are breaking is NEVER create crap the customer does not expect or want.  If you must maintain sync information make it NOT the default and put it in ONE flipping file not 1000 files iot is the nunber one rediculous thing about Dreamweaver IMHO.    

[BenPleysier]

If you're this pedantic about software doing the “right” thing, I'm curious—why stick with Dreamweaver, especially when it's paired with outdated server and client tech? Seems like a contradiction in terms.

[Nancy OShea]

Note:

The Clean Up Design Notes command only deletes MNO (Design Notes) files. It does not delete the _notes folder or the dwsync.xml file inside the _notes folder. Dreamweaver uses the dwsync.xml file to maintain information about site synchronization.  See links below for more details.

• https://helpx.adobe.com/dreamweaver/using/storing-file-information-design-notes.html
• https://helpx.adobe.com/dreamweaver/kb/troubleshoot-synchronization-problems-dreamweaver-cs4.html

[This 2012 discussion has been locked by a moderator. If needed, feel free to start a new topic for your version of Dreamweaver.]

[kirkbross]

Unchecking 'Maintain Design Notes' does not work, ever. Dreamweaver will always, no matter what your settings are, create a _notes folder in ever folder of your local site. It is maddening. I spent hours on forums and goolge trying to solve this and I just gave up. Periodically I just search my entire computer for _notes and delete several *thousand* _notes folders at once.

[AllDayDev2]

Sorry for the frustration, kirkbross.

Design Notes is a per-site setting, so make sure you're disabling for all of the site definitions you have (assuming you have more than one).

Also, the _notes folders are used to maintain synchronization information.

See the info in the above article for how to disable this feature as well.

Both settings needs to be disabled (and the Design Notes setting needs to be disabled for each site) to avoid creation of the _notes folders.

(Changing these settings will not automatically delete existing _notes folders, though, so you'd have to go through and clear them out once after changing these two settings.)

HTH

[kirkbross]

Disabling design notes only "hides" the _notes folders from view inside Dreamweaver, but DW still creates them inside every new directory and if you browse your directories in your OS' finder you'll see _notes folders everywhere. I have yet to find a way from preventing DW from ever creating the _notes folder.

[kirkbross]

When I uncheck 'Maintain Design Notes' and click clean up (and / or also manually delete all the _notes folders through my OS) Dreamweaver still keeps creating _notes folders in new directories.

I have concluded there is no way to stop this from happening. Adobe is unaware of, or unable, or unwilling to fix this glitch. Personally, I think the whole concept should be Opt In to begin with, i.e. off by default.