| Introduction
Windows
Explorer Window
Viewing
Contents of Drives or Folders
Exercise
1
View
Options
Selecting
Files
Creating
New Folders
Copying,
Moving, Renaming or Deleting Files/Folders
Exercise
2
Refresh
Other
Right Clicking Options
Folder
and File Properties
Desktop
Shortcuts
Exercise
3
Searching
for Files or Folders
Exercise
4
File
Management within a Specific Program
Exercise
5
Using
the Windows Explorer as the Internet Explorer.
Windows
Explorer Tutorials
Introduction
Windows
currently uses two programs to accomplish file management on your
computer.
- Windows
Explorer
- My
Computer
Both
programs can be used to accomplish, basically, the same tasks.
As time goes by, Microsoft is combining the functionality of these
two programs and eventually the two programs will be merged into
one. Windows Explorer will be used for the purposes
of these instructions.
Windows
Explorer Window
Viewing
Contents of Drives and Folders
Left
Pane (used to navigate to a certain location)
Note:
In the left pane you will never see actual files, only drives or
folders.
- Click
once on a drive or folder to see the contents appear in the right
pane.
- To
expand a branch of the tree structure, click
on the plus sign
to the left of the desired drive or folder.
(The right pane will not change)
- Double
clicking on a non expanded drive or folder in the left pane
= both, expanding the branch and viewing contents of that
drive or folder in the right pane.
- To
retract a branch of the tree structure that is
already expanded, click on the minus sign
to the left of the desired drive or folder.
- Double
clicking on an expanded drive or folder in the left pane =
both, retracting the branch and viewing the contents of that
drive or folder in the right pane.
Right
Pane (provides various file management options).
In
the right pane you will see any contents of the folder which is
highlighted in the left pane.
Contents
can be:
-
sub folders of the highlighted drive or folder on the left
- any
files contained in this specific folder.
-
Double clicking (in the right hand pane) on a folder opens that
folder's contents and re-adjusts the left pane window to reflect
which folder is open.
-
Double clicking on an actual file name will open that file (provided
your computer contains the software necessary).
Exercise1:
Open
the Windows Explorer and navigate in the left and right pane
- Use
the scroll bars to move around.
- Single
click on a drive in the left pane.
- Single
click on a folder in the left pane.
- Click
on a plus sign to the left of a drive or folder.
- Click
on a minus sign to the left of a drive or folder.
- Double
click on folders in the left window.
View
Options
In
the Right Pane, you can choose the way the folders and files are
displayed
- In
the menu bar, click on View and then on Large Icons,
Small Icons, List or Details
- Optionally,
you can click on the Views button
in the button bar. Clicking on the button simply toggles
through the options. Clicking on the down arrow to the right of
the button shows the various options.
- Details
is the view which gives the most information.
Selecting
Files
Various
methods can be used.
- Clicking
and Dragging
- In
the left pane select the desired drive or folder.
- Once
the drive or folder is selected, in the right hand pane, click
and drag the mouse around the desired files to select them.
Note: Changing the View sometimes
makes this task easier.
- Using
the SHIFT and CTRL keys.
- (Note:
This option is best carried out in the List or
Details View
Also: In the following instructions, do not double
click on a file because in Windows Explorer, this has
the effect of opening this file with the software that was used
to create it).
- To
select an entire series of files.
- In
the left pane select the desired drive or folder by single
clicking on it.
- In
the right pane, click on the first desired file or folder
- Now
hold down the SHIFT key and (continue holding the SHIFT
key) click on the last desired file in the list.
All files between the first and last files clicked will
now be selected.
- To
select files at random
- In
the left pane select the desired drive or folder
- In
the right pane, click on the first desired file or folder
- Now
hold down the CTRL key and (continue holding the CTRL
key) click on any other desired file at random.
All clicked files will now be selected.
Creating
New Folders
- Using
the Left Pane, navigate to the drive or folder into which you
want to place the sub folder. Click on that drive or folder
to reveal its contents in the right pane.
- In
the Right Pane, right click anywhere in an empty area. (not on
an actual file or folder)
- From
the menu that appears choose New and then Folder
- A
folder will appear with the name "New Folder".
New Folder will be highlighted and allows you to retype another
name of your choosing.
- Once
the new name for the folder is entered, click outside the folder.
- If
you make a mistake on the name, right click on the folder
and choose Rename from the menu that appears.
You will now be able to make corrections.
Copying,
Moving, Renaming or Deleting Files/Folders
Copying
or Moving Files or Folders: Various methods can be
used to copy or move files or folders.
- Copy
or Cut and Paste
- In
the right pane, make sure the desired files are selected.
See Selecting Files
- Once
selected, right click anywhere on the selected files.
- Choose
Copy (CTRL+C is a shortcut key) to make
a copy in a new location or Cut
(CTRL+X is a shortcut key) to move the files
to a new location.
- Now
using the left and right panes, navigate to the desired location
where the files are to be placed.
- In
the right pane of the desired location, Right click
on an empty area of the pane, (not on a file or folder) and
choose Paste (CTRL+V is a shortcut key).
The files and folders that you copied or cut will
be pasted here.
- Clicking
and Dragging to Copy or Move files
- In
the right pane, make sure the desired files are selected.
See Selecting Files
- In
the left pane, navigate in such a way that the drive or folder,
to which you wish to copy the files, is visible. Use
the Plus
and Minus
signs to find folders you can't see.
- In
the right pane, left click, on the selected
files and drag (hold the left mouse button and move the mouse)
the files to the desired folder in the left pane.
-
Implications, (WHEN CLICKING AND DRAGGING), of Moving and Copying
between folders on the same drive or between folders on different
drives.
- By
default, when clicking and dragging files between folders
on the same drive the files are moved.
(Hold down the CTRL key to reverse this setting and actually
copy the dragged files. Notice the plus sign that
appears when you hold down the CTRL key).
- By
default, when clicking and dragging files between folders
on different drives, the files are copied.
(Hold down the SHIFT key to reverse this setting and actually
move the dragged files. Notice the plus sign that
disappears when you hold down the SHIFT key).
Renaming
Files/Folders
- Right
click on the file or folder which is to be renamed
- Choose
Rename from the menu
- Type
a new name in the title area of the folder or file
- Click
outside the file or folder area.
Deleting
Files
Exercise
2:
- On
the C: drive, create a new folder called My Storage Space
- Within
this new folder, create three sub folders called, Notepad
Files, JPG Files and AppleWorks Files
- From
the folder called File Management or File
Management Session
- Copy
the
three Notepad files to the new Notepad folder
just created. Use the Click and drag method to select
these files. Use the Copy and Paste method to Copy them to
the new folder
- Move
the three AppleWorks files to the new AppleWorks
folder. Use the Shift or CTRL key to select these files.
Use the click and drag method to move these files to the new
folder.
- Delete
the
three Image files. Use the Right Click method
to delete these files.
- Go
to the Recycle Bin and undelete these three
files. Check in Windows Explorer that these three files
have been deleted and then that they are restored.
- Now
Move these three image files to the JPG
Files folder.
- Rename
one of the Notepad files. Use a name of your choice.
Refresh
At
times when you manipulate files in a folder or drive, the file or
folder list may not reflect or show the changes. The file
you thought you copied does not show up in the list. At times
such as these you can use refresh to have the computer update the
window to properly reflect the changes. To refresh...
- right
click on an empty area of the right pane or
- in
the menu bar at the top of the window, click on View/Refresh
Other
Right Clicking Options
- Right
pane, right click in an empty area
- Change
View
- Arrange
Icons
- Create
Shortcuts or New
Folders
- Folder
Properties: Number of files in folder, size
of files, attributes
- Right
pane, right click on a file or folder
- Open
with...
- Cut,
Copy, Delete, Rename
- File
Properties: file name, size, location
Desktop
Windows
was designed to mimic an office working environment. Normally
in your office you have a desk and filing cabinet. The desktop
is used to contain the files and folders on which you are currently
working or which you use often. This is the same for Windows.
Normally the desktop contains Shortcuts
to files and folders which are in use currently or which are often
accessed. Putting them on the desktop gives easy access to
these.
Shortcuts
- Shortcuts:
pointers to other files or folders.
- Shortcuts
are distinguished from actual files and folders by a small arrow
on the icon.
- Shortcuts
can be deleted without deleting the actual file or folder to which
it points.
- When
you delete an actual icon, the file or folder is deleted.
- To
create shortcuts for a file or folder, in the
right pane of Windows Explorer, right click on the desired file
or folder and select Create Shortcut. The
shortcut is created in the same folder as the icon from which
the shortcut is created.
- To
place the shortcut in another location, the Desktop for example,
click and drag the shortcut to the desired location.
Exercise
3:
- Create
a shortcut for one of each of the test files in the three folders
just created.
- Drag
each of these shortcuts to the Desktop
- Delete
each of these shortcuts from the Desktop.
Searching
for Files or Folders
The
Windows Explorer allows us to search for files or folders that we
have lost.
- Depending
on the version of Windows, this option appears in various places
- Click
on the Search Button in the button bar or
click on Edit/Search
- Specify
the file name if known. * represents any character.
? represents one character. eg: *.wpd
searches for all files with wpd as the extension.
- Specify
text which is contained in the file, if known. (This
feature works well with Microsoft products but is less efficient
with non-Microsoft products. Normally one word works
better than a phrase.)
- Specify
where to search. Advance options allows to choose whether
to search sub folders or not.
Exercise
4 :
- In
the three sub folders just created search for all Test
files
- Search
for all files which contain the text ???
- Search
for all files that have a .jpg extension
File
Management Within a Specific Software Program
Basic
file management tasks can be performed from within specific software
programs
- When
using File/Save as... and you want to create
a new folder. In the Save as window, navigate to the drive
or folder where you want to create the new folder.
- Right
click on an empty area of the Save as... window
and click on New/Folder
- Give
the folder a name, click outside the name box to create the folder.
- To
place the file you wish to save into this folder, double click
on this folder to Open it and then save the file there.
Exercise
5:
- Create
a file in Notepad or Windows Write. Save this file in a
folder called WordProcessing Files. Create this new folder
from the Save as... window.
- Verify,
using Windows Explorer, that the file is actually saved where
you placed
Using
Windows Explorer as the Internet Explorer.
- The
path to a file is displayed in the address field
- If
you type a www address into this field, the Windows Explorer will
change into a Browser and you are on the Internet.
- Depending
on if you are using the Explorer to Browse local files or the
Internet, some of the options in the button bar will change to
reflect what you are doing.
Windows
Explorer Tutorials
There
are literally thousands of tutorials on Windows Explorer on the
Internet
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in the button bar.