This Rick's Computing Tips will show you how to use the Windows Explorer feature, and provide some simple ways to manage your files, photos, and music.
What is Windows Explorer?
Windows Explorer is an application on Windows operating systems that shows you folders and files on your computer.
To open Windows Explorer, go to START, select PROGRAM FILES, and then select ACCESSORIES, and finally, select WINDOWS EXPLORER. (See image).
Once you do this a window similar to the following will open up
(Note: settings for Windows Explorer may cause the image to look slightly different from this image).
Let's 1st talk about the sections of this image.
- "Address Bar" - This is the top line on the window where the path to the file you select is shown. For example, in the sample above, it shows
and then the words "Rick" and "Document". This is indicating that the files shown in the main window are from the User "Rick", and in his "Documents" folder. - "Organize & View" Section - This is the control bar where you can change the look of this window (Organize) or the look of the files (Views)
- "Favorite Links" - This shows default links on your computer, plus links you define that you use frequently. This can help you navigate quickly to a file/folder you use often.
- "Folders" - This allows you to display the folder structure of your computer (or a specific folder within your computer)
- Main Section - This is where the folders/files in a folder (the folder hilighted on the "Folders" section) are displayed.
This is done by selecting the "Organize" button, and then "Layout". The little window that opens will show 4 options to choose ("Menu Bar", "Details Pane", "Preview Pane", and "Navigation Pane"). The image displayed here has all three options selected ("Details", "Navigation" and "Preview"). Note - Windows will hilight the options that are active, so in this case, all but "Details Pane" will show as hilighted when you click on "Organize" and "Layouts". If you don't care to see a preview of the file (far right section of the Windows Explorer window) that you hilight in the "Main Section", click on the "Preview Pane". It will no longer be hilighted, and the pane on the right side of the Windows Explorer window will go away. Play around with the different combinations to find one that suits you best.
"Favorite Links"
This is great for folders you tend to store things in frequently, and allows you to place a link here that displays the files/folders in the location you set for that link. So how do you create a shortcut? Its really simple:
- In the "Main Section" or the "Folder Section" hilight the folder you would like to make a "Favorite".
- Hold your LEFT mouse button down after hilighting the folder, and DRAG the "folder icon" up into the "Favorite Links" section, and once you find the place you want the link to display in the list of Favorites, release the LEFT mouse button. There you go! You now have a shortcut you can click on to take you directly to the files in that folder. (Note: This ONLY WORKS WITH FOLDERS - you cannot create "Favorite Links" of files.)
There are several ways to find a file. We'll look at a couple of them.
- Computer Search Tool - This method uses your computer to find it for you. This is done using the "Search" box that is displayed in the upper RH corner of the Windows Explorer window. Just type in all (or a portion) of the file/photo/folder name in the "Search" box. In the "Main Section" of the Windows Explorer window will appear all the files on your computer with the word/letters you type in the "Search Box". To select one, double click on it, and it will open.
- Browsing the "Folders" section -This section can expand to show sub-folders, and allow you to navigate down to the folder where your file is stored. To do this, HILIGHT the Folder you want to go into in the "Folders Section", and as you do, you will see a symbol to the left of it (either a "+" or an ">"). Click on that symbol to show the "Sub-Folders". Continue this on the folders within the folders until you find your file in the "Main Section". Double click on the file to open it.
Now that you have the basic functions of Windows Explorer, lets talk about organizing files. Its important to 1st explain that Windows sets up a basic location called "My Documents" on your computer hard drive for users to manage files. This has been done to help identify personal files different from the operating system files, and makes them easier to separate for backing up files or transferring only your personal files to a new computer. Of course, you can store files anywhere on your computer, but if you ever want to back up your files to protect them from loss, or minimize the work you have to do to copy your personal files between multiple computers, using "My Documents" as your storage location is a good plan.
Within "My Documents" there are already folders created for "My Music", "My Pictures", "My Videos", etc. This is great for storing photos you have download. music you have for your iPod or MP3 player. You can also add folders in "My Documents" for other types of info you want to group.
Create a new folder in "My Documents"
- In your Windows Explorer "Folders" section, hilight "My Documents" (or "Documents" in Vista), press your RIGHT mouse button, and in the menu that pops up select "New" and then "Folder".
- A new folder will appear in the list with the Folder Name hilighted. This is done so you can immediately type in the name you want for the new folder. Type in the Folder Name you want and hit enter. That's it! Now, whenever you have a file to save, when you do a "Save" and the window pops up for you to select a location to save it, just navigate to that folder, double click it, and hit "save".
- Click on the file/folder in either the "Main Section" or the "Folder Section" to hilight it.
- Place your mouse pointer on the hilighted file/folder icon, hold down the LEFT mouse button, and drag it to (on top of) the new folder you want to place it in (you should see a little "arrow" underneath the file/folder you are moving which says "move to"), and release your RIGHT mouse button. The file/folder will be MOVED to that location.
- Click on the file/folder in either the "Main Section" or the "Folder Section" to hilight it.
- Press and Hold down the "CTRL" botton, then place your mouse pointer on the hilighted file/folder icon, hold down the LEFT mouse button, and drag it to (on top of) the new folder you want to place it in (you should see a little "+" underneath the file/folder you are moving which says "copy to"), and release your RIGHT mouse button. The file/folder will be COPIED to that location.
