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File Management using Windows Explorer
in Windows 98, ME, 2000, and XP

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Prerequisites to understand this document

It's assumed you have some knowledge of how to work in Windows.  You should be familiar with the following:

  • Starting an application from the Desktop using the Start button.
  • Using scroll bars.
  • How to "click", "right click", and "double click".

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Files, Folders, Drives, and Windows Explorer - Basic Concepts

What are files and folders?  Files are stored information; folders are a tool to organize files.  Both can be thought of as containers.  Files contain applications (e.g., Microsoft Word and Excel) or data used by applications (e.g., Word and Excel documents, graphics, music, videos, ...).   Folders contain files, folders, or both.  The standard analogy is with drawers in a file cabinet.  A drawer contains  folders and paper documents.  Each folder in the drawer can contain more folders, documents, or both.  The drawer itself is the last part of the analogy.  Each drawer is analogous to a drive on your computer.

What is a drive? Conceptually, a drive is a special type of folder.  It's special because it represents a physical device where files and folders are stored.  The physical drive can be completely self contained, like a hard drive, or can use removable media like floppy disks, zip disks, or CD's.  Windows represents a drive by a letter followed by a colon.  "A:" and "B:" are reserved for floppy drives.  "C:" through "Z:" can represent any other type of drive.  A typical computer might have a single floppy drive "A:", a hard drive "C:", a CD drive "D:" and a zip drive "E:".  A computer on a Local Area Network might also have network drives.  A network drive allows you to work with files and folders on a remote computer.

Windows Explorer is an application built into Windows that displays all the folders and files available to your computer.  Think of each folder as the location of the files and folders it contains.  Windows Explorer is a "file manager" you can use for the following basic file management tasks:

  • View the folders available to your computer and their relationship to each other.
  • View the files contained in those folders .
  • Rename files and folders.
  • Delete files and folders.
  • Copy files or folders to a different location (i.e., to a different folder).
  • Move files or folders to a different location.

Windows provides other ways to do these things but, if you are new to file management in Windows, Windows Explorer is a good starting point.

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Opening Windows Explorer

You need to open, or run, Windows Explorer in order to use it.  How to open Windows Explorer varies slightly in different versions of Windows.

  1. Windows 98
    1. Click on the Start Button to open the Start Menu.
    2. Click on Programs in the Start Menu to open the Programs Menu.
    3. Click on Windows Explorer in the Programs Menu.

      Start | Programs | Windows Explorer
       
  2. Windows ME and Windows 2000
    1. Click on the Start button to open the Start Menu.
    2. Click on Programs in the Start Menu to open the Programs Menu.
    3. Click on the Accessories folder in the Programs Menu to open the Accessories Menu.
    4. Click on Windows Explorer in the Accessories Menu.

      Start | Programs | Accessories | Windows Explorer
       
  3. Windows XP
    1. Click on the Start button to open the Start Menu.
    2. Click on All Programs in the Start Menu to open the All Programs Menu.
    3. Click on the Accessories folder in the All Programs Menu that opened.
    4. Click on Windows Explorer in the Accessories Menu.

      Start | All Programs | Accessories | Windows Explorer

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Understanding the Windows Explorer window

Windows Explorer screen

  1. The Windows Explorer window has, from top to bottom, the following components.
    1. A Menu Bar.
    2. A Tool Bar.
    3. An Address Bar.
    4. Two side by side panes that display the files and folders available to you.  You can close the left pane, but these instructions require both panes to be visible!
      • The left pane shows a hierarchical diagram of the folders available in your computer and their relationship to each other.
      • The right pane shows the contents of the folder currently selected in the left pane.
  2. The Menu bar provides one method of selecting operations to perform on files and folders selected in the panes.  The menu structure varies in different versions of Windows.  All operations available in the context menus described below are also available from a menu.
  3. The Tool Bar provides icons for direct access to the most commonly used menu items.  The tools available vary slightly in different versions of Windows. 
  4. The Address Bar displays the name of the currently selected folder.  In some cases you may see the entire path of the currently selected folder.  If so, the currently selected folder is the name to the right of the last "\".  For example, if the path is "C:\nai\vscan" then the currently selected folder is "vscan".
  5. Understanding the Left Pane:
    1. Only folders show in the left pane.  This includes special folders like drives and network drives.
    2. Every folder represented has at least two components and may have three.
      • The primary component is an icon.  A standard folder uses a picture of a folder while special folders use a picture designed to indicate how they are special.  For example, the icon for "My Computer" is a picture of a computer.
      • To the right of the icon is a text box displaying the folder's name.
      • To the left of the icon there may be a plus sign "+" or a minus sign "-".  This indicates that the folder contains folders at a lower level (sub-folders).  In other words, there are folders inside this folder.
    3. The Desktop folder is in the top left corner of the left pane and contains all other folders available to you.  It represents the desktop screen you see when you first start Windows.
    4. Indenting is used to indicate a folder being contained by a higher level folder.  All folders directly contained by the Desktop are below and to the right of the Desktop.  "My Documents" and "My Computer" are both at this level and should always have a plus or minus sign to the left of their icons.  The "+" or "-" is located directly below the "My Computer" icon.
    5. If there is no plus or minus sign to the left of a folder it means that the folder does not contain any sub-folders.
    6. A plus sign to the left of a folder indicates that the folder contains sub-folders, but that they aren't being displayed.  Clicking on the plus sign changes it to a minus sign and displays the sub-folders.
    7. A minus sign to the left of a folder indicates that it has sub-folders and that they are being displayed.  The sub-folders show below and indented to the right of the containing folder.  In their turn, the sub-folders can contain folders.  Clicking on the minus sign changes it to a plus sign and the sub-folders are no longer displayed.
    8. There is always one folder, and only one folder, selected in the left pane.
      • The selected folder's name is highlighted by using a background color different than the background color of the pane, and text that is a different color than the text for the unselected folders.
      • The names of unselected folders share the same color for text and the background color is the same as the pane's background color.
      • The background color for the selected folder changes to gray when the right pane is active.  The right pane is active only when files or folders have been selected in it.
      • Select a folder by clicking on its icon.  Clicking on its name will select it, but may be interpreted as a command to rename the folder.
      • Clicking on a folder's plus sign or minus sign to hide or display its sub-folders does not select the folder.
    9. If the pane isn't large enough to display the entire folder layout scroll bars appear on the right side or the bottom of the pane.  Use the scroll bars to change which part of the folder layout is visible.  The selected folder is still selected when not visible in the pane.
  6. Understanding the Right Pane.
    1. The right pane displays the files and folders, if any, contained by the folder currently selected in the left pane.
    2. There are several choices on how to view the right pane.  Performing file management doesn't depend on the view but selection details differ.  These instructions will assume the right pane is set to "Detail View".  Set the pane to detail view by:

      Set "detail view" in the right pane.
       
      1. Right click anywhere in the background of the right pane to display a "context menu".
      2. Click on "View" in the context menu to see the View sub-menu.
      3. Click on "Details" to set the right pane to detail view.  The right pane displays a list of files and folders with detailed information about each.

      Detail view is set.
       

    3. It is possible to have any number of files and folders selected in the right pane.  You need to know how to select any combination of files and folders.  Selection is identical for files and folders so both will be referred to as "items" in this section.
      1. To select a single item click on its icon.  It will be highlighted to indicate it is selected.  All previously selected items are deselected.
      2. To select a contiguous block of items:
        1. Click on the top item in the block you want to select.  Prior selections will be deselected.
        2. Press and continue to hold down the Shift key.
        3. Click on the item at the bottom of the block you want to select.  You may need to use a scroll bar to do this.
        4. Release the Shift key.
        5. The entire block will be highlighted indicating that all the items in it are selected.
      3. To add a single item to, or remove a single item from, the current selection:
        1. Press and continue to hold down the Ctrl key.
        2. Click on the item you want to add or remove.  An already selected item will be deselected; an unselected item will be selected.  As long as you hold the Ctrl key down you can add or remove any  item from your selection by clicking on it.
        3. Release the Ctrl key.
      4. To add a contiguous block of items to the currently selected items.
        1. Press and continue to hold down the Ctrl key.
        2. Click on the top item in the block you want to add to your selected items.  This item must not be currently selected!
        3. Press and continue to hold down the Shift key without releasing the Ctrl key.
        4. Click on the bottom item in the block you want to add to your selected items.
        5. Release the Ctrl and Shift keys.  All items starting with the first item you clicked on down to, and including, the bottom item you clicked on, are added to your selection.
      5. To remove a contiguous block of  items from the currently selected items.
        1. Press and continue to hold down the Ctrl key.
        2. Click on the top item in the block you want to remove your selected items.  This item must be currently selected!
        3. Press and continue to hold down the Shift key without releasing the Ctrl key.
        4. Click on the bottom item in the block you want to remove from your selected items.  All items in the block will be deselected except the bottom item.  The bottom item will be selected whether it was originally selected or not.
        5. Release the Shift key without releasing the Ctrl key, then click on the bottom item again.  The bottom item will be deselected.
        6. Release the Ctrl key.

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Basic File Management using Windows Explorer

Basic file management includes:

Windows Explorer's left and right panes are used in combination to perform these operations.  Files and folders are treated identically so both will be referred to as "items" in this section.

  1. Rename a file or folder.
    1. In the left pane, select the folder containing the item you want to rename.
    2. In the right pane, right click on the item you want to rename to open a context menu.
    3. Select "Rename" from the context menu.  The name in the item's text box will be highlighted and there will be a blinking cursor.
    4. Type the new name for the item.  If you change you mind about renaming the item you can press and release the Esc key to cancel the operation.
    5. Press and release the Enter key.
  2. Delete files and folders
    1. In the left pane, select the folder containing items you want to delete.
    2. In the right pane, select all the items to be deleted.  Important! Deleting a folder deletes that folder's contents as well.  Use Windows Explorer to view a folder's sub-folders and files before deleting it.  Make certain there is nothing you need to keep.
    3. Right click on the icon for one of the items selected for deletion.  This opens a context menu.
    4. Select "Delete" from the context menu.  A window will open asking you to confirm that you want to send the selected items to the "Recycle Bin".  Sending items to the Recycle Bin is the first step in deleting them.
    5. If you are not certain and want to cancel the operation, click on "No".  To continue, click on "Yes".
  3. The Recycle Bin
    The Recycle Bin is another special folder.  When you delete an item using Windows Explorer it is moved to the Recycle Bin.  This gives you the opportunity, temporarily, to restore the deleted item to its original folder.  A limited amount of physical hard drive space is set aside for the Recycle Bin and, once that space is filled, the oldest items are permanently removed as new items are added.  Also, when deleting an item that is larger than the entire space available in the Recycle Bin you will be warned that the item will not be restorable.
    1. Restore files and folders from the Recycle Bin
      1. In the left pane, select the Recycle Bin.  In the right pane, you will see all the items available to be restored.  The following restrictions apply.
        • You can only restore an item to its original location.
        • You cannot look at or restore items contained in a folder that was deleted.  You must restore the entire folder.
      2. In the right pane, select all items you want to restore.
      3. Right click on the icon for one of the selected items to open a context menu.
      4. Select "Restore" from the context menu.  The selected items will be restored to their original location.
    2. Empty the Recycle Bin
      1. Empty all files and folders from the Recycle Bin.
        1. Right click on the Recycle Bin in the left pane to open a context menu.
        2. Select "Empty Recycle Bin" from the context menu.
        3. All files and folders in the recycle bin are deleted and can no longer be restored.
      2. Empty selected files and folders from the Recycle Bin.
        1. With the Recycle Bin selected in the left pane, delete files and folders from the right pane as you would from any folder.  One deleted from the Recycled Bin they can no longer be restored.
  4. Copy files and folders
    1. In the left pane, select the folder containing the items you want to copy to another location.
    2. In the right pane, select all the items to be copied. 
    3. Right click on the icon for one of the selected items to open a context menu.
    4. Select "Copy" from the context menu.
    5. In the left pane, select the folder you want to copy the selected items to.
    6. In the right pane, right click anywhere on the background of the pane to open a context menu.
    7. Select "Paste" from the context menu.
  5. Move files and folders
    1. In the left pane, select the folder containing the items you want to move to another location.
    2. In the right pane, select all the items to be moved. 
    3. Right click on the icon for one of the selected items to open a context menu.
    4. Select "Cut" from the context menu.
      • The selected items will become lighter in color to indicate they are ready to be moved.  Until the move is completed you can press the Esc key to cancel the operation.  Canceling the move restores the color of the selected items to normal.
    5. In the left pane, select the folder you want to copy the selected items to.
    6. In the right pane, right click on the background of the pane to open a context menu.
    7. Select "Paste" from the context menu.

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Last Modified: 3 March 2004
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