Making File Management Easy with Windows Explorer

With the Windows Explorer program in Windows 98/2000/XP you can view and manage your files, folders, and drives. The following sections explain file organization and give step-by-step instructions for viewing folders and files, creating folders, moving and copying files or folders, working with the Recycle Bin, and more.

1. Understanding File Organization
2. Viewing Folders and Files
3. Managing Files and Folders
4. Using the Recycle Bin
5. Creating and Using Shortcuts

Managing Files and Folders

To create a new folder:

1. Select the location for the folder. For example, select the "My Documents" folder to create a subfolder within My Documents. Putting all your files in folders under My Documents will make it easier and quicker to make backups. (See Figure 2 for an example of subfolders within the My Documents folder.)
2. Choose File > New > Folder from the menu bar. Or, right-click on a blank area of the Contents pane and choose New > Folder from the Shortcut menu.
3. Type in a folder name and press the <Enter> key.

You can move or copy files by using the Cut/Copy/Paste procedure you are used to using in your word processor. There are also other ways to move or copy files and you can find information on those options in the Help index.

TIP: There are two ways to select multiple files or folders.

• To select consecutive files or folders, click the first item, press and hold down the <Shift> key, and then click the last item.
• To select files or folders that are not consecutive, click the first item, press and hold down the <Ctrl> key, and then click each additional item.

To move files or folders:

1. Select the file(s) or folder(s) to move.
2. Choose Edit > Cut (or click on the Cut button on the Toolbar or right-click on a file or a folder to move and choose Cut from the Shortcut menu).
3. Select the destination folder.
4. Choose Edit > Paste (or click on the Paste button on the Toolbar or right-click on the destination folder and choose Paste from the Shortcut menu).

To copy files or folders:

1. Select the file(s) or folder(s) to copy.
2. Choose Edit > Copy (or click on the Copy button on the Toolbar or right-click on a file or a folder to copy and choose Copy from the Shortcut menu).
3. Select the destination location (for example, a different disk drive).
4. Choose Edit > Paste (or click on the Paste button on the Toolbar or right-click on the destination folder and choose Paste from the Shortcut menu).

TIP: If you are copying files or folders to a disk or CD to make a backup, you may want to check the total size of the files to make sure they will fit on the disk. After selecting the files or folders, right-click on any selected item and choose Properties from the Shortcut menu. In the Properties dialog box you will see the information on the number of files, number of folders, and total size of all selected items. Click OK. Copy your files if there is enough room on the disk.

To rename a file or folder:

1. Select the file or folder to rename.
2. Choose File > Rename from the menu bar (or right-click on the file or folder name and choose Rename from the Shortcut menu).
3. Type the new file or folder name in the text box.
4. Press <Enter> key.

To find a file:

If you don't remember where a file is located, you can use the Find feature in Windows 98 and the Search feature in Windows 2000/XP.

Windows 98

1. Choose Tools > Find > Files or Folders from the menu bar. This will open a separate window.
2. Enter part of the file name in the "Named" text box.
3. If you want to search the entire hard drive, make sure the "Look in" box is showing (C:).
4. Click the Find Now button. (See Figure 3 for a partial listing of files and folders found using "doc" as the search criteria. The files/folders will be listed in alphabetical order within folders.)

Windows 2000/XP

1. Click on the Search Button on the Toolbar. The Search pane will replace the Folders pane.
• In Windows XP, select "All files and folders."
2. Enter part of the file name in the "Search for files or folders named" or "All or part of the file name" text box.
3. If you want to search the entire hard drive, make sure the "Look in" box is showing (C:).
4. Click the Search Now button. (See Figure 3 for a partial listing of files and folders found using "doc" as the search criteria. The files/folders will be listed in alphabetical order within folders.)

The search results list can be sorted by any column. Click on the column heading once to list in ascending order and again to list in descending order. To move a file from the old folder to a new folder, follow the instructions under "To move files or folders." To open a file to look at its contents, double-click on the file name.

NOTE for Windows 2000/XP users: Use the Back button on the Toolbar to go to the previous list of files. You will need to click on the Folders button on the Toolbar to see your list of drives and folders again in the left pane.

TIP: You can also find or search for a file by its content or search by a date range without a file name. See the Help information for details.

To delete a file(s) or folder(s):

1. Select the file(s) or folder(s) to be deleted.
2. Press <Delete> key (or right-click on the file or folder to be deleted and choose Delete from the Shortcut menu).
3. Click Yes in the Confirm File Delete dialog box to put the file in the Recycle Bin.

TIP: Deleting a folder also deletes all files in that folder.

To restore deleted file(s) or folder(s) while in Windows Explorer:

If you deleted the wrong file, select Edit > Undo from the menu bar. The Undo menu item will show the last function performed and if it isn't the "Delete" option, you need to select multiple Undo's to get to the Delete choice. This retrieves the file and places it in the original folder it was deleted from.

NOTE: The Undo option only works for the current session in the Windows Explorer program. After you exit Windows Explorer, you will need to use the Recycle Bin to restore deleted files or folders. Please see the next section.

Continue:

1. Understanding File Organization
2. Viewing Folders and Files
3. Managing Files and Folders
4. Using the Recycle Bin
5. Creating and Using Shortcuts

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 Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (IANR)
 University of Nebraska-Lincoln
 Last updated March 24, 2004