| Organizing
Files and Folders
Once
you are familiar with where most data files and folders reside,
or know the file extensions of the data file types you most often
create and use, you can begin organizing them in a manner logical
to you.
A
commonly used analogy for file and folder structure on computers
is that of a filing cabinet. Think of your hard drive as the cabinet,
with directories as drawers, and sub-directories as the folders
within the drawers. Inside of the folders may be other folders
(sub-directories), and inside the folders reside the files. Just
as you wouldn't just throw loose papers into a filing cabinet
drawer, you don't want to just toss your electronic data files
any old place on your hard drive. This section covers tools for
locating, moving, copying, and deleting files, as well as suggestions
for organizing your data into an easily searchable structure.
Windows
Explorer v. My Computer
The
most commonly used tools for managing files are contained in your
computer's operating system. For Windows, those tools are Windows
Explorer and My Computer. You can use either tool for
operations such as viewing and creating folders, arranging files
in folders, and deleting files and folders safely.
Windows Explorer provides a two-pane window
view of your file and directory structure, while My Computer provides
a simpler, one-pane view of files and directories. More
importantly, Windows Explorer allows you to see as many directories
and their sub-folders, by expanding or constricting a folder,
without toggling back and forth between new windows, whereas using
My Computer you will be able to see only the content of one folder
that you have selected for display, and selecting another folder
opens another window.
A separate Windows tool, Find (or Search in Windows
2000 and XP), allows you to search for files or folders by many
different criteria.
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Viewing
Folders
Windows
Explorer provides a very useful view of your folders and files,
introduced in this workshop's section on Folders
(Directories) and Files. The left hand pane in Windows Explorer
shows a full view of all the folders on your computer's hard drive.
My
Computer provides a less complex view of directory contents,
in a single pane. To view directories above those currently displayed,
click the Up button (on Windows 2000 or XP, click the Back
button) . Clicking on a directory displayed in the window changes
the window display to only the contents of the chosen directory.
Creating
New Folders
Make
sure you have your worksheet containing the names and organization
of the folders that make up your file management plan. It is time
to start creating those folders in the locations you have chosen.
Additionally, check your departmental guidelines regarding storing
work related files and folders, and the storage location: a shared
directory, a departmental server, a lease on Premium server, etc.
You
probably decided to locate your project-based data folders inside
of the My Documents folder. Putting your most frequently used
folders here makes them easy to access when saving or opening
documents, and easy to search when you are not sure which document
you need. We'll base the following examples on the assumption
that your project-based folders will be located inside of My Documents.
To
create a new folder inside of My Documents using Windows Explorer:
- From
the Start button, select Programs | Windows
Explorer.
- Click
on My Documents in the Folder List Box to select it.
The contents of My Documents will show in the right hand pane
of Windows Explorer.
- From
the File menu, select New | Folder to create
a new folder inside of the My Documents folder.
- If
the name New Folder is highlighted, you can just start typing
the name of the new folder over the highlighted text. If New
Folder does not appear highlighted, click on the folder once
to select it, choose Rename from the File menu,
and type your chosen name for the folder over the highlighted
blue text.
Repeat
steps 3 and 4 until you have created all of the folders listed
in your file management plan.
Note:
Creating a new folder using My Computer is accomplished by
the same steps as above, except that step one changes to:
- From
the Desktop, double-click the My Computer icon.
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Arranging
Files in Folders
Now
that you have your folders the way you want them, it is time to
place your files into the proper folders. Windows Explorer is
a good way to organize existing files. Once you have existing
files where you want them, saving new files into the right location
is easy--just pick the appropriate folder inside of My Documents
each time you save a new file.
Selecting
Files in Windows Explorer
There
are several ways to move, copy and delete files using Windows
Explorer. All require that you first select the file or files
you want to copy, move, or delete.
- To
select a single file in Windows Explorer, click once on the
file, so that it is highlighted.
- To
select multiple files not adjacent to each other, hold down
the Ctrl key while clicking on each file you want to
select.
- To
select multiple files adjacent to each other, click to select
the first file, then hold down the Shift key and click
on the last file you want to select. All of the files between
the first and last will be selected.
- To
select all of the files in a folder, choose Select All
from the Edit menu, or use the keys Ctrl and A.
Moving
or Copying Files in Windows Explorer
Once
files are selected, you can move or copy them to the folder of
your choice by using menus, keyboard commands, or drag and drop.
To
copy or move selected files to another folder by using menus:
- With
the selected files highlighted in the right pane of Windows
Explorer, from the Edit menu, choose Copy (to
copy) or Cut (to move without leaving a copy behind.
- In
left pane, select the folder into which you want to copy the
files, and choose Paste from the Edit menu.
- If
you chose to copy files instead of cut, be sure to delete the
original files once you are certain you have copied them to
the correct location (information on safe deleting is listed
below).
To
copy or move selected files to another folder by using keyboard
commands:
- With
the selected files highlighted in the right pane of Windows
Explorer, use the keys Ctrl and C to copy the
files, or the keys Ctrl and X to move or "cut"
the files.
- In
left pane, select the folder into which you want to move the
files, and use the keys Ctrl and V to paste the
files.
- If
you chose to copy files instead of cut, be sure to delete the
original files once you are certain you have copied them to
the correct location (information on safe deleting is listed
below).
To
move selected files to another folder by using drag and drop:
- With
the selected files highlighted in the right pane of Windows
Explorer, click and drag the selected files on top of the folder
in the left pane into which you want to move the files.
- If
you are dragging and dropping files between locations on the
same drive, this method moves the files, so no files are left
behind in the original folder to delete. If you are dragging
files from one disk to and dropping them into another disk,
such as from a hard disk to a floppy disk, this method makes
a copy of the dragged files, and you must go back and delete
the original file once you are certain the move has been successful.
Renaming
a File or Folder
There
may be instances when, rather than moving a file or folder to
a new location, it makes more sense to rename it.
To
rename a file or folder in Windows Explorer:
- Select
the file or folder.
- Choose
Rename from the File menu, or right click on the
selected file or folder and choose Rename from the pop-up
menu.
- The
original name will now be highlighted and surrounded with a
box. Type the new name over the old name, and hit Enter.
If you are renaming a file, be sure you include the appropriate
file extension with the new name, or Windows will warn you that
the renamed file may become unusable without the proper file
extension.
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Deleting
Files and Folders Safely
Windows
and Macintosh computers usually protect files deleted from your
hard drive by placing them in a Recycle Bin. The deleted
files remain in the Recycle Bin until you empty it, so you can
often recover files you accidentally or prematurely deleted. Once
the Recycle Bin has been emptied, its contents are permanently
deleted and cannot be recovered.
Note
1: Files deleted from a server are permanently deleted--there
is no server Recycle Bin from which to recover them. However,
most servers are backed up regularly, and your server administrator
may be able to restore earlier versions of the deleted file from
backups made before the deletion occurred. Check with your server
administrator to determine how frequently backups are done.
Note
2: It is not advisable to delete program files using Windows
Explorer or My Computer. See the section on Deleting
Program Files Safely for the preferred method of removing
application files from your hard drive.
To
delete a file or folder using Windows Explorer:
- Select
the file or folder. You may select multiple files or folders
at once using the methods described above.
- Choose
Delete from the File menu, or hit the Delete
key on the keyboard.
- Windows
will prompt you to confirm the deletion with the message "Are
you sure you want to send (filename) or (these X items) to the
Recycle Bin? Click Yes to confirm the deletion.
To
restore a file or folder from the Recycle Bin:
- On
the Desktop, double-click on the
icon.
- Select
the file or folder you want to restore.
- From
the File menu, choose Restore, or click the Restore
option in the Recycle Bin window. Choosing Restore will put
the file or folder back to its original location before it was
deleted.
To
empty the Recycle Bin:
- On
the Desktop, double-click the Recycle Bin icon.
- From
the File menu, choose Empty Recycle Bin.
- Windows
will prompt you to confirm the deletion with the message "Are
you sure you want to delete these X items?" Click Yes
to confirm the deletion. Once items are deleted from the Recycle
Bin, they cannot be restored unless you kept a backup of them
in another location.
Deleting
Program Files Safely
Program
files cannot be deleted in the same way that data files can be
deleted, since there are many files associated with each program,
or application, on your computer. In Windows, those files include
Desktop icons, .exe files, and many other associated files, some
of which are hidden even when viewing folders in Windows Explorer.
If you decide that you no longer use a certain application, the
best way to remove it is with the Add/Remove Programs tool
in the Control Panel.
To
remove a program using Add/Remove Programs:
- From
the Start button, select Settings | Control
Panel.
- In
the Control Panel, double-click the icon for Add/Remove Programs.
- Select
the program you want to remove from the list in the Install/Uninstall
tab (Windows 98 or NT) or Change or Remove Programs tab
(Windows 2000 or XP).
- Click
the Add/Remove button (Windows 98 or NT) or Remove
button (Windows 2000 or XP).
- Windows
will prompt you to confirm the removal. Click Yes to
confirm.
- Click
OK after Windows confirms that the program has been deleted.
- You
may need to restart you computer to complete the removal--Windows
will prompt you to restart if needed.
Repeat
steps 3 through 7 for each program you want to remove.
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Finding
Files
Many
applications, including Microsoft Office, are set by default to
save your data files to the My Documents folder on your hard drive.
However, some applications may save files to other locations,
or you may have saved important data files to other locations
on your hard drive you've forgotten about. When organizing your
files, it is important to be sure you have located all of the
files containing your data.
After
viewing your computer's file structure through Windows Explorer
or My Computer, you will probably have a good idea of where most
of your data is currently located on your computer. However, it
is a good idea to use the Find (Windows
98/NT) or Search (Windows 2000/XP)
function to locate any stray data files on your hard drive. In
Windows, the easiest way to find stray data files is to search
for them by extension type. See the section of this document on
extension types for a list
of common file extensions.
To
locate files by extension type in Windows 98 or NT:
- From
the Start menu, select Find, then Files or
Folders...
- Make
sure you are on Name & Location tab.
- In
the Named: field, type a wild-card character (*), a period
(.), and the three- or four-letter file extension of the files
you want to find. For example, *.xls for Microsoft Excel
Worksheet files.
- Select
[C:] from the Look in: drop-down box to search
your entire hard drive for files of this type. Make sure
Include sub-folders is checked.
- Click
Find Now to generate a listing of all files on your C:\
drive of this file type.
Note:
You may find some files that are samples of the chosen type which
were installed with the application. These files may be located
in the Program Files or application folder, and should not be
moved.
To
locate files by extension type in Windows 2000 or XP:
- From
the Start menu, select Search, then All files
and folders...
- In
the field All or part of the file name, type a wild-card
character (*), a period (.), and the three- or four-letter file
extension of the files you want to find. For example, *.xls
for Microsoft Excel Worksheet files.
- Select
[C:] from the Look in: drop-down box to search
your entire hard drive for files of this type.
- Click
Search to generate a listing of all files on your C:\
drive of this file type.
Note:
You may find some files that are samples of the chosen type which
were installed with the application. These files may be located
in the Program Files or application folder, and should not be
moved.
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Protecting Your Data
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Introduction