Fort Lewis College Information Technology
Shauna Blaylock
Revised: 08/2006
File Management Using Windows Explorer
In this basic file management course you will learn about:
• Computer Drives, Internal and Mapped.
• Opening Windows Explorer and using the different Viewing options
• Creating a Directory of new folders and subfolders
• Renaming files and folders
• Selecting multiple files or folders
• Moving, Copying, and Deleting files/subfolders
• Saving Files
• Ways to find files or folders if you forget where you saved them
• Recycle Bin, Temp Folders, and other places to check for cleaning out unused files
Contents:
Drives on your computer ................................................................................................................ 2
Opening Windows Explorer ........................................................................................................... 2
Mapping and “Unmapping” a Network Drive (Folder).............................................................. 3
Views in Explorer ........................................................................................................................... 4
Window Views............................................................................................................................ 4
Sorting Window Contents........................................................................................................... 4
Viewing Folder Contents ............................................................................................................ 5
Creating New Folders or Sub Folders............................................................................................. 5
Renaming Files and Folders............................................................................................................ 5
Selecting Multiple Files or Folders................................................................................................. 6
Selecting Multiple files or folders that are adjacent to each other.............................................. 6
Selecting Multiple files or folders that are not adjacent to each other........................................ 6
Selecting All files or folders in a window .................................................................................. 6
Moving and Copying ...................................................................................................................... 6
Moving Files to other Folders or Drives..................................................................................... 6
Copying Files .............................................................................................................................. 7
Drag and Drop............................................................................................................................. 7
Undo a Move/Copy Command ................................................................................................... 7
Deleting Files or Folders................................................................................................................. 8
Undeleting Files or Folders............................................................................................................. 8
Saving Files..................................................................................................................................... 9
Setting the Default File Save Location ....................................................................................... 9
To save a file for the first time.................................................................................................. 10
Finding Files or Folders ................................................................................................................ 10
Using the My Recent Documents List ...................................................................................... 10
Using “Search for Files and Folders” ....................................................................................... 11
Advanced Search Options......................................................................................................... 11
Using a Wildcard to search ....................................................................................................... 11
A Few Common File Extensions: ............................................................................................. 11
Cleaning Out Unused Files for Optimal Disk Utilization............................................................. 12
Clearing the Cached Files from your Internet Browser:........................................................... 12
Tips on Cleaning Out Files on Your M Drive .......................................................................... 12
Information Technology
File Management Using Windows Explorer
1
Drives on your computer
]]]
A: drive for 3.5”
floppy disks
Your Computer’s internal
hard drive. Your program
files are located here.
Your CD Rom Drive
Your
personal
M: Drive
Campus-wide
shared drive.
Departmental
O: Drive
Op
Various network
application drives from
which you get software
such as Microsoft Office,
Banner, etc.
The Drive letters may be different on your computer. Generally though, A: will be
your floppy drive, and C: will be your hard drive. Your personal share drive here at Fort
Lewis College will always be M:, and the departmental drives are always O:
Opening Windows Explorer
Windows Explorer is an organizational tool created to help you sort your files into folders
and subfolders much like the files in a file cabinet. There is more than one way to open
Windows Explorer so that you can begin organizing your files. These include:
• Right-click on the “My Computer” icon on your desktop and click on “Explore”.
• Click on the Start menu, go to programs, click on Windows Explorer.
• Right-click on the Start menu and click on Explore.
• Create a shortcut on your desktop, then double-click to open it.
• Click on one of the Windows keys and the letter “e”
Information Technology
File Management Using Windows Explorer
2
Mapping and “Unmapping” a Network Drive (Folder)
You will generally not have a need to map a network drive as the Information
Technology Help Desk staff will have mapped all necessary drives when setting up your
computer. If you find you need to map a drive follow these steps or call the Help Desk at
x7444
•
•
Open Windows Explorer and go to Tools on the menu bar
Scroll to “Map Network Drive”
•
Use the drop down arrow to select a letter for the drive (this can be any letter
not being used)
You must know which server the folder you want to map “lives on” and the
name of the folder
Type two \\ as shown in the example followed by the server name
Type another \ followed by the name of the drive
o Your M drive would be \\staff\username or \\faculty\username
If you want to have this drive available the next time you log onto your
computer check the box next to “Reconnect at logon”
Click on “Finish”
•
•
•
•
•
Information Technology
File Management Using Windows Explorer
3
Views in Explorer
When you open Windows Explorer you will see a window that is divided into two parts.
Folders will be displayed on the left portion, and contents of the selected (highlighted)
folder will be listed on the right portion.
Window Views
The default view for Windows Explorer is large icons. To change the
way folders and their contents are displayed, go to View on the toolbar
and choose Thumbnails, Tiles, Icons, List, or Details.
Thumbnails: good when viewing a folder containing pictures or clipart
Tiles or Icons: layout of these views is different, both show you the icon
associated with the type of file, (i.e. Word, Excel, etc.)
List: a simple list of the files by name
Details: a detailed list of the files by name, but includes file type, size,
date modified, etc.
Sorting Window Contents
You may sort the contents of a window when Detail view is selected. In the Details
view, the size, type, and date modified will be displayed in addition to the file name. A
heading bar above the contents is also displayed. Clicking on the headings will sort your
folders accordingly.
•
•
•
•
Clicking on Name in the heading bar will list the contents in descending
alphabetical order. (The default view is sorted by Name, ascending)
Click on Size to list contents from largest to smallest. Click on Size a second
time to list from smallest to largest.
Click on Type to list by file type, alphabetically in ascending order. Click Type a
second time to list by file type in descending order.
Click on Date Modified to list the contents by most recently modified. Click on
Date Modified again to list by oldest date modified.
Information Technology
File Management Using Windows Explorer
4
Viewing Folder Contents
To select a folder and view the contents, single-click on a folder in the left portion of the
Windows Explorer window.
A plus sign + in the upper left corner next to a folder indicates that there are sub folders
within that folder. If there is a box with a + sign in it, click on the + sign to “expand” the
list and see all of the sub folders that are contained within that folder. You can then
single-click on any of the sub folders to view their contents. Additionally, if there are
any + signs next to the sub folders, there are sub folders within them as well. When you
click on the + sign it will change to a minus sign and display all of the subfolders for the
selected folder. To view the folder only, and not the sub folders, click on the minus sign
to “collapse” the list.
Creating New Folders or Sub Folders
Think of your computer as a very efficient file cabinet. Inside the your file cabinet you
probably have hanging file folders, which contain manila file folders, which contain documents.
The drives are your computer’s file cabinets. On a drive are folders (think of these as the
hanging folders in your cabinet), inside those folders are sub folders (the manila folders in your
file cabinet), and inside those sub folders are your documents. Just as you would add a new
hanging folder to your cabinet, or insert another manila folder in a hanging folder, you can add
new folders and sub folders to your computer hard drive to keep your documents organized and
easy to find.
To Create a new folder or sub folder:
• Select the drive or folder within which you want to create the new folder.
• Select File from the menu, scroll to New, then click on Folder.
• A “New Folder” icon will be created in the location you selected.
• The words “New Folder” will be highlighted. Simply begin typing the name for
your new folder.
• Press “Enter” to accept the name.
Renaming Files and Folders
•
•
•
•
Open Windows Explorer.
Right-click on the file or folder you wish to Rename and select Rename from the
menu.
Type in the new name for your file or folder.
Press “Enter” to accept the new name.
Information Technology
File Management Using Windows Explorer
5
Selecting Multiple Files or Folders
You know that to select a single file or folder you just click on it once to highlight it.
There are times, though, when you may want to select multiple items.
Selecting Multiple files or folders that are adjacent to each other
•
•
•
Click on the first item to select it.
Hold down the “Shift” key.
Click on the last item in the list.
Selecting Multiple files or folders that are not adjacent to each other
•
•
•
Click on the first item to select it.
Hold down the “Control” key.
Click each subsequent item to select it.
Selecting All files or folders in a window
•
•
Click “Edit” on the toolbar and click “Select All” -ORPress “Ctrl” (control) and “a” at the same time.
All selected items will be highlighted.
Moving and Copying
Moving Files to other Folders or Drives
There are many ways to move a selected file or folder to a new location. You can move
files to different folders or to different drives.
• Right-click on the folder or file you wish to move.
• Scroll to “Cut”
• Right-click the Destination (the folder or drive in which you wish to move the
selected item.)
• Scroll to “Paste”
-or• Select the file or folder you wish to move.
• Click “Edit” on the toolbar
• Scroll to “Cut”
• Select the Destination.
• Click on “Edit” on the toolbar
• Scroll to “Paste”
-or• Select the file or folder you wish to move
•
•
button on the toolbar
Click on the “Cut”
Select the Destination
•
Click on the “Paste”
button on the toolbar.
Information Technology
File Management Using Windows Explorer
6
Copying Files
Perform one of the following commands if you wish to create a copy of an item rather
than moving it.
• Right-click on the folder or file you wish to move.
• Scroll to “Copy”
• Right-click the Destination (the folder or drive in which you wish to move the
selected item.)
• Scroll to “Paste”
-or• Select the file or folder you wish to move.
• Click “Edit” on the toolbar
• Scroll to “Copy”
• Select the Destination file or folder
• Click on “Edit” on the toolbar
• Scroll to “Paste”
-or• Select the file or folder you wish to move
button on the toolbar
• Click on the “Copy”
• Select the Destination file or folder
•
Click on the “Paste”
button on the toolbar.
Drag and Drop
You can select an item and drag it to the destination folder and drop it. However, this
will only move the item if it is on the same Drive. If you are dragging and dropping
from one drive to another, you will be creating a copy of the item rather than moving the
item.
Undo a Move/Copy Command
Click on the “Undo”
button on the toolbar to undo an incorrect copy, cut, move, or
paste, or go to “Edit” on the toolbar and click on “Undo”.
Information Technology
File Management Using Windows Explorer
7
Deleting Files or Folders
Right-click on the File(s) or Folder(s) you wish to delete and scroll to delete. See the
section titled “Selecting Multiple Files or Folders” of you wish to delete more than one
item.
Undeleting Files or Folders
If you have deleted a file or folder while in Windows Explorer, you may undelete
it by going to “Edit” on the toolbar and selecting “Undo”. There is an Undo
on the toolbar that will perform the same function.
button
NOTE 1: The Undo command only works if you perform it immediately after the delete
command. If you have performed additional commands since the delete was performed
you must go to the “Recycle Bin”, select the file, and “Restore” it.
NOTE 2: You CANNOT undelete items which were stored in your M: or O:, or any
other networked drive. They are stored on a central server machine, not your
computer’s hard drive, and will not show up in your recycle bin. Items deleted from
your M: or O: drive are NOT RETRIEVABLE by you. The Computer Center
makes backups of these files for disaster recovery. Due to the effort involved in
restoring individual files, normally the Computer Center does not restore individual
inadvertently deleted files.
Information Technology
File Management Using Windows Explorer
8
Saving Files
Setting the Default File Save Location
If you want Microsoft Office to go to a particular drive or folder other than the default
“My Documents” on your “C:” drive you need to make a change while you have
Microsoft Word running.
• Open Word and go to a new
document
• Click on “Tools”
• Scroll to “Options”
• Click on the tab marked “File
Locations”
• Highlight the selection
“Documents”
• Go to the bottom right corner and
click “Modify”
• In the Modify Location window
that opens use the drop down
arrow to find the drive and
location you want
• Click on the location so that it is
showing in the box on top
marked “Look In”
• Click on “OK” to close this
window.
• Click “OK” on the Options
window to close it and save your
changes.
Information Technology
File Management Using Windows Explorer
9
To save a file for the first time:
In the Default Location:
ƒ Go to the “File” menu and click on “Save”
ƒ A new window will open up.
ƒ Type in the name you are giving to your document in the text bar marked
“File Name”
ƒ Click “OK”
In other than the Default Location:
ƒ Go to the “File” menu and click on “Save As”
ƒ A new window will open up.
ƒ Find the Drive and Location in which you want to save your file
ƒ Type in the name you are giving to your document in the text bar marked
“File Name”
ƒ Click “OK
Finding Files or Folders
If you cannot remember where you saved a file, or have forgotten what you named it, or
cannot find it using Windows Explorer, there are several ways to retrieve it.
Using the My Recent Documents List
If you have worked on it very recently, check the “documents” list.
To get to this list click on the Start menu in the lower left portion of
the main toolbar and scroll to “Documents”, scroll to the file you want to
open and click on it.
Information Technology
File Management Using Windows Explorer
10
Using “Search for Files and Folders”
•
•
•
•
•
Go to “Search” from the Start Menu.
If you know the name of the file, type it in the
text box “Search for files or folders named:”
If you cannot remember the name of the file,
enter in any key words that are in the body of
the document, in the text box marked
“Containing Text:”
In the “Look In” box you must specify which
drive you want to search. (C:, M:, O:). If you
are not sure which drive the file might be in you
can have Windows search all drives by selecting
“My Computer” as the drive to search. (This
can take a long time though)
Click on “Search Now” to start the search once
you have entered as much information as you
can recall.
Advanced Search Options
There are more advanced search options available
to you by clicking on
the “Search Options” link if it is not expanded as
shown. Here you can specify other search criteria
such
as the date the file was created or modified, the size
of the file, and many other options.
Using a Wildcard to search
If you want to search only for a specific type of file,
say a word document or an excel spreadsheet, you
would type in “*.file extension” without the quotation
marks, and where ‘file extension’ is the actual
extension, i.e. doc for a word document, xls for an
excel spreadsheet. For example, if you want to look
for an excel spreadsheet you would put *.xls in the
“Search for files or folders named:” box.
A Few Common File Extensions:
xls
doc
mdb
ppt
pdf
jpg
bmp
gif
Excel Spreadsheet
Microsoft Word Document
Microsoft Access Database
Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation
Adobe Acrobat Document
Graphic File
Graphic File
Graphic File
Information Technology
File Management Using Windows Explorer
11
Cleaning Out Unused Files for Optimal Disk Utilization
Chances are your computer is storing a number of files that you no longer need, and
possibly are unaware of. One of the biggest memory “hogs” is your internet browser. Every
page you visit is saved in a “Cache” file. This should be emptied periodically. Another place to
look for unnecessary files is your “Temp” folder.
Clearing the Cached Files from your Internet Browser:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Open Internet Explorer
Go to Tools on the Menu Bar
Scroll to Internet Options
Under the heading “Temporary Internet Files”, click “Delete Files”
If “Delete Cookies” is also an option, click it as well.
Tips on Cleaning Out Files on Your M Drive
1. Go into Windows Explorer and open your M drive.
2. To see details about your files, you can click on “View”, and then click on “Details”. For
each file, you will then see its Name, Size, Type, and Date Modified. You can sort on
any of these fields.
3. You will probably see several directories as well as many files. Check the files in your
directories – they may need to be “cleaned up” too.
4. These files can be safely deleted (the asterisk is used below as a wildcard). Note that if
you have more than one “version” of the same file (i.e., more than one copy of a file with
the same name), all versions will be deleted.
a. TMP*.SQL
b. T*.DAT -- where T is followed by a number
c. *.PAR
d. *.OUT (if any)
e. *.EXT (if any)
f. *.LIS -- if you don’t need to keep them, usually output from Banner jobs
g. MY_*.COM -- only delete if over a week old
5. There may be many files that you have created – hopefully with descriptive names -which you can delete if they are unneeded.
6. Files that are pictures, music, or videos generally take up a lot of space, so you may want
to move any such files that you want to save from your M drive to your C drive.
7. Do NOT delete these files:
a. *.LOG -- these “log” files are created when you run Banner jobs, and are helpful
to the Computer Center for troubleshooting, if you should have a question or
problem with the same job in the future.
b. Your file named LOGIN.COM -- you need this
c. The file in your SQL directory named INCLUDE_TABLES.SQL -- needed for
SqlAssist
8. You may also want to delete unnecessary files you have put on your O (department)
drive, as they will also be charged against your quota.
Information Technology
File Management Using Windows Explorer
12