File Management

It is important to understand how to manage files in the windows environment. This can be done lots of different
ways. We will review here how to see the folders and files on your computer in different views and how to create,
rename, delete, move, or copy folders or files.

To Start a File Explorer

There are many ways to open a File Explorer, which is a dialog window where you can see folders and files:

1. Click on the Start button at the lower left of your screen and then click on the folder icon .
2. Click on the Start button, start typing “File Explorer”, then select it from the pop-up list.

3. Right-click the Start button and click .

4. Press the Windows key and the letter E on your keyboard simultaneously.
5. If you see a folder icon on your Start bar (at the bottom of your screen), you may click it to open a File
Explorer.
Quick Access Menu Title Bar Control Box

Ribbon Click to get

zzz Help
Address Bar

Navigation
Pane Contents

Recent files

The File Explorer will show a listing of drives, folders, files, shortcuts, etc. on or connected to your computer. The
default view is shown above.

• The Navigation Pane displays a device’s drive/folder structure. It shows folders and subfolders but not files.
• The Contents list displays the contents of a device or folder, including its folders and files.
• Recent files displays a listing of your recently accessed files.
• The Quick Access Menu is an area where you can add buttons that you can click on without going into the
Ribbon. Right-click any button in the Ribbon and Add to Quick Access Toolbar.
• The Ribbon contains tabs where you can change the options for the File Explorer. For example, the View
tab allows you to change how the files/folders are displayed or previewed, and also gives you options to
turn panes on and off. In particular, the Preview pane, when turned on, allows you to see what is inside of
a file without opening the file.

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Arranging windows on your desktop

The Control Box or

The control box is located at the top right of each window/application you open.

• Minimize – hide the window from view. It can be restored by clicking on it on the taskbar.

• Maximize – make the window fill the entire screen. You can also double-click the Title bar
(the bar on the very top of the window) to maximize

• Restore down – take the window from full screen to normal size.

• Close – closes the window/application.

For example, if you wish to make the File Explorer fill your entire screen, click the Maximize Button at the top
right corner of the window. Alternatively, you can double-click the top of the window (to the left of the Control
Box – this area is called the Title bar) to maximize it.

Aero Snap
Something cool in Windows is called Aero Snap. This is a way that you can easily arrange windows of any type
on your computer desktop.

METHOD 1 – Click and drag the Title bar

• Click and drag the top (Title bar) of any window up to the top of your screen. When the mouse touches
the edge, the window will maximize.
• If your window is maximized, click and drag the title bar down. The window will unsnap and float on
the desktop.
• Click and drag the title bar over to the right so that your mouse touches the right-hand side of your
screen. The window will snap to fill the right-hand side of the screen.
• Click and drag the title bar over to the left so that your mouse touches the left-hand side of your screen.
The window will snap to fill the left-hand side of the screen.
• Click and drag the title bar up to the top right corner so that your mouse touches the top right corner
of your screen. The window will snap to fill the top right quadrant of your screen.
• Click and drag the title bar up to the top left corner so that your mouse touches the top left corner of
your screen. The window will snap to fill the top left quadrant of your screen.

METHOD 2 – Keyboard shortcuts

You can use the Windows key and the arrow keys to accomplish the same functions as above:

• and UP arrow key - Maximize the window

• and DOWN arrow key - Restore down/Minimize the window (you may have to click twice
to minimize)

• and RIGHT arrow key - Snap the window to the right-hand side of your screen

• and LEFT arrow key - Snap the window to the left-hand side of your screen

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Viewing the Folders on a Drive

The small icon to the left of each named object represents the device or folder in the Navigation list.

Many of these icons have a triangle the left of the icon which indicates whether the device or folder contains
additional folders. Click a non-shaded right pointing triangle: to expand the display of folders or subfolders,
and click the solid triangle that looks like this: to hide them in the Navigation Pane. Note that folders can
have subfolders within subfolders.

Click the icon to display the folders and files in the Contents list on the right side of the screen. Double-click the
icon in order to display the folders and files in both the Navigation and Contents lists.

Adjusting the Width of the Navigation Pane

1. Move the mouse pointer to the dividing bar

between the Navigation Pane and the Contents
list.
2. When the arrow-shaped pointer changes to a
double-ended arrow, hold down the left-
mouse button and drag the dividing line right or left
as required.
3. When the dividing bar is in the desired position,
release the left-mouse button.

Creating a New Folder

If you create a new folder in an active folder, it will become a subfolder of the active folder.

1. Activate the folder in the Navigation Pane (which is to contain the new folder) by clicking its icon so that
it now becomes highlighted.
2. Click on the New Folder button on the toolbar at the upper-left corner of the screen. A folder labelled
“New Folder” appears at the end of the Contents list. (Alternatively, you may right-click and select New
> and then ).
3. Type in the name of the new folder.
4. Press the Enter key.

Click the triangle next to the destination folder in the Navigation Pane to see its new subfolder.

Renaming a Folder

1. Select the folder you want to rename by clicking its icon in the Navigation Pane,
2. Click the folder label again (that is, click the folder twice SLOWLY) and after a short pause the folder
name will become highlighted. Alternatively, you can right-click on the folder name you wish to change
and select .
3. Type in the new folder name, and
4. Press the Enter key.

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Changing the View

In the Ribbon on the View tab, Layout group, Explorer contains 8 different view options for the Contents list:

Many users prefer to use the Details view, because it shows the file size and the date when a file was created or
last modified.

To change to a different view, click on the View button on the Toolbar, and then click one of the other view options.

Arranging Files in the Contents List.

Make sure the files you want to arrange are displayed in the Contents list, and that you are in Details view.

Click once the Name, Size, Type, Date Modified, or any of the other column headings displayed to view files in
ascending order, or click again to view files in descending order. To get more headings, right click on any of the
existing headings and toggle on (checkmark) any other categories you wish to have displayed.

Selecting Files

Make sure the files you want to select are displayed in the Contents list.

1. To select a single file, click it once.

2. To select consecutive files, hold down the Shift key while clicking the first and last files to select.
3. To select non-consecutive files, hold down the Ctrl key while clicking each of the files to select.
4. To select all files in the active device or folder, click Organize on the Toolbar and then click Select All (or,
select one file in the list and press Ctrl and A together).

Moving or Copying One or More Files Between Folders or Devices Using Windows Explorer

Make sure the Contents list shows the files you want to move or copy, and the All Folders list shows the
destination device or folder you want to move or copy files to.

Click the file or files you want to move or copy. For multiple files, use the Shift or Ctrl keys when selecting files to
be moved or copied.
Hold down the right-mouse button while you drag the file or files to the destination device or folder. Make sure
that the destination device or folder is highlighted before releasing the right-mouse button. If you use the left-
mouse button, it could move the file only, which can be a very dangerous thing!
Click either Move Here or Copy Here from the pop-up menu.

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Moving or Copying One or More Files Between Folders or Devices Using File Explorer (Two Windows)

Open two File Explorers. Navigate through one until you see the file or folder you want to copy (the origin).
Navigate through the other window until you see where you wish to copy to (the destination). Use Aero Snap or
manually resize one or both windows so that both are visible. Drag and drop the file or folder from the origin to
the destination. This will sometimes copy and sometimes move depending on your origin/destination.
Alternatively, you can right-click and drag and then select Copy or Move as desired.

Deleting Files or Folders

When you delete a file or folder from the local hard drive it goes into the Recycle Bin so you can recover it. If you
delete a file or folder from a network drive, they generally do not go to the Recycle Bin but are permanently
deleted. On some computers (and quite possibly some lab computers at NAIT), files deleted from anywhere will
bypass the Recycle Bin and be permanently deleted. Ensure that you are certain that you wish to delete a file
before you do it! You will usually (but not always) get a message telling you if you are about to permanently
delete a file, with an option to Cancel.

Click the file or folder you want to delete. Since all files will be deleted when deleting a folder, check all the files
in a folder before deleting a folder. Press the Delete key on the keyboard, or click the Delete button on the
toolbar. Alternatively, you may right-click a file or folder and then click Delete. Click the Yes button.

Understanding File Paths

As the name implies, a file path is the “address” of where that file, folder, drive, or shortcut lives on your Computer.
C:\Users\Public is an example of the path to a folder named Public, in drive C inside the parent folder Users.

This may be very familiar to you if you have used older versions of Windows. Windows 10, however, shows this file path a bit
differently. For the path shown above, File Explorer would show you the following:

If you were to click anywhere to the right of the last triangle on this path, the path would be displayed as is indicated above:

This is very useful for creating hyperlinks to folders or for communicating a file path to someone (as you can click and copy the
path in this fashion).

Clicking on any of the elements of the path will take you to that folder; for example, clicking on the word Users would take you
back to the folder Users:

clicking here

goes to

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