In this guide we will see Windows Explorer, file and folder properties and how to organize, see, delete, copy and move within Explorer.

Activity

The Windows Explorer is an application used to see what's in the PC. It also allows you to move, copy, rename or delete files and folders from the different drives. (Hard disk, floppy disks, CD-ROM, etc…)

Windows Explorer shows two main panels. The left one contains the hierarchy (drives and directory [folder] structure) of the PC. The right one shows the contents of the drive or folder selected in the left panel.

You can navigate the folder structure and see their content. The structure is shown in an expandable format that can be opened or closed following a 'path' from the upper levels to the lower ones using the + and - symbols next to the items on the left panel. In this way you can view the content of the PC you need to work with, in the right panel.

WINDOWS EXPLORER WINDOW:

1) Open the Windows Explorer - (Start - Programs - [Windows] Explorer)

2) 'Explore' the hierarchic tree of your PC to see how it is organized. Can you see that there are hundreds of folders and thousands of files stored in it?

3) Select some folders and files and from the File menu click on Properties. In this way you can get some information about the files and folders in the PC.

We will now see some of the commands that can be accessed from the File menu in Explorer. Many of this options are already known although they might be accessed in other ways.
For example:

• Delete = Delete key in the keyboard

• Rename = click on the icon and then again on the name of icon

• Close = clic on the close button

4) It is important to be able to see the elements in the most useful way according to the task we want to perform. We have some useful options in the View menu.

5) Select the Accessories folder in the left panel (C: - Programs Files- Accessories).

6) From the View menu, change the display of the right panel trying the different options.

7) Create the following tree structure in your floppy disk from the Explorer window:

Assignments Language   Letters Poetry Maths Science Social Studies

8) Copy any text file to the Letters folder in your new structure on the floppy disk.

COPYING IN THE EXPLORER

You have four ways of copying files in Explorer:

1) With the right mouse button open the context menu of the file you wish to copy and select Copy, then open the context menu of the folder you wish to take it to and select Paste.

2) Another way would be to select Copy and Paste from the toolbar.

3) Another way would be to Select Copy and Paste from the keyboard. Many menu commands have shortcut key combinations next to them which perform the same command. Eg: [Ctrl] + Z is usually Undo, [Ctrl] + C is Copy etc... You can find them by checking the application menus.

Note: If you want to move the files, you have to Cut instead of Copy.

4) Another way is to select and drag the selected files with the mouse to the destination folder.

TRICK: If you want to copy to a floppy disk you can also select the file you wish to copy and choose Send to from the File menu (or from the context menu ) and then choose 3½ Floppy.

When you drag, you can either copy or move a file from one place to another. (You can also do this with more than one file). Let's see how it works:

First, we select the files:

Then, you need to decide what to do with the selected files:

8) Delete the Science and Poetry folders in your structure.
You can delete the selected file with:

• The file menu (File - Delete)

• The context menu (Delete)

• The keyboard (Delete key)

Important: Before you erase a folder, check that its content isn't needed.

9) Move the text file from the Letters folder to the Science folder.

10) Delete all the files and folders you created on the floppy disk.

 ^{printing                       saving}