Windows 7 and file management Computer Basics Windows 7 and file management

Objectives Define file management Identify parts & uses of the Computer window Manage folders, subfolders, and files Name and rename folders Name, select, and save files Display views Copy, move, and delete files and folders Search for files Get Help

What is file management? Files, folders and storage media are key system resources. A computer’s operations system helps manage these resources. There are a number of tools for managing these resources. The process of organizing and keeping track of files is called “File Management”.

Windows 7 Provides The Start Up menu is used for many common tasks to include accessing common folders, searching for files. It provides default folders, within your personal folder, to help you become more organized, such as: Documents Pictures Music Games

What is a file? A File can be described as a wide range of objects: Instructions the computer needs to operate, called program files or executable files. Document files are files that contain text documents. Files can also contain an image, video, or music.

What is a folder? A Folder is a container used to store and organize files. Folders are created and stored on a disk or other storage media.

What is Storage Media? Storage Media can include magnetic disks, optical disks, PC cards, tape, microfilm and microfiche, and mobile storage media.

The computer window The Computer window has two panes. The right pane is the Contents pane, and shows all the fixed and removable storage devices. Media storage devices

Hard disk drive selected Accessing Disk drives Properties button Hard disk drive selected Details pane To select a disk, click the appropriate drive icon. When an icon is highlighted, information on that drive is displayed in the Details Pane.

Drive selected in computer window Local Disk (C:) Properties Dialog Box

Managing files & folders Folders are used to organize files on a disk, based on properties such as the filename or keywords, also called Tags. Windows 7 has some common folders to get you started: Documents – store document files Pictures – store digital pictures Music – store digital music Videos – store digital videos and downloaded movies Downloads – store files downloaded from the Web

Windows 7 Folders Picture Folder The Preview Pane lets you preview the content of the documents, pictures and so on without opening the individual file. Nature Photos Subfolder

Naming Folders & Files Keep in mind that the reason you name files and folders, is so you can locate it later. Filenames can have up to 255 characters. Files also have extensions, which consist of two to four characters. A period separates the filename and the extension. You can change the filename and extension when using the Save As dialog box.

Creating files & folders You can create folders and subfolders in the Computer window, Explorer folders and other software programs such as Word, Excel and Power Point.

Renaming files & folders You may want to rename a file or folder because you need to describe its contents better, or correct the spelling. When renaming, be sure to keep the same extension so that you can open it in the correct application.

It’s a simple process Click the folder or file to select it. Choose rename on the File menu or right click the folder or file and choose “Rename” Type the new name in the box.

Deleting a File or folder Use caution when deleting a folder since this will also delete all the files that are in the folder. When deleting a file or folder from most media storage devices, it is deleted permanently. When deleting a file or folder from a hard disk, it goes to the Windows Recycle Bin.

Organizing files Files can be organized by moving, copying and deleting files among folders. The first step is to select the file. To select a single file, click it. To select two or more files that are adjacent to each other, click the first file in the series, hold down the Shift key and then click the last file in the series. To select files that are not adjacent, press and hold down the Ctrl key and then click on each file.

Copying & moving files It is easy to copy, delete or move files from one location to another. Files are moved or copied from a source location to a destination. The source is the folder or disk containing the file and the destination is the location (folder or disk) where you are copying or moving the file to. Whenever files are being moved or copied, both the source and the destination locations should be visible.

To Copy Files & Folders To copy a file or folder, place a duplicate of it in a different location and leave the original in place. To copy a file or folder to a new location on a different disk, select it, and then drag the file or folder from its source location to its destination location. To copy a file or folder to a new location on the same disk, select it and hold down the Ctrl key as you drag it to the new location.

Moving Files & folders To move a file or folder to a new location on a different disk, select it and drag it to the destination. To move it to a new location on the same disk, hold down the Shift key as you drag it to the new destination. An alternate method of moving and copying files is to drag the file or folder using the right mouse button. When you drop the file or folder in the destination, a menu appears giving you the options to Copy Here or Move Here

Searching for files Windows provides three useful options to search for files: 1. To search for a file located in a common folder, Documents folder, use the Search box at the top of the folder window.

2. You are searching for a group of related files, such as all the document files that were modified on a particular date. You can use the Date Modified column heading above the group of files by clicking its list arrow and then selecting the date. You can also filter by name, date and size.

3. You can also search for programs using the Start Search box on the Start menu. Start typing the first few letters of the program name and Windows 7 displays all the programs on your computer with names that match your entry.

Getting Help and support Windows provides online assistance for most problems encountered when working in the Computer window or with files.

Select Help and Support on the Start Menu, then, in the window that opens, click one of the links displayed. Use the Browse Help button on the toolbar, or enter a search word in the Search Help text box to locate the Help information you desire.

What is on your mind? What did you learn that was new? What did you enjoy? What will you remember about this lesson? What can we do to make the lesson better? Special acknowledgements to the following for the use of information and photos for this Power Point presentation: Computer Concepts 4E – Dolores Wells – Course Technology CENGAGE Learning - ISBN-10: 1-4239-0461-3 and ISBN-13: 978-1-4239-0461-8 Google Images