Organize Your Folders and Files With Windows Explorer

Windows Explorer is a tool that provides easy navigation of directories (drives), folders and files. You will find it much easier to view, move, copy or delete files and folders through this program.

To open Windows Explorer, click on the start button, point to programs and click Windows Explorer (or Microsoft Windows Explorer) or right click the start button, slide up to and left click explore. Your screen will display a 2-paned window, the directories on the left and the selected directory’s contents on the right.

A directory is basically a folder used to store files like a cabinet. Think of the left side of the window as a file cabinet, the directories or drives are the drawers, and the right side of the window is the contents of the selected (highlighted) cabinet or drawer. Root directories are sometimes referred to as a drive. An example is your drive C; which is the top directory in the file system. A directory below the root directory is a subdirectory. When you see the word directory in this article, just think of it as a folder. If the directory has a plus sign to the left of it, it is compressed, click the plus and the folders within that directory will be displayed and the plus sign will change to a minus, click the minus to re-compress. If you single click on a directory or a folder in the left pane, the contents will be displayed in the right pane.

Copying, Moving and Deleting Files
Before you begin to manipulate data, you must know how to select or highlight. When selecting files, you can select a single file by left clicking on it to highlight. To select various non-connected files, left click on each file while holding down the ctrl key. To select a range of connected files, left click the first file in the range, hold down the shift key and left click the last file in the selected range. You can also click the left mouse and drag a rectangle around the files you want to select, however, this can be somewhat tricky, and you may capture more or less files than you really want.

Copy
To copy a file, select it, then from the Edit menu choose copy, open the destination directory or folder and again from the Edit menu, choose paste. Right clicking the file will also give you the copy and paste options. You can also use the drag and drop method. To copy a file to the same directory, hold down the right mouse button and click, hold and drag to the destination directory or folder in the left pane, let go of the mouse button, then choose “copy here” from the shortcut menu. If you use the left mouse button and are manipulating data within the same directory, you will move (cut) rather than copy the file. If you select a file and choose the “copy to” button on the toolbar, you will be prompted to browse to a folder. You have the option of choosing an existing folder or creating a new one.

Tip: When using the drag and drop method, always begin by clicking on the directory where the file is located. When you see the file in the right pane, use the scroll bar in the left pane to locate the directory or folder to where the file will be copied to, do not click on that directory or you will open it and the file to be copied will no longer be visible. Practicing this technique will make it easier.

Move
The method for moving data is similar in actions to that of copying. To move files to the same drive, select the file, select the file(s), hold down the left mouse button and drag the file(s) to the left pane into the destination directory and let go, choose “move” here from the shortcut menu. You can also select and use the toolbar icon to move, or use the cut and paste options from the edit menu.

Rename
You can rename files or folders. Select the file or folder and from the file menu, choose rename, or right click on the file and from the shortcut menu, select rename. You can also select a file, press the F2 functions key. This will prepare the file to be renamed.

New Folders
From the file menu in Windows Explorer, choose new, folder, or right click in the desired directory, select new, folder. A new folder will be placed at the bottom of the list, it will be called New Folder, and at this point you can rename it.

Shortcuts
Cut = Ctrl + X
Copy = Ctrl + C
Paste = Ctrl + V
Rename = Function 2 key
Undo = Ctrl + Z