​As the CEO of a business, you are very concerned about keeping track of your important files. The following lesson will teach you how to organize your computer files.

Files, Folder and OneDrive

Filing Cabinet
Your computer has several drives similar to drawers in a filing cabinet 


Drawer
This is where most files are stored.
A drawer is similar to a disk drive 

Folder 
A folder used in a filing cabinet is similar to a folder in the computer. A folder is a container for files. Files are stored in folders much like you store sheets of paper in a file folder. These files and folders are stored on disk drives. A disk drive is a storage device on a portable or permanent disk. Some common disk drives are indicated here; Hard drive (C drive), CD drive, USB or removable disk drive and Network drive (One Drive or M Drive)

File 
A sheet of paper in a filing cabinet is similar to a file. A file must be stored in a folder. 

Files
A file can contain: 

• system or program information, 
• user data (documents such as letters, reports, and spreadsheets).

We will be focusing on managing and organizing user data files. These are the files you create when using a program. Files have the following characteristics:

• Name - In user data files, the user names the file. The computer automatically assigns an extension to help identify the program which can read the file. 
• Size - Indicates the space the file requires for storage in kilobytes (KB). 
• Type - Shows the program used to access the file. 
• Date Modified - Indicates the last date when the file was created or modified. 
• Extension - a suffix that Windows adds to a file name in order to help the computer and the user identify what program will open the file. Some word processing file extensions are .doc (Microsoft Word) and .wpd (Word Perfect).

Files Names
File names can be up to 215 characters (including spaces) in length. There are some characters which you can't use in Windows file names. These are: / \ : * ? " < > | 

Here are some tips for naming and organizing files:

• Keep files names short. 
• Abbreviate names where possible. 
• If possible use a naming scheme and be consistent. (For example, Unit 1, Unit 2). 
• Separate draft and complete work. (You might consider saving your marked work in a separate folder.)

You can view your files, folders and drives in Windows Explorer. To access Windows Explorer, hold down the "Windows" key and press the letter "e". (The Windows key has the Windows logo on it and is located on either side of the space bar.)

Windows Explorer
When you open Windows Explorer, you will see two panes in the window. The left pane shows the drives and folders and is called the folder tree. The right pane shows the contents of the drive or folder selected in the left pane. 


  Practice Exercise
Try the following on your computer.  

1. Open Windows Explorer by holding down the Windows key and press the letter "e". 
2. On the Menu bar, Click on View and Details. This will change your view of the window so that you will be able to see the size and type. (If you want to view the extensions, click on Tools on the Menu bar, Folder Options and View. Uncheck the box Hide File Extensions for known file types.) 
3. Click on the folders on the left pane to see how sub folders and files are displayed on the right pane. Notice that folders are in alphabetical order. Files are displayed on the right pane only and appear in alphabetical order after folders. 
4. Click on the + sign to expand a drive or folder and display its contents. 
5. Click on the - sign to close the drive or folder .
6. Identify on your computer screen items indicated above in the picture of Windows Explorer. 
7. Look in the left pane and try to find the My Documents folder. It should be at the very top of the left pane.

Hint
You can resize the left and right panes by resting your cursor on the line between them. When you see the two sided arrow, click and drag and drop the pane to where you want it.

Finding Files and Folders

If you save a file but forget where you put it, Windows Explorer has a Search feature to help you find it. You can search for a file by its name, part of the name, or the date created or modified. To search for a file:

1. Click on the Start Menu and choose Search 
2. Choose For Files or Folders 
3. Type in the name of the file you are searching for 
4. Use the drop-down menu by Look in to select the drive (location) you want to search in 
5. Click Search Now

The search results window will display the file or files which match your criteria. You can click on a file to delete it or double click on a file to open it.
Notice the path. A path is the drive and folders in which the file has been placed. In the example above, the file "Searching for files" is located in the C drive, in a folder named "School work". 

Here are some examples of paths:

• C:\School Work\Evaluation.doc
• E:\Business Files\Budget\Forecast_sales.xls (This is an Excel file in a folder named Budget, in another folder called Business Files in a flash drive in E.)

Practice Exercise
Try the following on your computer. You may prefer to print this practice exercise before you try it. 

1. Click on the Start Menu, Search, Files and Folders.
2. In the Search for files or folders name: type in *.doc 
3. In the Look in box, select the C drive.
4. Click on Search now

You should be able to see all the word processing documents that are located on your C drive. 

Creating and Managing Folders

Word processing programs usually save files to the My Documents folder located in the C drive. This is fine if you have very few documents but for this course, you will need to organize your files. You can create folders on any disk drive in order to store files, we will be using the OneDrive. You may also want to create folders in your email account in order to keep track of important emails. For now we are going to create a new folder in My Documents for your school work. 

How to create a folder

1. Open Windows Explorer. (Hold down the Windows key and press the letter "e".) OR your OneDrive
2. On the left pane, expand the C drive (change the + sign to a minus sign as this will expand the C drive so that you can see the folders in it). 
3. Look in the C drive for the My Documents folder. 
4. Click on the My Documents folder and it should be highlighted in your left pane. 
5. On the menu bar, click on File, New, Folder. 
6. A new folder will appear with a temporary name (New Folder) highlighted. 
7. With the temporary folder still highlighted, type in the name School Work. (If the temporary folder is not highlighted, right click on the temporary folder icon and choose Rename. Now type in the name School Work.) 
8. Press Enter. 
   
   Notice that the folder will be placed inside the drive or folder that you have selected in the left pane. 

Creating a folder 

Select the location for the new folder and highlight it in the left pane of Windows Explorer. 
Choose File, New, Folder. 
Type in the name of the folder and press Enter. 
Practice Exercise

Try the following on your computer. You may prefer to print this practice exercise before you try it. (Click on the File/Print or the Print icon at the top of your screen.) 
Highlight your School Work folder and create the following folders inside it.

1. Unit 1 Digital Literacy 
2. Unit 2 Business Communications 
3. Unit 3 Technology Issues 
4. Unit 4 E-Business 
5. Unit 5 Summative Evaluation 

Rearrange your new folders by clicking on View (on the Menu bar), Arrange Icons, By Name.

 

Content 4

Saving files
Throughout this course, you will need to save files to your School Folder. Some practice now will make this easy for you later.
To save a file from this page to your School folder, follow these steps.:

1. Right click on the file. 
2. Choose Save Target As and a Save As dialogue box will come up. 
3. Click on the drop down menu at the end of the Save in box. 

4. Browse (look for) the C drive and double click on it. Browse for My Documents and double click. Browse for your School Work folder and double click on it. 

5. Browse for the Unit 1 Digital Literacy folder and double click on it. It should now appear open. 


6. In the File name box (at the bottom of this dialogue box) enter a file name. 

7. Notice the Save as box. It is used to save a file as another file type. (See the explanation below.) 

8. Click on Save. 
The Save As box is used to save your word processing files in Rich Text Format (rtf). An rtf file is a standard way of formatting text for files to be exchanged between programs. (Your teacher may request that you save your word processing files as rtf files.) 

Practice Exercise 1
Saving files to your School Work folder

1. Right click here. 
2. Choose Save Target As
3. Click on the drop down menu and browse for your School Work folder 
4. In the File Name box, type in the name Storage (This is a file that you will need later in this Unit.) 

Saving Files

Throughout this course, you will need to save files to your School Folder. Some practice now will make this easy for you later.
To save a file from this page to your School folder, follow these steps.:

1. Right click on the file. 
2. Choose Save Target As and a Save As dialogue box will come up. 
3. Click on the drop down menu at the end of the Save in box. 
4. Browse (look for) the OneDrive and double click on it. Browse for My Documents and double click. Browse for your School Work folder and double click on it. 
5. Browse for the Unit 1 Digital Literacy folder and double click on it. It should now appear open. 
   
6. In the File name box (at the bottom of this dialogue box) enter a file name. 
7. Notice the Save as box. It is used to save a file as another file type. (See the explanation below.) 
8. Click on Save. 

The Save As box is used to save your word processing files in Rich Text Format (rtf). An rtf file is a standard way of formatting text for files to be exchanged between programs. (Your teacher may request that you save your word processing files as rtf files.) 

Practice Exercise 1
Saving files to your School Work folder

1. Find one of the previous documents you have created for this course
2. Click on the file menu
3. Click Save As
4. Find the folder location in your OneDrive that it belongs

Renaming files
To rename a file:

• Right click on the file 
• Choose Rename from the menu box 
• Keep the extension (for example .doc) and type in the new name before it 
• Press Enter 

Note that folders can be renamed in the same way.
​
Practice Exercise 2
Rename one of your files
To rename a file:

• Right click on the file Evaluation located in your School Work folder and in the Unit 1 folder 
• Choose Rename from the menu box 
• Type in the new name 
• Press Enter

Moving a File to Another Folder

Now that you are learning how to work with files, you might want to create folders and organize your files. To do this, you will need to know how to move files. 

Practice Exercise 3
In the following practice exercise, we are going to move the file Evaluation from the Unit 2 Business Communication folder into the Unit 1 Digital Literacy folder. Here are the steps.

1. Open Windows Explorer (Hold down the Windows key and press the letter "e"). 
2. In the left pane, browse for your School Work folder. (Change the + to a minus in order to expand folders.) 
3. Open the Unit 2 Business Communication folder and in the right pane, you should see the Evaluation file. (If you do not see this file, go back to the previous page on Saving Files and save it.) 
4. On the right pane, right click on the Evaluation file. 
5. In the menu box, choose Cut. 
6. In the left pane open the Unit 1 Digital literacy folder. (This is where you want to put the file.) 
7. Right click on the Unit 1 Digital Literacy folder icon. (Be sure your pointer is on the folder icon.) 
8. In the menu box, choose Paste. The file should have been removed from the Unit 2 folder and now be in the Unit 1 folder.
   
   A folder can be moved in the same way as a file. 

Moving a file or folder recap 
​
·  Right click on the file or folder you want to move 
·  Choose Cut 
·  Highlight the folder where you want to put the file or folder 
·  Right click on that folder icon 
·  Choose Paste

Copying a file to another folder

​Practice Exercise 5
In the this practice exercise, we are going to copy the file Evaluation from the Unit 1 Digital Literacy folder into the Unit 4 E-Business folder. 

Here are the steps: 

1. Open Windows Explorer. 
2. In the left pane, browse for your School Work folder. (Change the + to a minus in order to expand folders.) 
3. Open the Unit 1 Digital Communication folder and in the right pane, you should see the Evaluation file. (Note that if you do not see this file, go back to the previous lesson on Moving Files.) 
4. On the right pane, right click on the Evaluation file. 
5. In the menu box, choose Copy. 
6. In the left pane open the Unit 4 E-Business folder. (This is where you want to put the file.) 
7. Right click on the Unit 4 E-Business folder icon. (Be sure your pointer is on the folder icon.) 
8. In the menu box, choose Paste. The file should now be in both the Unit 1 folder and the Unit 4 folder. 

A folder can be moved in the same way as a file. 
Copying a file or folder recap
·  Right click on the file or folder you want to copy
·  Choose Copy
·  Highlight the folder where you want to put the file or folder 
·  Right click on that folder icon 
·  Choose Paste

Selecting several files
If you want to move or copy several files at the same time, here is how to select multiple files.
To select several consecutive files
Hold the Shift key and click on the first file and then click on the last file. This will select several files in consecutive order. 

To select several files in random order
Hold the Ctrl (Control) key and click on the files you want to select. 

Practice Exercise 6
Selecting files

1. Open Windows Explorer and browse for a folder with multiple files in it. (My Documents might have several files in it.) 
2. Try selecting files that are in consecutive order. 
3. Try selecting every other file or files in random order.  

Deleting files and folders

1. Select the file(s) or folder(s) to be deleted 
2. Press the Delete key 
3. Click Yes in the Confirm File Delete dialogue box 

Note that deleting a folder will also delete all the files in the folder.
The Recycle Bin
The Recycle Bin is a temporary storage area for deleted files from the hard drive. It does not store files deleted from other locations such as a floppy disk or a memory key. Any files that are in the Recycle Bin can be restored to their original location. Once you empty the Recycle Bin the files are permanently deleted and cannot be restored.
Restoring deleted files from the Recycle Bin

1. Open Windows Explorer. 
2. Browse for the Recycle Bin (it should be near the bottom of the list). 
3. Expand the Recycle Bin so it is open. 
4. On the right pane, select the files you want to restore. 
5. Choose File, Restore from the Menu bar. 

Emptying the Recycle Bin

1. Open the Recycle Bin. 
2. Choose File, Empty Recycle Bin. 
3. Choose Yes in the Confirm Multiple File Delete dialogue box.

 Practice Exercise 7
Deleting a file

1. Open Windows Explorer and browse for the Evaluation file that is located in the Unit 4 E-Business folder. 
2. Delete this file. 
3. Go to the Recycle Bin and empty the Recycle Bin.