Computer Information Technology – Section 5

Desktop and Taskbar Objective: To understand file and folder names, how to create, edit, delete folders.

File and Folder Names File names are divided into 2 parts  The first part of a file's name (before the dot) is called the filename.  The part of a filename after the dot is called the extension.  So together it looks like: filename.extension

Extensions An application may recognize certain extensions automatically. For example, MS Word documents use the extension doc. Excel spreadsheets use xls. If you create an extension of your own, you may have to go to some trouble to get your document open.

Special Characters in Filenames Spaces, letters, and numbers are always allowed in long file names, but some symbols are still not allowed. The following are not allowed: \ / : * ? " |

Limits to Filenames Windows the limit to the length of a file or folder is 255 characters. You must count spaces when counting characters in the filename. However, the path (drive name and all nested folders to get to the file) can only be 259 characters. The deeper your folders are nested, the longer the path and the fewer characters are left for the file name itself.

Creating, Moving and Deleting Folders 1. Open a My Computer or Computer window to show the drives on the computer. 2. Double Click on “My Documents” in the common tasks section 3. Choose File > New > Folder 4. Type “Class” for the folder name.

Creating, Moving and Deleting Folders 1. In the same directory… Right click in a blank spot in the window to see the context menu (i.e. the menu that pops up). 2. Select the menu item New and then click on Folder 3. Type “My Docs” for the folder name.

Creating, Moving and Deleting Folders 1. Double-click the folder my docs to open it in a new window. 2. Using the methods you just learned, in the my docs folder create three new folders, named word docs, excel docs, and paint docs.

Arranging Folders Arranging the Icons… AutoArrange arranges icons into neat rows and columns, starting from the top left. Align to Grid arranges icons to the closest lines in an invisible grid.

Arranging Folders 1. Drag a folder icon out of line and drop it elsewhere inside the window. Did it pop right back in place? Your computer has been set to AutoArrange icons. If this is true, select from the menu View or the right click menu Arrange Icons > AutoArrange to turn this feature off for now. 2. Drag the folder icons around so that they are not in order and are not lined up.

Arranging Folders 3. Right click in a blank area of the window and from the popup menu choose Align to Grid. Your icons may still not be in rows and columns but they are lined up to the invisible grid lines. 4. To do it the easy way, select from the menu View > Arrange Icons > AutoArrange OR Open the context menu by right clicking in a blank area of the Content pane and select Arrange Icons > AutoArrange. Your folder icons should now be in neat rows. Try dragging the icons around. They should jump back.

Arranging Folders 5. Drag the folder excel docs to the far right of the window. With AutoArrange on, the folder is lined up neatly at the end of the row and the other two folders are moved to the left. This shows that AutoArrange does not alphabetize. It just lines up the rows and columns neatly. 6. Right click in a blank spot in the window and choose Arrange Icons from the context menu. Then choose by Name, even if it is already selected. The folder excel docs should now be back on the left in alphabetical order across the window.

Moving Folders Move by Dragging 1. To move the windows for the my documents and for my docs so that they do not overlap, drag them by their title bars. Resize the windows if you need to. 2. Drag the folder excel docs from the my docs window until your pointer is over folder class in the my docouments window. The icon for this folder class will change to show it is selected. 3. Drop the folder excel doc on top of the folder class.

Moving Folders When does dragging move and when does it copy? When the original location and the destination location are on the same drive, the folder is moved when you drag. If the destination location is on a different drive, the folder is copied.

Moving Folders Move by Dragging (right mouse button) 1. Right drag the folder word docs to the folder class. When you release the mouse button to drop the folder, a context menu appears. 2. Choose Move Here.

Moving Folders Undo & Redo Move Windows keeps track of your actions. Often you can reverse those actions with the Undo command. 1. Open the folder class by double- clicking it. The window shows the two folders you moved here: excel docs and word docs 2. Right click in a blank area of the window and from the context menu, select Undo Move. 3. Undo again.

Moving Folders Selecting Multiple Files/Folders Marquee Select There are several ways to select multiple folders. The method used here is particularly useful when the icons for your files and folders are next to each other. 1. Click in a blank spot in the window and drag. A box called the marquee appears as you drag.

Moving Folders Selecting Multiple Files/Folders Marquee Select 2. Keep dragging until the box covers enough of the icons for the two folders excel docs and word docs that the icons become highlighted, which shows that they are selected. 3. Now release the mouse button. This is called marquee select. 4. Drag either of the selected folders over to the my docs window and drop. Both folders are dragged since both were selected.

Deleting Folders 1. Click on the folder paint docs in the window for my docs to select it. 2. Press the DELETE key on your keyboard.

Renaming Folders 1. To rename the folder word docs, click on its label. 2. Pause briefly and click again. Clicking too quickly will result in a double-click, which will open the folder. 3. Type the new name for the folder (if you change your mind simply hit ESC before you click off from the name of the file and old name will be restored)

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