1. MODULE 4 File and Folder Management

2. Creating file and folder A computer file is a resource for storing information, which is available to a computer program and is usually based on some kind of durable storage. A file is "durable" in the sense that it remains available for other programs to use after the program that created it has finished executing.

3. cont Computer files can be considered as the modern counterpart of paper documents which traditionally are kept in office and library files, and this is the source of the term. Information in a computer file can consist of smaller packets of information (often called "records" or "lines") that are individually different but share some common traits.

4. cont For example, a payroll file might contain information concerning all the employees in a company and their payroll details; each record in the payroll file concerns just one employee, and all the records have the common trait of being related to payroll—this is very similar to placing all payroll information into a specific filing cabinet in an office that does not have a computer.

5. cont A text file may contain lines of text, corresponding to printed lines on a piece of paper. Alternatively, a file may contain an arbitrary binary image (a BLOB) or it may contain an executable. Most computer files are used by computer programs which create, modify or delete the files for their own use on an as-needed basis. The programmers who create the programs decide what files are needed, how they are to be used and (often) their names.

6. How to create a file Navigate to the folder or desktop, you would like to create your file. Eg- My Documents

7. Right click an empty section of the folder window or desktop.

8. Select "New" from the context menu.

9. Select the type of file you'd like to create.

10. Enter a name for the newly created file

11. Open the new file to edit it

12. Folder Folders are essential for storing data on a computer, and creating a good file structure for your personal documents and photos can make finding what you need a whole lot easier. Steps to create a folder in Windows:

13. Windows Explorer

14. cont Open the location that you want to create the folder. Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the location that you want your new folder to reside. You can create a folder at any location on your hard drive, even on your desktop. To open Windows Explorer, press ^ Ctrl+E or open your Documents folder.

15. cont Right-click on a blank space in the folder or on your desktop. Once you've found the location you want to create your folder in, right-click on blank space. Right-clicking on an existing icon will bring up the wrong menu. In many versions of Windows, you can click the "New Folder" button in the menu bar at the top of the window to create a new folder in the current location.

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17. Select "New" from the right-click menu. A submenu will appear, showing all of the options for creating a new object. Select "Folder" from the top of the list. A new folder will appear at your current location.

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19. Give the folder a name. When you create the folder, the name will be automatically highlighted. You can type in whatever name you'd like, and then press ↵ Enter to save it. The name cannot contain any of the following characters: [1] ~ [1] # % & * {} \ : <> + | "

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21. Save Save is a command that used when you want to store your file permanently into your hard disk. Choosing "Save" simply saves your work by updating the last saved version of the file to match the current version you see on your screen. Use “save” command every time you make any changes to your file.

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23. Save As Save as command is used if you want to save a file that was already saved in a different location or with a different name. Use Save As when you want to create a new document based on the one you've already got open. This is useful if you want to "clone" an existing document into a new one rather than starting from scratch.

24. cont Save As leaves the original file unchanged. A typical sequence might look like this: Open existing document, Save As, choose the folder where the new document will be created, type in the name of the new document, click the "Save" button. The original document will close and you'll find yourself in that new document, so you'll probably then start editing it as described above.

25. Search Files One of the easiest ways to search for files and folders in Windows 7 is to search straight from the Start menu. Fortunately, Windows 7 has made massive improvements to its search technology. Windows 7 uses a more advanced search index that continuously monitors every file and even the words within most of your files. When you search for a file or folder in Windows 7, you are much more likely to find it than other operating systems.

26. Open the Start menu and type a search term in the search field at the bottom. A list of search results appears divided by the location of the results.

27. Click the See More Results link The Search Results in Indexed Locations window appears. Click View to cycle through the various options of icon sizes or text listings.

28. cont When you locate the file you wanted, double- click it to open it. If you don’t see what you’re looking for, choose the Folder and Search Options command from the Organize menu to modify Search settings. You can alter the locations to search, indicate whether to find partial matches for search terms, and more.

29. cont In Windows 7, you can save the results of a search so that you can review them later. To save a search, click the Save Search button, provide a filename and type, set the location to save it to, and then click Save. The search results are saved as a search folder on your computer in your username folder.

30. Sorting Sort command is used when you what to arrange items in the Windows Explorer according to your wish. You can arrange items according to Name, Size, Type, Date Modified, Ascending or Descending. In Windows 7, you can right-click in an Explorer window and choose ‘Sort by'.

31. cont Windows 7 also adds a new option called ‘Group by'. You can group files together according to how long ago they were accessed. You can also combine ‘Sort by' and ‘Group by'. For example, you could group your files by age, and within each group sort them alphabetically.

32. Recycle Bin In computing, the trash (also known as the recycle bin and by other names) is temporary storage for files that have been deleted in a file manager by the user, but not yet permanently erased from the file system. Typically, a recycle bin is presented as a special file directory to the user (whether or not it is actually a single directory depends on the implementation), allowing the user to browse deleted files, undelete those that were deleted by mistake, or delete them permanently (either one by one, or by the "Empty Trash" function).

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34. Opening the recycle bin

35. Restoring Deleted Files If you wish to retrieve a file from the Recycle Bin you may do so in two different ways. The first method, is to use the restore function built into the Recycle Bin. Select the files you wish to restore and then either click the Restore the selected items button on the top bar of the Recycle Bin window, or right click and select Restore. Alternatively, if you wish to restore every item currently in the Recycle Bin you can click on the Restore all items button at the top of the Recycle Bin window.

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37. Permanently Deleting Files It is important to remember that even though these files are deleted, they are still accessible and taking up space on your computer's hard drive. It is possible to permanently delete these files using two methods depending on whether you wish to delete specific files or every file currently in the Recycle Bin.

38. Deleting Individual Files To delete specific files, select the files you wish to delete and then right-click and choose the Delete option.

39. Emptying the Recycle Bin To delete every file currently in the Recycle Bin, simply click the Empty the Recycle Bin button at the top of the Recycle Bin window. You can also empty the Recycle Bin by right- clicking on the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop and selecting Empty Recycle Bin.