Organize Your Hard Drive

TECH TIP: Windows Explorer – Organize your Hard Drive

Windows Explorer is not to be confused with Internet Explorer. Windows Explorer is a built-in utility in all Windows versions (going back to Windows 95) used to help manage files on your computer. You may never have given it much thought, but it is worth taking a look. Start organizing your computer files – read on!

First of all, you do know that you should organize all your data files which you keep in My Documents – right?? How do you organize your files? By making folders and storing your files in these appropriate folders…smart – very smart! Hence…Windows Explorer!

There are any numbers of ways to start Windows Explorer. I will tell you the easiest, quickest way: Hold down the Windows Key (next to the Alt key) and press the letter “e” – that’s it – Windows Explorer pops on your screen. (There are more ways to start Windows Explorer at the end of this article).

On the left side are all the folders (and drives) contained on your hard drive. Notice that some folders have a plus (+) sign – those are folders that contain other folders. Click on the plus signs to see what is in that folder.

When you click on a folder on the left side, the contents of that folder will appear on the right side.

Now you can start to organize your files…move, copy, delete, rename, make new folders …..etc.

Make a new folder:

Click on My Documents on the left side (hereafter called the left pane).
On the right side (hereafter called the right pane), right-click, then select New, then select New Folder. Type a name for the new folder you just created.
So…make new folders for all your files.
Examples of new folders in my “My Documents” folder: Family Photos, ABE Stuff, ABE Student Lessons, Tech Tips, Downloads, Church Stuff, Working On, Grabber Screenshots…there’s more – lots more!

Move files

After you have made new folders, drag individual files from the right pane to a folder in the left pane. That’s it – you are organizing your hard drive data files!
Folders in the left pane are “spring-loaded” – that is – when you drag a file over a folder that has a plus sign next to it, it automatically drops down (expands) showing the other folders in that folder. Neat – you don’t even have to open the folders in the left pane to find the correct folder in which you want to place a file

Copy files

If you want to copy a file from a folder in the right pane to another folder in the left pane, hold down the right mouse button and drag the file to the folder in which you want the copy. When you release the mouse button, a pop-up menu will appear – select “Copy Here”
If you want to copy a file onto a floppy disk, click on the plus sign next to my computer – you will see the 3 ½ Floppy (A). (You didn’t really have to do this – remember that folders are spring-loaded). Insert a floppy disk into your drive and drag the file from the right pane to the 3½ Floppy (A) drive.

Delete Files:

Just click on a file or folder you want to delete from you hard drive and press the Delete Key (this is the easy way to delete a file), OR
Right-click on a file or folder and select Delete. OR
Drag a file or folder to the Recycle Bin to delete it.

Rename files

Click on a file or folder and press F2 (the F keys are located at the very top of the keyboard), then type a new name for your file or folder. (This is easy way to rename). OR
Right-click on a file or folder and select Rename – type a new name.

Viewing files

You can get different views of the contents of a folder. Right-click in any blank area in the right pane. Point to View and select which way you want to view the files in this folder. (Experiment with this to see what the different views look like).

Arranging Files

You can also arrange the way the files will appear in the folder. Right-click in any blank area in the right pane. Point to arrange and select the way you want you files to be arranged in this folder. (Experiment with this also to see what the different ways to arrange the files).

And last – there are other ways to get into Windows Explorer.

You can hold down the Shift key as you double-click on a folder on your desktop, Windows Explorer will pop open.
You can open a folder and then click on Folders in the Standard Buttons Toolbar. If the Standard Buttons toolbar is not showing, click on View, point to Toolbars, then click on Standard Buttons. Windows 95/98 people have to click on View, then Explorer Bar, then click on Folders.
Click Start -> (All) Programs -> Accessories -> Windows Explorer

OK – that’s enough for now! Try some of these neat ways to manage and organize your files – you’ll be glad you did!

A word to our Mac users: Macintosh computers use similar ways to organize files using folders. I don’t always cover Mac issues but I want to point you to an great resource to use. The BEST books out there for support are the Missing Manuals series of books by author David Pogue. Visit his website: http://www.missingmanuals.com/. He is a genius writer for all levels of computer users. He has a manual for Mac OS 9 and a manual for Mac OS X as well as manuals for many other Mac applications. He also has 4 excellent manuals for Windows users: Windows Me, Windows 2000 Pro, Windows XP Home Edition, and Windows XP Pro.

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