Review of folders
How do you organize the written
information in your life? Do you have filing cabinets, like I do? Can you find
stuff in them? Often, I cannot. What’s wrong with just keeping all our printed
stuff in a pile and thumb through whenever we need information.
It does work for a while, but eventually there is more content than is
practical to continue. Some of us just start another pile, but eventually we
run out of pile space.
Our computer information is no
different. Generally we keep programs in separate space from our data files and
for the most part users don’t pay much attention to where their programs are
located i.e. in which file folders they are located. Most of
the time that doesn’t matter to us, so we’ll ignore that issue for now.
Many Windows users keep most or all of
their files in one single folder called “My Documents”. For the Windows operating system the folder
“My Documents” is special and it often appears on the Desktop.
What is the Desktop? It’s the opening
screen at which you begin your computer session. Some folks I know try to keep
all of their data files on the desktop, so they’ll know where they are. That is
comparable to keeping all your printed records in one pile. It works for a
while and then breaks down.
New users typically do not know how they
want to organize their information until they’ve had some experience. Let’s see
how we might organize information.
My Documents
Letters
Financial
My Pictures
What other folders might you have? What
sub-folders might you have in Letters?
Let’s review what you think you know
about folders. Here are the questions I want us to address
How do you create a folder?
How do you organize folders within folders?
How do you name folders?
How do you search for folders you've lost?
How should one name files and folders?
Does it matter whether one uses uppercase or
lowercase?
How does one save files to a specific folder?
How do you create a folder?
On the desktop or within another folder, click the
right mouse button and choose ‘new’ then ‘folder’.
How do you organize folders within folders?
File names are automatically kept alphabetically by
file name.
How do you name folders?
Click once on the name, then
enter a new name.
How do you search for folders you've lost?
From the Start menu select Search. Look for a
meaningful keyword in the title.
How should one name files and folders?
In general give them names that include keywords you
are likely to remember.
Add date information to titles that will updated on a
regular basis, such as financial reports.
Does it matter whether one uses uppercase or
lowercase?
Yes. The title is case-specific i.e. it does matter
when you try to access the file by name.
How does one save files to a specific folder?
I nearly always choose ‘Save As’ so that I can specify
where the file is going to be saved.
Early users: Settings, desktop, system updates
From Start select Control Panel. Choose Display.
Explore the options available for the desktop design. From the Control Panel
select Date and Time to set the time.
From the Control Panel select Sounds and Audio
Devices. Explore the options for muting the sound and for changing the volume.