Creating a New Folder
To store new information in a file cabinet, you grab a manila folder, scrawl a name across the top, and start stuffing it with information. To store new information in Windows - notes for your autobiography, for example - you create a new folder, think up a name for the new folder, and start stuffing it with files.
To create a new folder quickly, click Home from the folder's toolbar buttons and choose New Folder from the Ribbon: A folder appears, ready for you to type in its name.
If the menus seem to be hiding, though, here's a quick and foolproof method:
- Right-click inside your folder (or on the desktop) and choose New.
The all-powerful right-click shoots a menu out the side. - Choose Folder.
When you choose Folder, a new folder quickly appears, waiting for you to type a new name. - Type a new name for the folder.
A newly created folder bears the boring name of New Folder. When you begin typing, Windows quickly erases the old name and fills in your new name. Done? Save the new name by either pressing Enter or clicking somewhere away from the name you've just typed.
If you mess up the name and want to try again, right-click the folder, choose Rename, and start over.
Certain symbols are banned from folder (and file) names. The "Using legal folder names and filenames" sidebar spells out the details, but you never have trouble when using plain old letters and numbers for names.
Tip:
Windows offers to create many more things than just a folder when you click the New button. Right-click inside a folder anytime you want to create a new shortcut or other common items.
Cautious observers may remark that their right-click menu looks different. There's nothing wrong; programs often add their own items to the right-click menus, making the menu look different on different PCs.
Using legal folder names and filenames
Windows is pretty picky about what you can and can't name a file or folder. If you stick to plain old letters and numbers, you're fine. But don't try to stick any of the following characters in there:
: / \ * | < > ? "
If you try to use any of those characters, Windows bounces an error message to the screen, and you have to try again. Here are some illegal filenames:
1/2 of my Homework JOB:2 ONE<TWO He's no "Gentleman"
These names are legal:
Half of my Term Paper JOB=2 Two is Bigger than One A #@$%) Scoundrel
Renaming a File or Folder
Sick of a filename or folder name? Then change it. Just right-click the offending icon and choose Rename from the menu that pops up. Windows highlights the file's old name, which disappears as you begin typing the new one. Press Enter or click the desktop when you're through, and you're off.
Or you can click the filename or folder name to select it, wait a second, and click the name again to change it. Some people click the name and press F2; Windows automatically lets you rename the file or folder.
When you rename a file, only its name changes. The contents are still the same, the file is still the same size, and the file is still in the same place.
Tip:
To rename large groups of files simultaneously, select them all, right-click the first one, and choose Rename. Type in the new name and press Enter, and Windows renames that file. However, it also renames all your other selected files to the new name, adding a number as it goes: cat, cat(2), cat(3), cat(4), and so on. It's a handy way to rename photographs.
Renaming some folders confuses Windows, especially if those folders contain programs. And please don't rename your main folders: Downloads, Documents, Pictures, Music, or Videos.
Windows won't let you rename a file or folder if one of your programs currently uses it. Sometimes closing the program fixes the problem. Other times, you need to restart your PC. That releases the program's clutches so you can rename it.
Selecting Bunches of Files or Folders
Although selecting a file, folder, or other object may seem particularly boring, it swings the doors wide open for further tasks: deleting, renaming, moving, copying, and performing other file-juggling tricks discussed in the rest of this tutorial.
To select a single item, just click it. To select several files and folders, hold down the Ctrl key when you click the names or icons. Each name or icon stays highlighted when you click the next one.
To gather several files or folders sitting next to each other in a list, click the first one. Then hold down the Shift key as you click the last one. Those two items are highlighted, along with every file and folder sitting between them.
Tip:
Windows lets you lasso desktop files and folders, as well. Point slightly above the first file or folder you want and then, while holding down the mouse button, point at the last file or folder. The mouse creates a colored lasso to surround your files. Let go of the mouse button, and the lasso disappears, leaving all the surrounded files highlighted.
You can drag and drop armfuls of files in the same way that you drag a single file.
You can also simultaneously cut or copy and paste these armfuls into new locations using any of the methods described in the "Copying or Moving Files and Folders" section, later in this tutorial.
You can delete these armfuls of goods, too, with a press of the Delete key. (They all drop into the Recycle Bin and are available for emergency retrieval.)
Tip:
To quickly select all the files in a folder, choose Select All from the folder's Edit menu. (No menu? Then select them by pressing Ctrl+A.) Here's another nifty trick: To grab all but a few files, press Ctrl+A, and while still holding down Ctrl, click the ones you don't want.
Getting Rid of a File or Folder
Sooner or later, you'll want to delete a file that's no longer important - yesterday's lottery picks, for example, or a particularly embarrassing digital photo. To delete a file or folder, right-click its name or icon. Then choose Delete from the pop-up menu. This surprisingly simple trick works for files, folders, shortcuts, and just about anything else in Windows.
To delete in a hurry, click the offending object and press the Delete key. Dragging and dropping a file or folder to the Recycle Bin does the same thing.
Warning:
The Delete option deletes entire folders, including any files or folders stuffed inside those folders. Make sure that you select the correct folder before you choose Delete.
After you choose Delete, Windows tosses a box in your face, asking whether you're sure. If you're sure, click Yes. If you're tired of Windows cautiously questioning you, right-click the Recycle Bin, choose Properties, and remove the check mark next to Display Delete Confirmation Dialog. Windows proceeds to delete any highlighted items whenever you - or an inadvertent brush of your shirt sleeve - press the Delete key.
Be extra sure that you know what you're doing when deleting any file that depicts a little gear in its icon. These files are usually sensitive hidden files, and the computer wants you to leave them alone. (Other than that, they're not particularly exciting, despite the action-oriented gears.)
Icons with little arrows in their corner (like the one in the margin) are shortcuts, which are push buttons that merely load files. Deleting shortcuts deletes only a button that loads a file or program. The file or program itself remains undamaged and still lives inside your computer.
As soon as you find out how to delete files, which explains several ways to undelete them. (Hint for the desperate: Open the Recycle Bin, right-click your file's name, and choose Restore.)
You're not the only one creating files on your computer. Programs often store their own information in a data file. They may need to store information about the way your computer is set up, for example. To keep people from confusing those files for trash and deleting them, Windows hides them.
However, if you want to play voyeur, you can view the names of these hidden files and folders:These steps make the formerly hidden files appear alongside the other filenames. Be sure not to delete them, however: The programs that created them will gag, possibly damaging them or Windows itself. To avoid trouble, click the Hidden Items box again to drape the veil of secrecy back over those important files.
- Open any folder and click the View tab from along the top edge.
The Ribbon changes to show different ways you can view that folder's files.- Click in the box named Hidden Items.
Don't see the Hidden Items box? Make the window a little wider until that option appears.
