Information Technology Artificial Intelligence And History

 

File Management

Hard disk drives have become very large in recent years and are capable of holding millions of data files created by computer applications installed on the computer

As a result, a method of organising these files is essential.

Windows uses folders to achieve this

Filenames are made up of two parts

Filenames are made up of two parts:

 

The document name  - can be up to 256 characters long, including spaces

The file extension  -  determined by the application being used

Typical File Types

Organising Files

The management of computer files and paper files has much in common.  If all the paper documents accrued in a house or business were stored in a single drawer without using paper folders, it would soon become impossible to find anything

A well organised house will have some filing system to segregate electric bills from telephone bills and from bank statements etc.  Files on a computer should be managed in a similar fashion 

A good practice is to use a Personal Folder to organise files

This is the equivalent of a filing cabinet in paper filing, it can be created in the My Documents folder or in the C: Drive of the computer 

This folder is the Root Folder of the filing system

Subfolders can then be created for subject areas etc

Within these, further subfolders can be used to organise the files within each subject.   An example is shown below:

Create a Root folder in My Document

Create a Root folder in My Document

Create Subfolders within the root folder for subject areas etc

Create further subfolders within the subject area folder

Continue the process until the required level of organisation achieved

This organisation will make files easier to find and backing up your files will involve copying the root folder to the backup device

Creating Folders

 

Folders can be created by a number of methods:

Creating Folders

Method 1:

 

  Browse to where you want to create the folder

  Click the File menu, choose New and then Folder.  

  The folder is created  

Type a name for the folder and press Return or click away from the folder to complete

Method 2:

 

Browse to where you want to create the folder

Right-click within the window choose New and then Folder

Method 2 Creating Folders

Complete as for method 1

Method 3:

 

A folder can be created while saving a file in a computer application 

 

In Word 2007, click the Office button and choose Save As and Word Document

Browse to the required folder and click the Create New Folder button

Name the folder and Double-click it to open it.  Save the file in the new folder

Managing Files and Folders

 

Files and Folders can be Selected, Copied, Pasted, Moved, Renamed and Deleted

Managing Files and Folders 

Selecting Files

 

To select a single file, just click it.  It changes colour on selection

To select consecutive files, click the first file, hold down the Shift key and select the last file.  The files in between are automatically selected

To select non-consecutive files, hold down the Alt key and select the files in turn

To select all the files in a folder, click the Edit command and choose Select All

Note: The above procedures apply equally to groups of folders.

 

 

Copy and Paste Files 

 

First select the required file/s.  Then right-click the files and choose Copy.  The files are copied an area of memory called the Clipboard

Browse to the destination folder,  right-click it and choose Paste

Copy and Paste Files

Moving Files

 

The procedure is similar to copy and paste except that instead of choosing Copy, you choose Cut 

Rename Files

 

Files must be renamed individually

To rename a file, right-click it and choose Rename

Type the new name and press Return or click away from the file

Deleting Files

 

Select the files to be deleted.  Right-click any selected file and choose delete from the menu.  Click the Yes button in the dialog box

Deleting Files

The Recycle Bin

 

Files and folders deleted from the computer are placed in the recycle bin.  They are not lost until the recycle bin is emptied

In the example below, the folder is right-clicked and Delete is chosen 

The folder is sent to the recycle bin and the bin icon changes from empty to full

To Undelete the folder, right-click the recycle bin and choose Open

From the Edit menu, choose Undo Delete to restore the folder to it’s original location. The recycle bin icon changes back to empty