Creating Files and Folders

Operating System:

An operating system is a program that provides an environment to interact with the user of a computer and computer hardware. You cannot interact with hardware devices without an operating system. It manages all of the software and the hardware on the computer.

The operating systems have evolved over a period of time. Initially, the operating systems were CUI (Character User Interface) based in which the users had to write text-based commands to performs any task on a computer. They were gradually replaced by GUI (Graphical User Interface) based operating systems. These are easier to learn and use as the user interacts with the operating system through a graphical interface. Microsoft Windows is the most popular GUI based operating system.

Desktop:

When you switch on a computer loaded with a GUI-based OS, the first graphical screen that appears on the monitor is called the Desktop.

Icons:

The desktop has small pictures on it, called icons. An icon may represent a shortcut to a program, a file, or a folder. When you double-click an icon, the associated file or program will be opened.

Files:

Whatever work you do on a computer, it is stored as a file, like you create a document in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or draw a picture in Paint, etc. You save all these as separate files. So, a file is a collection of data stored in the form of text, pictures, music or video, etc. It may be saved directly on the hard disk of a computer or external storage devices such as CD, DVD or pen drive.

Every file is identified by the extension of the file. In addition, it has an icon associate with it. The icon helps you to quickly identify the type of file. Some common windows file extension are:

FILE TYPE	FILE EXTENSION
Microsoft Word	.doc or .docx
Microsoft Excel	.xlsx
Microsoft PowerPoint	.ppt or .pptx
Text File	.txt
Image file	.jpeg or .jpg
Video File	.mp4
Audio File	.mp3

Folders:

At home, you might have seen your parents organizing papers in different folders. All the related papers are generally kept in one folder. Similarly, to organize files on a computer, you can create folders.

A folder is a container like a bag, can store files as well as other folders inside it. A folder within a folder is called a sub-folder. Just like files, a folder also has a name. You can easily differentiate folders from files with the help of the icons associated with them.  

Windows Explorer or File Explorer:

Microsoft Windows provides a very useful program called Windows Explorer in Windows 7 or File Explorer in Windows 8 and 10 that lets you view and manage your files and folders efficiently. Using this program, you can view, create, copy, move, rename, delete, and search files and folders. To start Windows Explorer follow the steps:

Step 1: Click the Start button.

Step 2: Click All Program option.

Step 3: Click Accessories option.

Step 4: Click the Windows Explorer / File Explorer option.

Parts of the Windows Explorer or File Explorer:

The Windows Explorer window has the following parts.

• Navigation Pane:

It is the left pane that displays a list of drives and folders. The ‘►’ sign in the front of a drive or a folder indicates that there are more folders inside it.

• Back and Forward buttons:

The Back button lets you navigate to the previously opened folders without closing the current window. After you have used the Back button, you can use the Forward button to navigate back to the current folder.

• Toolbar:

It provides buttons for common tasks according to the file or folder selected by you. For example, selecting a folder display different buttons. Some of the common buttons are: Organize, Share with, Burn and New Folder, etc.

• Address Bar:

It displays the complete path of the selected file or folder.

• Search Box:

It lets you quickly search files and folders in the current folder.

• File and Folder List Pane:

It is the right pane that displays the contents of the folder that has been selected in the left pane.

• View Button:

The View button on the toolbar contains options for viewing the files in the File and Folder list pane. Click this button and select an option to change the display of the folder contains.

1. You can choose to display the files or folders with Extra Large, Large, Medium, or Small icons.
2. The List option gives only the names of the files with their icons.
3. The Details option gives extra information about each file such as its type, size, and date of creation.

Creating a new folder:

You can create a new folder inside a drive or another folder. To do so, follow the steps given here:

Through Mouse:

Step 1: Navigate to the location where you want to create the folder.

Step 2: Right-click on a blank space, a menu will appear.

Step 3: Select New then Folder from the menu or click on the New Folder button on the toolbar.

Step 4: Enter your desired folder name to replace "New folder"

Step 5: Press Enter.

Through Keyboard Shortcut:

Step 1: Navigate to the location where you want to create the folder.

Step 2: Press Ctrl + Shift + N keys at the same time.

Step 3: Enter your desired folder name to replace "New folder"

Step 4: Press Enter.

Renaming files and folders:

You can also rename or change the name of an existing file or folder. For this, you need to follow the steps given here:

Through Mouse:

Step 1: Right-click on the file or folder, a menu will appear.                    

Step 2: Select rename from the menu.

Step 3: Type the new name.

Step 4: press Enter.

Through Keyboard Shortcut:

Step 1: Select the file or folder and press F2.

Step 2: Type the new name.

Step 3: Press Enter.

Copying a file or folder:

Copy and Paste commands help you to create an extra or duplicate copy of a file or folder. For this, you need to follow the steps given here:

Through Mouse:

Step 1: Select the files or folders you want to copy.

Step 2: Right-click on the file or folder and choose copy.

Step 3: Navigate to the location where you want to paste the file or folder.

Step 4: Right-click and choose paste from the menu.

Through Keyboard Shortcut:

Step 1: Select the file or folder you want to copy.

Step 2: Press Ctrl + C keys at the same time.

Step 3: Navigate to the location where you want to paste the file or folder.

Step 4: Press Ctrl + V keys at the same time.

Moving a file or folder:

The Cut and Paste commands help you to move a file or folder to a different location. For this, you need to follow the steps given here:

Through Mouse:

Step 1: Select the files or folders you want to cut.

Step 2: Right-click on the file or folder and choose cut.

Step 3: Navigate to the location where you want to paste the file or folder.

Step 4: Right-click and choose paste from the menu.

Through Keyboard Shortcut:

Step 1: Select the file or folder you want to cut.

Step 2: Press Ctrl + X keys at the same time.

Step 3: Navigate to the location where you want to paste the file or folder.

Step 4: Press Ctrl + V keys at the same time

Removing a file or folder

You can remove an unwanted file or folder by deleting it. The deleted file and folder moves to the Recycle Bin. For this, you need to follow the steps given here:

Step 1: Select the files or folders you want to delete.

Step 2: Right-click on the file or folder and choose Delete or Press Delete key through keyboard.

Step 3: In the dialog box that appears, click Yes to confirm the deletion.

N: B: To permanently delete a file or folder without moving it to the Recycle Bin, you can press 
Shift + Delete keys together.

Restoring a deleted file or folder:

The deleted files or folders can be restored from the Recycle Bin. To restore a deleted file or folder, follow these steps:

Step 1: Double Click on the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop.

Step 2: Select the file or folder that you want to restore.

Step 3: Right-click and choose restore from the menu. The restored file or folder goes back to its original location.

Searching files or folders:

Sometimes, you may not remember the location where you saved your file. In such a case, to save time and effort, you can quickly search folders or files using the Search Box located next to the address bar in the windows explorer or file explorer window. To search files using windows explorer or file explorer, follow these steps:

Step 1: Open the drive or the folder where you want to search the required file.

Step 2: Type a word or a part of a word in the search box.

The search begins automatically when you start typing. As you type in each character, the contents of the drive or folder are filtered to display the subfolders or files matching the specified words.

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