Welcome to Managing Files and Folders. After watching this video, you will be able to: Define files and folders. Explore the basic options for files and folders. Evaluate security permissions for files and folders. A computer file is a resource for recording data in a storage device, primarily identified by its file name. Just as words can be written to paper, so can data be written to a computer file. A file is created first by of writing data into temporary memory (RAM). Saving data involves using permanent storage (usually a hard disk drive). All files are either binary or text in nature. While text files contain only textual data that can be read easily, binary files contain textual and custom binary data. Data in binary form can be interpreted by supporting programs but will show up as garbled text of ones and zeroes in a text editor or word processing program. Files and folders have similar naming rules. Both should be named so the file or folder you want is easy to find. Names should be short but descriptive (25 characters or less). Avoid using special characters or spaces in a file name. Use capitals and underscores instead of periods, spaces, or slashes. To make names easier to remember, you can use a date format, such as YYYYMMDD, and or include a version number. A folder is a container for data written to disk. While drives store files, folders are used to organize those files by creating distinct logical areas with different security privileges. Folders separate the operating system (OS) and application files from user data. Folders also organize user data belonging to different accounts. In Windows, there’s no limit to the number of folders within folders (or subfolders), you can create. A file path is also known as the pathname. It’s the precise location of a computer, file, device, folder, or web page. For example, C:\Windows\System32\ tells the user that the System 32 folder is in the Windows folder in the C drive. In Windows you can choose from these commands: Edit to create an updated file or folder. Save to preserve a copy of the file or folder to disk. Cut to place a file or folder temporarily on the Clipboard. From there, the file or folder can be copied or moved to a new location. Copy, similar to the Cut Command, also places a file or folder temporarily on the Clipboard. From there, the file or folder can be copied to a new location. And move to place a file or folder in a new location. An extension is the final part of the file name that follows a period. For example, Letter.docx. The extension “.docx” indicates the file “Letter” is a MS Word document. The file extension shows the file type and which applications can be associated with different actions such as Open, Edit, and Print. In this case, the related application is MS Word. Additional file extensions can be researched using the Internet. To create a file, right-click inside a folder or on the Desktop, select New, and then select the application you want. But you’ll have to name the file to complete this brief process. Opening a file is just as simple and quick. Either double-click it or right-click it, select Open With, and select the appropriate application. When you create a file, you’ll need to choose where you want to save it (for example, the Desktop). To do so, select File, then Save As. Choose the location for the new file. Once you’ve saved a file to the proper location, just select the Save icon or File then Save. To open or launch a program, just double-click the icon associated with it. Another option is to select the icon and press Enter. Deleted items are kept in the Recycle Bin and can be recovered by right-clicking an item in the Recycle Bin and selecting Restore. A file or folder typically can’t be recovered if the Recycle Bin has been emptied or if you press Shift + Delete when removing something. There’s no recycling for items on flash drives or network shares (although a server administrator might be able to recover files). To select multiple files and folders, click and drag the mouse to highlight them, Press the control key and select items individually, or Press the shift key and select the first and last file you wish to affect. All files between the first and last selected will become highlighted. To find folders and files, follow these steps: Right-click the Start button and type the item name in the search field. Or use Cortana to find matching files, programs, apps, messages, and web pages on your system. Alternatively, you can use Windows Explorer to search by file name, file contents, file date, or size by selecting the folder icon on the Taskbar. Windows Explorer or Explorer is a tool you can use to manage your files on OneDrive and your PC. To rename a file or folder, right-click it and select Rename. Do not change the extension (unless you mean to do so) as that can render the file inoperable. The file properties dialog box has options for a file or folder. To access the properties of a file or folder, right-click it and select Properties. The window will give you information about and additional control over a file or folder. For security purposes, files and folders have attributes that can be set to read-only, system, hidden, or archive. Read-only allows you to view but not edit a file or folder. The read-only attribute prevents changes from being saved back to the file. You will be prompted to create another file containing the modified data. The system attribute specifies that the file should not be accessible to ordinary users. A Windows system file is any file with the system attribute turned on. Windows depends upon system files to operate properly. The Hidden attribute specifies whether the file is visible in the default view (it is possible to adjust Windows to display hidden files and folders, though). And the Archive attribute shows whether a file has been changed since the last backup. Compression (or zipping) saves disk space by reducing the size of an item. Here’s how to do it: Right-click the file or folder, select Send to, and then Compressed (zipped) folder. A new zipped folder with the same name is created in the same location. You can use encryption on files and folders for security purposes. Right-click the folder or file you want to encrypt and select Properties. Select Advanced. Under Compress or Encrypt attributes, check the box for Encrypt contents to secure data. Then click OK. And click Apply. Setting permissions is another means to control what can be done with a file or folder. To change these permissions, right-click any folder or file and select Properties. Then switch to the Security tab and make your selection. In this video you learned that: Files have numerous extensions that identify the file type and which program(s) can open them. Files and folders have a variety of options to manage them. And files and folders have native encryption options in Windows for security purposes.
