File Management Version: 04_19_04 Developed by: Department of Instructional Technology 2004 Union Institute & University
Table of Contents FILE MANAGEMENT SCENARIO...2 File Management Terminology...2 FILE MANAGEMENT USING THE MY COMPUTER PROGRAM...3 Creating a Folder...3 Renaming a Folder...5 Renaming a File...6 Renaming a File...7 SAVING A FILE TO A FOLDER FROM A PROGRAM...9 DELETING A FILE OR FOLDER...11 MOVING FILES BETWEEN FOLDERS...12 Method 1- Copy and Paste...12 Method 2- Click and Drag...14 SEARCHING FOR A FILE...16 STORAGE MEASUREMENTS...18 INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL STORAGE DEVICES...18 Internal Storage...18 External Storage...19 FILE SIZE...20 How Do I Find a File s Size?...20 Formatting a Diskette...22 SAVING A FILE FROM A PROGRAM TO A FLOPPY DISKETTE...24 COPYING A FILE FROM THE HARD DRIVE TO A FLOPPY DISKETTE...25 COPYING A FILE FROM A FLOPPY DISKETTE TO THE HARD DRIVE...27 1
Introduction What is file management and why is it important? Ah, great question! File management is the process of organizing all of your files (Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, images, etc.) into folders so that you can easily find at a later date. It is also the process of creating and naming folders, deleting unwanted files that you no longer need, and moving files to a more logical location. In the section below, we will relate file management to a real-life scenario. Please note: These instructions have been developed for Window-based systems. File Management Scenario Messy Marvin needs to cleanup his desk and organize his files because he can never find the papers his supervisor requests from time to time. What is the solution to Marvin s problem? Messy Marvin needs to start practicing file management! Physical Desktop Messy Marvin s desk is covered with papers. Computer Desktop Marvin has saved all of his files to his desktop. Step 1 Marvin organizes all of his papers into groups and labels a folder for each group. Marvin organizes his files into groups and creates a folder for each group. 2
Step 2 Marvin places the papers into the folders. Marvin moves his files into a folder. Step 3 Marvin places the folder into a file cabinet. When a folder is created, it is automatically saved on a drive, so there is no need to do Step 3 on your computer. 1
File Management Terminology File a collection of data (information) such as a Word document, Excel spreadsheet, image, etc. Physical Desktop Paper Document Digital (Computer) Equivalent File Folder- storage structure on a computer system that stores files. Physical Desktop Folder Digital (Computer) Equivalent Folder Drive- a piece of hardware (computer component) that saves information such as the files for programs, data, etc. Physical Desktop Draw in a File Cabinet Digital (Computer) Equivalent Drive A Drive C Drive 2
Physical Desktop File Cabinet Digital (Computer) Equivalent Computer File Management Using the My Computer Program Creating a Folder 1. Double click on the My Computer icon (picture) located on your desktop. 2a. Navigate to where you would like to create a new folder by double clicking on the drive and folder you would like to create a new folder in. In this example, we will be creating a new folder in the My Documents folder that is located in the C drive (local hard drive). Step 2a- Double click on the icon for the C drive. 3
2b. Continued Step 2b- Double click on the icon for the My Documents folder. 3. To create a new folder: Click on File in the menu bar, move the mouse pointer down to New, and then click on Folder. The new folder will now be created in the edit mode (you will see a box around it and the title of New Folder will be highlighted in blue). 4. Type in a name for your new folder and then click on a blank area of the window to set (save) the name of the folder. In the picture below, we are naming the new folder Research Papers and then clicking in a blank area of the window to save the name. 4
The folder will now be named and ready for you to save files in it. Renaming a Folder From time to time, you may want to rename a folder to more accurately describe its contents. In the steps below, we will go through the process of renaming a folder. 1. Right click on the folder that you would like to rename. In this example, we are renaming the Research Papers folder. 2. In the shortcut menu, click (left click) on Rename. 5
3. a. The name of the folder will now have a border around it and be highlighted in blue. This indicates that it is in the edit mode and that you can type over your original name of the folder. b. Type in a new name for the folder. 4. After you have typed in a new name for the folder, click on a blank area of the screen to save the change. The folder will now be renamed (see below). 6
Renaming a File From time to time, you may want to rename a file to more accurately describe it. In the steps below, we will go through the process of renaming a file. 1. Right click on the file that you would like to rename. In this example, we are renaming the Paper1 file. 2. In the shortcut menu, click (left click) on Rename. 3. a. The name of the file will now have a border around it and be highlighted in blue. This indicates that it is in the edit mode and that you can type over your original name of the file. b. Type in a new name for the file. 7
4. After you have typed in a new name for the file, click on a blank area of the screen to save the change. The file will now be renamed (see below). 8
Saving a File to a Folder from a Program To keep organized from the beginning, it is helpful to save your files directly to a folder when you first create them. In the steps below, we will go through this process for a Word document (file). 1. After creating part of your document (file), you will want to save it to a specific folder (we recommend saving your file before you do any work). 2. Click on File in the menu bar and select Save As. 3. Navigate to the folder in which you would like to save the file by clicking on the drop-down arrow for the Save in menu and select the drive (disk) where the folder is located. 4. Double click on the folder in which you want to save the file. This will open it. In the example below, we are saving the file to the My Documents folder. 9
5. Click in the File name box and type in the name of your file. You do not have to type in the.doc extension; Word will automatically add the extension. If you are using another Microsoft Office program, it will automatically add its own extension to the end of the file name. 6. Click on the Save button. Step 5 Step 6 The file will now be saved to the My Documents folder! 10
Deleting a File or Folder To prevent too much clutter and using up all of the room on your hard drive, you may want to delete files and folders that you no longer need. In the steps below, we will go through the process of deleting a file. Please note: The process of deleting a folder is the same as deleting a file. 1. Navigate to where the file is located on your computer. 2. Click once on the file (or folder) to select it. 3. Press the Delete key on your keyboard. 4. If you are sure that you would like to delete the file (or folder), click on the Yes button. The file (or folder) will now be deleted. 11
Moving Files between Folders As time goes on, you may decide that you would like to reorganize your files by moving them into different folders. We will go through the process of moving a file into a different folder. Method 1- Copy and Paste Copying and pasting a file is the safest way to move the file. After you have copied and pasted the file to its new location, you will want to go back and delete the original so that you do not have two copies. In this example, we will be moving the History.doc file from the My Documents folder to the Research Papers folder. 1. Open up the My Computer program by double clicking on its icon (picture) on the desktop. 2. Navigate to the drive where the file is saved by double clicking on the drive s icon in the My Computer window. In this example, we are opening the C: drive. Step 2 3. Open the folder where the file is saved in by double clicking on the folder s icon. Step 3 4. Click on the file once to select it. Step 4 12
5. Click on Edit in the menu bar and select Copy. Step 5 6. a. Click on the drop-down arrow for the Address menu. b. Select the drive where the folder is located, to which you would like to copy the file. Step 6a Step 6b 7. Double click on the folder (to open it). Step 7 8. Click on Edit in the menu bar and select Paste. 13
The file will now be copied to the folder (see below). 9. Go back to the original file and delete it IF you do not want two copies of it. Before you delete the original, it is wise to make sure that the second copy of the file is in the intended folder and working properly. Method 2- Click and Drag Click and drag is the fastest way to move the file from one folder to the next. In this example, we will moving the History.doc file from the My Documents folder to the Research Papers folder. 1. Open up the My Computer program by double clicking on its icon on the desktop. 2. Navigate to the drive where the file is saved by double clicking on the drive s icon in the My Computer window. In this example, we are opening to the C: drive. Step 2 3. Open the folder where the file is saved in by double clicking on the folder s icon. Step 3 14
4. Click on the Folders button in the toolbar. This will bring the folders and drives on your computer I into view. Step 4 5. Click once, holding the left mouse button down, and drag the file on top of the folder you want to place it in. Step 5 6. When the folder is highlighted, release the mouse button. Step 6 7. Click once on the folder and look at the right portion of the screen to make sure that the file was moved to the correct folder. Step 7 15
Please note: When clicking and dragging a file between folders on the same drive, it will move the file, not copy it, so you will only have one copy of the file. When you move the file to a folder on a different drive by clicking and dragging it, you will have a copy of it in the original folder/drive and the folder/drive you moved it in. Searching for a File 1. Open up the My Computer program by double clicking on its icon on the desktop. 2. Click on the Search button. Step 2 Continued on the next page 16
3. Click in the Search for files or folders named box and type in the name of the file that you are searching for. An * is a wildcard that will ignore any amount of characters before or after the name that you typed. The.doc extension tells the computer to search for a Microsoft Word document. In the example below, the search is looking for any file or folder that has the term research in it and is a Word document. 4. If you remember a term that is unique in the text of the document, type it in the Containing text box. In the example below, we are looking for the word history. 5. Click on the drop-down arrow for Look in and select the drive you want to search. 6. Click on the Search Now button. Step 3 Step 4 Step 6 Step 5 7. When the search tool has found the correct document, double click on the file to open it. Please note: the In Folder will show you where the files is saved. Please remember this information. Step 7 17
Storage Measurements Just like the English or metric units for length, volume, and weight, storage on a computer also has a system of measurements. Measurement Abbreviation Equal to Real-life Example Byte (a basic unit of data) 1 byte = 1 byte A character (letter or digit) in a document. Kilobyte KB 1 kilobyte = 1,000 bytes A 2 page MS Word document is usually about 100 KBs. Megabyte MB 1 megabyte = 1,000 kilobytes Gigabyte GB 1 gigabyte = 1,000 megabytes A 10 second video clip from the web is usually about 2 MBs. 1,000 10 second clips (if 2 MBs each) would be about 2 GBs. Internal and External Storage Devices Storage devices will allow you to save and back-up your files (documents, spreadsheets, images, etc.). What is backing-up a file and why is it important? Excellent question! Backing-up a file is saving another copy of a file to a different storage device as insurance in the event that your original gets corrupted or erased. Internal Storage- storage that is in your computer. Hard Drive- most home users save the original copy of their files to the hard drive. Most hard drives, in today s world, have the storage capacity of 20-200 gigabytes of information. 18
External Storage- storage that is designed to be used for transporting data (information or files) from computer to computer. The devices listed below can also be termed mobile storage devices because you will able to easily transport them from computer to computer. Floppy Disk- a floppy disk is a very common way to back-up files (documents, spreadsheets, etc.). However, it is limited in its storage ability (it can only store 1.44 megabytes of information) and they can easily become damaged. The plus side of floppy disks is that they are relatively inexpensive and very portable. Compact Disk (CD) - CDs have gained popularity as a great way to back-up files. CDs have the ability to store 650-700 megabytes of information. CD-Rs (compact disc recordable) can only be recorded on once, but CD-RWs (compact disc rewritable) can be recorded on more than once with the correct CD drive. They are also very portable. Flash Memory Drive- flash memory drives are some of the most exciting and versatile new technology on the market. Most flash memory drives plug into an USB port (a port where you can plug-in compatible hardware to a computer) and can store from 8-512 megabytes of information (newer models may be able to hold more). They are extremely portable and are used for shortterm storage and transfer of files. Flash memory drives work with both Macs and PCs. Summary of Storage Devices Storage Device Storage Capacity Use Floppy Diskette 1.44 megabytes Short-term or long-term storage/back-up of files. Compact Disc 650-700 megabytes Long-term storage/backup of files. They are very portable and take-up very little space. Flash Memory 8-512 megabytes Short-term storage. The most common use is transferring files. 19
File Size What is file size and why is it important? File size is the amount of storage space that a file takes up on the hard drive or another storage device (floppy diskette, USB Flash drive, or CD). If your file, or a group of files, is larger than the space on a storage device, you will not be able to save all of the file(s) to the storage device. If you are using email, certain email programs/providers will not allow you to send emails over 1 MB. Here are three examples of file size in relation to real-life tasks: Emailing an attachment- some email programs/providers will not allow you to send an email with an attachment (or combined attachment size) over 1 megabyte. Saving a file to a floppy diskette- if your file is over 1.44 megabytes, you will not be able to save it to a floppy diskette. Or, if you try to save a group of files that have a combined file size of over 1.44 megabytes you will not be able to save them to a diskette. Putting a Picture on the Web- if you put a picture file that is 300 kilobytes on a web page, it would take a very long time for people to view it. Any image (picture) that you put on the web should be no larger than 100 kilobytes, 1-50 kilobytes is preferred. How Do I Find a File s Size? In the steps below, we will go through the process of viewing the size of a file. 1. Navigate to where the computer is located on your computer. 2. Right click on the files icon (picture). 3. Left click on Properties in the menu. Step 3 20
You will now be able to view the size of the File in the Properties window (see below). 4. Click on the OK button when you are finished viewing the file information. File Size Step 4 21
Formatting a Diskette A lot of floppy diskettes now come preformatted, but you may need to reformat a diskette at times. Formatting a floppy diskette will erase all information saved on the disk. If you are using Windows-based computer, please follow the steps below to format a diskette. 1. Insert a floppy diskette into the floppy drive of your computer. 2. Open the My Computer program by double clicking on the My Computer icon on your desktop. 3. Right click on the 3 ½ Floppy (A:) drive. 4. Left click on Format in the shortcut menu. 5. Click on the Start button to start the formatting process. 22
6 A confirmation box will pop-up and warn you that all of the information on the diskette will be erased. If you would like to continue with the formatting process and erase all information on the diskette, click on the OK button. 7 After the formatting process is complete, a confirmation box will appear. Click on the OK button. 8 To close the Format box, click on the Close button. 23
Saving a File from a Program to a Floppy Diskette After you have saved a file to the hard drive of your computer, you may also want to make a back up copy on a floppy diskette. In the section below, we will go through the steps to save a file from a program to a floppy diskette. In this example we will be saving a file from Word to a floppy diskette, but please note that the process is similar for other programs. 1. After you have created a file in a program (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, ect), click on File in the menu and then Save as. 2. In the Save As window, click on the drop-down arrow for Save in and select 3 ½ Flop (A:). 3. Click in the File name box and type in the name of your file. 4. Click on the Save button. Step 3 Step 4 The file will now be saved to your diskette! 24
Copying a File from the Hard Drive to a Floppy Diskette You may want to back-up files on a floppy diskette or CD. In the exercise below, we will go through the process of copying a file from the hard drive to a floppy diskette. 1. Double click on the My Computer icon on your desktop to open the program. 2. Double click on the C drive icon (or the drive where the file you would like to copy is saved) to view the contents of the drive. 3. Double click on the folder where the file is saved. In this example we are opening the My Documents folder. Step 3 4. Click on the file once to select it. Step 4 5. Click on Edit in the menu bar and select Copy. 25
6. Click on the drop-down arrow in the Address bar and select 3 ½ Floppy (A:). 7. Click on Edit in the menu bar and select Paste. The file will now be copied! 26
Copying a File from a Floppy Diskette to the Hard Drive If you have been working in another computer, you may have saved a file to a diskette and want to transfer it to your own computer. To transfer a file from a floppy diskette to your computer, please follow the steps below. Caution: We recommend that you scan the file and diskette for viruses before you transfer the file. 1 Insert a floppy diskette into the computer. 2. Double click on the My Computer icon on your desktop to open the program. 3. Double click on the A drive icon to view the contents of the drive. 4. Click on the file once to select it. Step 4 5. Click on Edit in the menu bar and select Copy. 6. Click on the drop-down arrow in the Address bar and select Local Disk (C:). Step 6 27
7. Open the folder that you would like to save the file to by double clicking it. In this example, we are saving the file to our My Documents folder. Step 7 8. Click on Edit in the menu bar and select Paste. The file will now be copied to the hard drive (see below)! 28