Chapter 7: Using Files and Folders

Working with Windows Explorer

When you Start | My Computer, Windows Explorer opens an Explorer window, as in Figure 7-2. Any folder you open from the desktop creates a new Explorer window. You can also run Windows Explorer by choosing Start | All Programs | Accessories | Windows Explorer. Alternatively, you can put a shortcut to Windows Explorer somewhere more convenient, such as the desktop, the Quick Launch toolbar, or top of the Start menu.

Every aspect of the Explorer window has numerous optional configurations, which are covered in the next chapter. This chapter describes how to do basic file and folder operations under the default configuration. If your computer works differently, someone has probably changed Windows Explorer's settings. If you want, you can change them back as follows:

1. Start Windows Explorer either by opening a folder on the desktop, Choosing Start | My Computer, or by selecting Start | All Programs | Accessories | Windows Explorer. An Explorer window opens.
2. Select Tools | Folder Options from the menu bar. The Folder Options dialog box appears with the General tab selected.
3. Click the Restore Defaults button in the Folder Options dialog box.
4. Click OK.

Navigating the Folder Tree

Windows Explorer enables you to view the contents of any folder on your system. The process of changing your view from one folder to another is referred to as navigating. The Explorer window provides you with navigation tools that you will recognize if you have used a Web browser: You can go up or down in the folder tree and back or forth along the path you have taken. In addition, you can jump to any folder near the top of the folder tree by clicking its icon on the list that drops down from the Address box on the toolbar. You can also find a folder in the Folders Explorer bar and click its icon there to display its contents in the working area.

If you like to use the keyboard, you can use the UP-ARROW and DOWN-ARROW keys to move up and down a column of folders, or use the LEFT-ARROW and RIGHT-ARROW keys to move back and forth in a row. You can select a folder by typing the first letter of its name.

Viewing the Folder Tree with the Folders Explorer Bar

The Folders Explorer bar, shown in Figure 7-3, is a map of the folder tree. You can expand or contract this map to whatever level of detail you find most convenient. (Naturally, your folder tree will not have exactly the same folders as Figure 7-3.)

The folder tree is displayed outline-style in the Folders Explorer bar. At the top of the tree, displayed flush with the left edge of the window, is the Desktop icon. Below Desktop, and indented slightly to the right, are the folders contained in the desktop: My Documents, My Computer, My Network Places, Recycle Bin, and (in this example) Unused Desktop Shortcuts.

A folder that contains other folders has a small box next to it, called a plus box if it contains a plus sign and a minus box if it contains a minus sign. A plus box indicates that the folder has subfolders, but that they are not shown. A minus box next to a folder indicates that its subfolders are listed below and slightly to the right of folder. In Figure 7-3, My Documents contains My Music, My Pictures, and WinXP. The WinXP folder, in turn, contains Files, Fun, Publisher, and Sample Folder. My Computer and My Network Places contain subfolders that are not shown.

Figure 7-3: The folder-tree map, as shown in the Folders Explorer bar

If the subfolders of a folder are not shown, you can display them (i.e., expand or open the folder) by clicking the plus box next to the folder's name. Clicking the minus box next to a folder's name removes its subfolders from the list (contracts or closes it, in other words). Any portion of the folder tree can be expanded as much or as little as you like.

The plus and minus boxes enable you to look at the overall structure of your files without losing sight of the folder whose contents are displayed in the working area. Opening a new folder in the working area automatically expands the folder tree in the Folders Explorer bar to show you the new folder. If you use the plus boxes in the Explorer bar to contract a folder that contains the currently open folder, that folder is closed and the working area changes to display the contents of the folder you just contracted.

You can also use the arrow keys with the Folders Explorer bar. The UP-ARROW and DOWN-ARROW keys move the cursor up and down the list of folders, while the RIGHT-ARROW and LEFT-ARROW keys expand and contract the currently selected folder.

When the folder tree expands beyond the limits of the left pane, scroll bars appear. If you want to see the full width of the folder tree, drag the border between the right and left panes to the right.

Navigating by Using the Address Box

The Address box on the Toolbar displays the name of the folder whose contents appear in the working area. An abbreviated folder-tree diagram drops down from the Address box. It shows only the top layers of the folder tree, together with the folders between the open folder and the drive that contains it. You can use this diagram to jump to a new location in the folder tree by clicking any of the icons shown.

Going Up and Down the Folder Tree

Under the default settings, the Up button on the toolbar (or the equivalent View | Go To | Up One Level command) "moves" the window up one level of indentation in the folder tree. The window then shows the contents of the folder containing the previously viewed folder. For example, if a window displays the contents of the C:\Windows folder and you then click the Up button, a window displays the contents of the C drive. Click Up again, and you see the contents of My Computer. Wherever you begin, if you click Up enough times, you reach the desktop.

To move the window one step down the folder tree, open a subfolder of the currently open folder.

Going Back and Forth on the Folder Tree

Under the default settings, the Forward and Back buttons on the toolbar (or the equivalent commands View | Go To | Forward and View | Go To | Back) move the window back and forth among the previously displayed folders. The Back button returns to the previous open folder. Clicking the Back button again returns to the folder before that, and so on. The Forward button undoes the Back button: Clicking Back, and then clicking Forward leaves you where you started. Until you have clicked Back, there is no place to go forward to, so the Forward button is gray, indicating that nothing will happen if you click it. Similarly, once you have returned to the first folder you opened, the Back button turns gray.

Lists of folders to which you can go back or forward drop down when you click the arrows next to the Back and Forward buttons. Jump to any folder on the list by clicking its name.

Jumping to Somewhere Else Entirely

The arrow at the right end of the Address box pulls down a diagram showing the path that connects the open folder to the desktop, as well as the layers of the folder tree immediately under the desktop and My Computer. Open any of these folders by clicking its name in the list.

Jumping is particularly easy when you display the Folders Explorer bar (choose View | Explorer Bar | Folders). Just find the folder you want to view on the folder-tree map and click it.