MSCC Waffle – Folders and Files A comment by my wife tonight might explain why many people have difficulty understanding folders and files – prior learning. That is, all the systems and ways of storing things that you’ve learnt during your life is hampering you from learning the way that Windows store things. Lets wind the clock back to the world of paper and good old traditional filing systems. If the boss said ‘Where’s the Mrs Jones file?’ then, being an ace worker, you would know it was in the storeroom, on the shelf labeled ‘Customer Records’ and kept inside a blue manila folder clearly labeled Mrs Jones. With Windows the terms folders and files have a different meaning. This table shows the differences in terms between a traditional filing system we grew up with, and the new fangled Windows filing terms: Traditional Filing System: The normal place for all business files might be in a dedicated storage area such as a file room, a filing cabinet or some other storage system. Within this storage room or system there might be rows of shelves or drawers. Mrs Jones file may be on a shelf labeled as Customer Records The Mrs Jones file itself may be one or more documents. These documents may be contained inside a manila folder, or a small box, or simply held together with a staple or bulldog clip. The documents in the Mrs Jones file may be accounts, receipts, legal pages, letters, memos etc.

Windows Filing System: Any Windows storage area is simply called a folder. Folders have names. The main folder for users is called ‘My Documents’ (Or just plain ‘Documents’ in Vista) Within this main folder there might be many other folders. In this case we would have a folder called Customer Records. So to store Mrs Jones’s documents we would have a Mrs Jones folder. We would create it inside the Customers Records folder Each computer document, eg a photo, a receipt, a letter, is referred to simply as a file. So we would put all Mrs Jones ‘files’ in the Mrs Jones folder.

Still confused? Then see if this diagram helps explain it. Traditional Filing System Storage Room Shelf (eg Customer Records) File - Mrs Jones Receipt document

Windows Filing System Folder (eg My Documents) Folder (eg Customer Records) Folder (eg Mrs Jones) File - Mrs Jones Receipt

Text document

File - Mrs Jones document

A photo of Mrs Jones

File - Mrs Jones Photo

A cassette tape of Mrs Jones singing in the rain

File - Mrs Jones music file Singing in the rain

So how do we describe where stuff is? Both the traditional and Windows systems use a hierarchy. In the above example, the traditional filing system systems hierarchy is Storage Area, Customer Records Shelf, Mrs Jones file, Documents that are part of the file. The Windows hierarchy system would be My Documents Folder \ Customer Records Folder \ Mrs Jones Folder \ Mrs Jones Files. What else should I know about Folders? • Folders can contain both files and other folders. If a folder is located inside another folder then the inner one is often referred to as a ‘sub folder’. • You can’t have two folders with the same name in any one ‘main’ folder. • Folders are very flexible storage devices. They can hold lots of files or sub folders. • Windows has ready built folders to help you get started. Typically these are called My Photos, My Documents, My Music etc. (In Vista these same folders are simply called Photos, Documents, Music.) • Folders are easily created. They help you organize your files in a logical fashion. You should decide on a folder system that suits you and then create it in your my Documents folder. • There are several folders on the computer that you should leave alone– eg Program Files and the Windows folders. By all means have a peek inside them, just don’t alter anything or the computer is likely to get very stroppy. • You will sometimes see folders called ‘Directories’. This is the very old term for them. What else should I know about Files? • You can’t have two files with the same name in any one folder • Files may well be of different types eg spreadsheets, photos, text documents. • Windows knows what type each file is by the last few characters of its name. eg Fred.doc is a Microsoft Word document, Fred.xls is an Excel Spreadsheet, Fred.jpg is a picture. Based on these last few characters of the file name, Windows knows what specialist program to use to open and display them. • A file can have other items ‘embedded’ inside it. For example a Word document may have photos in the document. Windows knows nothing about these ‘embedded’ items. • ‘Shortcuts’ are also files. They are very small in size and hold the location on the computer of where the actual file is. Shortcuts are very useful but will have to be the subject of another waffle. How can I view the Folders and Files on my computer? • To navigate around the files and folders on your computer you use Windows Explorer. • You can open Windows Explorer at any time by just holding down the Windows key and pushing the ‘E’ key (The Windows Key is the one with the flag on it) • Or you can double click on ‘My Computer’, or on ‘My Documents’ to open Windows Explorer • Don’t get Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer confused. They are two different programs. • Windows Explorer can be a bit of a chameleon as it has many different appearances. You will notice this just using the methods above to open it. • Windows Explorer will also need to be covered in a separate waffle or training course. There were a few handy tips in an earlier waffle.