Rick summarizes file management in Windows at the Seniors SIG
The Mouse
The Almighty Right Button (It has information choices in any program you chose.
Remember – What you see in not what you get (In all empty screen places you can click with the right mouse button and get a wealth of information)
You cannot do file management using only the touch screen function. The Mouse is critical!!
5 ways to interact/communicate with the computer
- Keyboard
- Mouse
- Touch Screen
- Speech
- Pen
Efficient file management must include the keyboard & the mouse
Example: Control & Shift Key functionality with normal mouse left click (for selecting files)
Ctrl X, (cut) C (copy) & (paste) V
Drive Designations:
- A We don’t use this anymore (comes from the old floppy days)
- B We don’t use this anymore (comes from the old floppy days)
- C Main internal computer hard drive
- D CD or DVD player built into most computers and larger laptops
- E External plugin to USB port
- F Second external plugin to second USB port
Windows Explorer or now in Win 10 – File/Computer Explorer
Is the program function installed in Windows to work with ALL computer files.
See the yellow file folder icon on your task bar.
Files, documents, programs, photos, icons are ALL THE SAME to the computer
For you: You need to know what each file extension means.
For the computer: it uses the extensions to open the right app or program
Examples:
PDF’s are automatically opened by Adobe Reader
.doc/,docx files are automatically opened by Word
(these are defaults which can be changed in the Control Panel – Default Programs option).
The extensions you should be familiar with:
- Photos: jpeg
- Graphics: gif, tiff
- Word: doc & docx
- Excel: xls
- Powerpoint: ppt or pptx
- Printer File: PDF
Goal – To learn the manipulation of files using the mouse and keyboard combination.
Outcomes: To cut, paste, copy and transfer any kind of files to a variety of diverse areas such as thumb drives, different directories, internal drives and cloud drives.
Windows 10 Task Manager Icon
- It is necessary to create 2 windows for ease of transfer and file manipulation
- Open File Manager using the icon on the task bar (left mouse button)
- Open a second copy of File Manager by going back to the same icon and using the right mouse button this time button select File Manager from the menu
- When you have 2 small windows on your screen use the right mouse button on any one of them and snap it to the left or right. The remaining window can be touched with the left mouse button and it will fill the screen opposite wherever you selected to snap the first window
Task 1: Copying & Pasting (transferring) using the Control & Shift Keys
Activities:
- Make a test file folder with any name you like using the left window folder information. Use whatever location is convenient to create your test folder
- Select 10 random files from anywhere on the computer (use the Control key and the left mouse button to select your 10 files. (Hint: take all your files from only one folder to make it easier)
- Then, use the right mouse button menu Copy command or press the Control plus C keys together.
- Paste these 10 files to the new test folder using the right mouse button Paste from the mouse menus or Control and V keys together
Select and Use the Shift key for blocks of files.
Task 2: Selecting and manipulating files (Transfers)
Types of Activities:
- Transferring files from and to anywhere: (internal or external)
- From one folder to another on your computer
- From a folder on your computer to a thumb drive.
- From a folder on your computer to The Cloud.
- From an Internet web site to a folder on your computer or a document.
Practical use: Transferring Files – What to use:
- File Explorer
- Email Attachments
- Messaging
- Applications/Programs (cloud storage)
- Websites (social media)
- USB thumb drives/other external drives
