Introduction to Computers: Session 3

Files, Folders and Windows

Files and folders

• Files are documents you create using a computer program. For example, this
document is a file, made with a program called Microsoft Word (notice the blue,
capital W in the icon).

• Folders are used to organize your files. Folders can contain other folders or individual
files.

Note: A folder icon with no papers in it indicates an empty folder:

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File management

• File storage in the Windows Operating System can be

likened to a “file cabinet”.

• The “file cabinet” is likened to a drive on the computer, such as a hard drive, a CD or
a Flash Drive.

Organizing folders and files in the “file cabinet”

1. As an example, here is a folder with the name of this class:

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 2. Inside that folder are individual folders for each class session, along with folders for
other related documents.

3. Finally, each individual class folder holds files (documents) relating to that specific class.

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Follow the path to find out how you got here!
A “path” on a computer is the sequence of folders leading from the computer’s drive to
a specific file, or in reverse from the file back to the “root” of the drive. Here is the path
in the address bar above, leading to this document:

C:\Users\fmeeusen\Desktop\Intro to Personal Computers\Session 3\Introduction to computers session 3 files and folders.docx

In general terms, the path above looks like this:

Drive:\Folder\Sub-folder\Sub-folder\Sub-folder\Sub-folder\Document

Creating a Folder
There are two ways to create a folder in the
Windows Operating System.

A) Secondary Click method:

1. In the empty space of either a folder or
your Desktop, Secondary Click with your
mouse
2. On the menu that opens, select New and
then Folder
3. Immediately a new folder appears, with the default name “New Folder”

B) Menu selection method (same as above, but a different way of getting there):
In an existing folder where you want
to create a new folder (this method
will not work on your Desktop), click
on the menu item “File”, then select
“New” and then “Folder” (Note: if
the File menu does not appear above
your toolbar, press the “Alt” key on
your keyboard and the menu will
appear temporarily).

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C) Toolbar method:
Instead of selecting the File > New > Folder as shown above, simply click on the “New
Folder” item on the toolbar and a new folder will appear:

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Managing a window

A “window” in the Windows Operating System has various tools to help you control that
windows size and position on your screen.

Minimize button:

a) The minimize button, when clicked,

hides the window,

b) sending it to the task bar.

Maximize button:

The maximize button, when clicked, resizes

the window, expanding it out to fill the
entire screen. Clicking the maximize button
again restores the window to its previous
size and location.

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Close button:

It does just that, closes the window!

Moving a window:

The top frame of a window is called

the Title or Control bar. You can
click and drag on this bar to move
the window to any position on your
screen

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Resizing a window (manually):

1. Place your cursor on any edge or corner of the window you want to resize. Your cursor
will turn into a double-headed arrow:

2. Click and drag on any edge or corner of a window to resize it:

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Scroll bars: Scrolling in a window – 5 methods:

1. Click and drag any of the scroll bar handles up, down or sideways to view the hidden
areas of window.
2. Click any of the arrows at either end of the scroll bars to move the window view up,
down or sideways one line at a time.
3. Click in the light gray area between the scroll bar handle and the end-arrow to move the
window view up, down or sideways one screen at a time.
4. With the window active (click on the Title bar to make sure the window is active), press
the Page Up and Page Down keys on the keyboard to move the window up, down or
sideways one screen at a time (just like #3 above)
5. With the window active, press the arrow keys on the keyboard to move the window up,
down or sideways one line at a time.

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Creating a File

We first need to open a program to make a file with. For this exercise, we’ll use Microsoft’s
WordPad, which is included in every version of the Windows Operating System.

How to open WordPad:

1. Click the Start Button

2. Click the “All Programs” button

3. Click the folder “Accessories”

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 4. Click “WordPad”

Saving a File

Once you’ve created a file or document you can then save it to the computer’s hard
drive or to a portable storage device, such as a CD/DVD or Flash drive

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Saving your File to your Computer’s Hard Drive

Since you are saving your document directly to your computer’s internal Hard Drive, you
do not need to insert a CD or Flash Drive into your computer. The file cabinet is already
located inside your computer and ready for you to save anytime.

1. Click on the File tab. This will open the File

menu.

2. Click on Save.

3. Once you click Save, you can then

choose the destination for your
file. Locate the folder you want to
save the file in and double-click to
open that folder.

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 4. Give your file a name by clicking in the File name box. Type in the new name of your
document.

5. Click the Save button to save your document.

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Opening a document from your Computer’s Hard Drive

1. Locate the folder that contains the file you want to open.

2. Double-click to open the folder, then double-click the file to open it.

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