Windows Explorer

WINDOW EXPLORER

Windows Explorer is the file management application in Windows. Windows Explorer can be used to navigate your hard drive and display the contents of the folders and subfolders you use to organize your files on your hard drive. You may already have some shortcuts on your desktop that point to locations on your hard drive you will frequently use with Windows Explorer, such as My Computer and My Documents.

The Windows Explorer interface has several parts to it:

The Title Bar: shows you the folder you are currently in. You can also set the title bar to display the full path to your folder (choose Tools, Folder Options, View and then check the box next to Display the full path in the title bar).

The path tells you the drives, folders and subfolders you would have to open to get to this folder, beginning with the root of the drive. For example, the path to your My Documents folder might be C:\Documents and Settings\your username\My Documents.

The Menu Bar: this area of the interface includes the menu options you will use while working with your files and folders. One of the menus you will use the most is the View menu. You can use the options listed under this menu option to change how the contents of your folders are displayed in the main Explorer window.

You can display thumbnails (useful if your folder contains a lot of pictures), icons (which are listed from left to right), a list (which contains smaller icons displayed in columns from top to bottom), and details (which displays columns with additional information about each file or folder such as the time it was last modified and its size). You can also use the Arrange Icons by option to change the way your files and folders are sorted in the main Explorer Window.

The Standard Toolbar: contains buttons that duplicate many of the tasks you can perform using the options in the Menu Bar. For example, you can click on the Views button to change the display in the main Explorer window.


The Address Bar: like the Title Bar, the Address Bar can be set to display the full path to a folder (Tools, Folder Options, View and then check the box next to Display the full path in the address bar). You can enter the path to a folder or subfolder in the Address Bar and Explorer will open it for you in the main Window.

The Status Bar: the bottom portion of the Explorer window displays information about the folder you have open, such as the number of objects (the number of files and subfolders in that folder) and the size.

The main Explorer window is divided into two panes. The contents of your folders are displayed on the right. By default, the pane on the left displays a list of common tasks you might want to perform when you open a folder, such as moving, renaming, and copying. You can also set this pane to display a hierarchical list of the folders on your hard drive. You can do this by clicking on the Folders button in the Standard Toolbar or by selecting View, Explorer Bar, and Folders.

Any folders that have a plus sign next to them have subfolders in them. To view the subfolders, just click on the plus sign and the folder will expand to reveal the subfolders below the folder’s name. The plus sign then turns to a minus sign to allow you to collapse the contents of the folder.

When you select a folder, its contents are displayed on the right pane.

You can then use drag and drop to move and copy files on your hard drive. You can drag files or folders from one location to another to move them, while holding down the Control key when dragging copies the files or folders.

You can select multiple files or folders using two handy keyboard shortcuts. To select several contiguous files, select the first file then hold down the Shift key and select the last file. All the files in between will be selected so you can copy or move them. To select several non-contiguous files, hold down the Control key while you select each file or folder.





There are the following three ways by which you can get your files or folders:

Computer(on the desktop)
Start menu
Windows explorer
Windows Explorer contains a list of all the files and folders placed in your computer.

To run windows Explorer:

Click on Start button.
Choose All Programs.
Choose Accessories.
Click on Windows Explorer.
The window explorer consists of two panes. The left pane displays a list of disks and folders, and the right pane displays the contents of the selected folder or drive.

The folder list on the left display icons for all the disks and folders on your system. To display the folder on a disk or the subfolder inside another folder click on the plus (+) sign, next to the disk’s or folder’s icon.

The folder list expands displaying the folder on the disk or subfolder in the selected folder. To display the contents of a folder, click on its name.



When you click on a folder, the folder on a disk or the subfolder in a folder, click on the minus (-) sign, next to the drive’s or folder’s icon.

As you move further through, the back button becomes active. Click on the back button to go back to the previous display.

When you press the back button, the forward button becomes active. Click on the forward button to move ahead to the next display.

To quickly change to different disk or folder, open the address drop-down list and select the desired disk or folder.

Note: All the entire contents of the file will be highlighted by right clicking on the document and then clicking on select All.