Working with Files and Folders

Create a new folder. Use My Computer to navigate to the location where you want the folder - such as within the My Documents folder on or the Desktop. Right click in a blank area and choose New, Folder from the popup menu. Type a folder name and then click outside the box to finish.

Rename a file or folder. Use My Computer to find (but not open) the file or folder. Use the mouse to RIGHT CLICK on the file or folder and choose RENAME from the popup menu that opens. The name will be highlighted ... click in the box and type the new name. Then use the mouse to click outside the box.

Make a copy of a file or folder. To make a copy of a file or folder, use My Computer to find (but not open) the file or folder. Right click on the file or folder and choose COPY from the popup menu. (Alternative: choose Edit, Copy from the menubar or click the Copy icon on the toolbar or press Ctrl-C on the keyboard.) The file or folder will be copied to the Windows Clipboard (short-term memory).

To copy a group of files or folders. To copy a group of files or folders, use the mouse to highlight the whole group. You can hold down the Ctrl key while clicking on each file or folder, or you can hold down the Shift key while clicking on the first and last file or folder in a list. Or you can use the mouse to highlight the group. Then right click and choose COPY from the popup menu (or Ctrl-C on the keyboard or Edit, Copy on the menubar or the Copy icon on the toolbar).

Paste a file or folder to a new location. Once you have copied a file or folder, use My Computer to navigate to the new location and PASTE the file or folder. To PASTE: Right click and choose Paste from the popup menu, or choose Edit, Paste from the menubar or click the PASTE icon on the toolbar or press Ctrl-V on the keyboard. You will see the file as it is copied to the new location.

Zip files or folders. When working with databases or other large files, you may want to zip (compress) files before emailing them to a co-worker or before copying the files to a diskette. If you have WinZip or a similar program on your computer, you can use right click on the file or folder (or highlight a whole group of files or folders as described above) and then right click and choose WinZip (or equivalent) from the popup menu. The file(s) or folders(s) will be compressed into a file with the file extension ".zip".

Change a READ-ONLY property. Sometimes when you get a file from a CD the file will be Read-Only. To resolve this issue, copy the file from the CD to the Desktop or other location on your computer, then right click on the file, choose PROPERTIES from the popup menu, and un-check the READ-ONLY property.

Other ways of copying/moving files. COPY and PASTE is probably the easiest way to make a copy of a file. Users also sometimes use File, Save As to make a copy of a document or spreadsheet. This method works with documents, spreadsheets and similar files, but DOES NOT work the same way with databases, since most databases are collections of several related files or tables. Users also often use the mouse to DRAG and DROP a file or folder from one location to another. This is also a good method, but in some cases, dragging and dropping will create a SHORTCUT to the file, instead of actually copying or moving the file, so use this method with care. In some cases, you can also right click on files or folders and choose SEND TO from a popup menu. Then specify the location where you want to place the file.