using windows 10 file explorer - bristol village...

Using Windows 10 File ExplorerUsing Windows 10 File ExplorerBy Len Nasman, Bristol Village Computer Club

Understanding Windows 10 File Explorer is key to taking control of your computer.If you have ever saved a file and later had a hard time finding it, or if you havedownloaded picture files and want to organize them into a manageable system, Win-dows 10 File Explorer will help. If you want to transfer files to or from flash drivesor an external hard drive, Windows 10 File Explorer can make the job easy.

The Windows 10 File Explorer presents a significant change from WindowsExplorer that was included with earlier versions of Windows. If you are bothered bythe changes, fear not. If you spend a little time going through this document and learn to use the new File Explorer, you will find it easy to use and more powerful then the old Windows Explorer.

Just as Microsoft Internet Explorer provides a method of accessing the Internet in an organized fashion, Windows 10 File Explorer provides a method of examining and organizing files in your computer. This tutorial is designed to provide the basic information needed to take control of your computer files through the use of Windows 10 File Explorer.

Computer FilesComputer Files

Did you know that nearly every bit of information in your computer is organizedinto files? The programs that run applications are stored in files. Applications(Apps) are computer programs that allow you to do word processing, enhance pic-tures, read and write email, explore the Internet, or do anything at all with yourcomputer. The data used to show the contents of an email message or a picture isstored in files. When you receive an email message from someone, the message iscopied from a file somewhere in the world to a file in your electronic mailbox. Ifyou want to be in control of your computer, you have to learn about the computerfiling system.

Computer files are stored on disk drives. Disk drives take the form of hard drives, CD and DVD drives, flash drives, memory cards, and, in the old days, floppy disk drives. The main storage location for computer files are hard drives, and the main hard drive in a Windows computer is identified as C: along with a drive name.

It might help understand how computer files are organized by thinking of using electronicfile cabinets. The different disk drives in the computer are kind of like different file cabi-nets. Each file cabinet can have several drawers, and each drawer can contain file folderswhere documents (or files) are stored. Also, just like it is possible to place several foldersinside of a larger folder in a file cabinet drawer, you can have folders inside of folders on adisk drive.

Inside a hard drive

Using Windows 10 File Explorer

In the electronic computer filecabinet, each disk drive can beorganized into folders, and afolder can contain one ormore files. It is also possibleto have a folder inside anotherfolder that is inside anotherfolder and so on. The tool thatcan be used to visualize howthese electronic files are orga-nized, and the tool that givesyou control over all of thesedisk drives, folders, and filesis Windows 10 File Explorer.

Each computer file has a par-ticular format, or method oforganizing the bits of data thatmake the file. When an appli-cation program (like a wordprocessor or a graphics pro-gram) saves a file, it organizes the data in a manner specific to that program. The example open File Explorer window shows the hard drive C:, a list of folders in drive C:, and the contents of a selected folder.

Data is organized differently in text documents than it is in picture or graphics files.To tell one type of file format from another, a three letter file name extension isadded to the end of the file name. For example, if you save a document using a wordprocessing program and name the document mine, the name of the file that is savedmight be mine.doc. If you create a picture using a paint program and name the pic-ture mine, the file that is saved might be mine.jpg. When you want to retrieve yourdocument or picture, Windows can tell from the three letter file name extension thedifference between document and picture files, and knows which program to use toopen the file.

Windows 10 uses a Desktop screen. The Desktop screen display will contain a number of Shortcut icons and has a horizontal area across the bottom of the display know as the Taskbar.When the File Explorer window is open, the system will show a File Explorer window on the Desktop display.

A File Explorer window.


Opening Windows 10 File ExplorerOpening Windows 10 File Explorer

NOTE: In this document, select means to position the mouse pointer on an object and then clickthe left mouse button once.

Now it is time for you to start exploring the features of Windows 10 File Explorer.

NOTE: When you position the mouse cursor over a tool icon for a few seconds (hover), a Tool Tip will appear that describes the tool function.

Open Windows 10 FileExplorer – Method 1

✔ Open Windows 10 FileExplorer from the Desktopdisplay by selecting the FileExplorer Taskbar icon.

Open Windows 10 File Explorer – Method 2✔ Open Windows 10 File Explorer by holding the Windows Key down and,

while holding the Windows Key down, press the E key.

A Typical Windows 10 Desktop


Open Windows 10 File Explorer – Method 3✔ Open Windows 10 File Explorer by first selecting the

Windows Start tool. Next, select the small arrow beside the File Explorer listing. Then choose the Desktop option.

All three of these methods have the same result, they open a new File Explorer window on the Desktop. Use the method that is themost comfortable for you.

The File Explorer window has a column onthe left side that provides different file Access Options. Each of these can beexpanded by selecting the small arrow on theleft side of each option.

The File Explorer window uses a ribbontoolbar style interface. This replaces theolder drop down menu style.

The contents of the Ribbon Menu changewhen you select different tabs on the menubar just below the window title..

NOTE: One of the file Access Options in Windows 10 is the Cloud Drive. This is a collection of hard drives that are owned and controlled by Microsoft, and requires an Internet connection and an active Microsoft Account to use. Because I am a control freak and want to own my files,I never use cloud storage. There may be some advantage for some people who do not want to maintain their own hard drives, or who need access to files from different computers in differentlocations. But I prefer to have complete control of my files. Companies that offer cloud storage are taking control and ownership of peoples personal files, in my opinion a bad idea for most users.


The Quick Access option shows lists of recentlyaccessed folders and data files. These lists can beopened or closed by selecting the small arrow to theleft side of the lists.

The This PC option shows a list of the differentdrives installed on the computer. If you insert a flashdrive or a camera memory card, the drive will appearon this list. In the example shown, a flash drive thathas been renamed LEN32A is included on the list ofdrives.

If you are using flash drives, you can renamethem. Right click on the drive in the list andselect the rename option from the context menuthat appears.

The Network option shows a list of the differentcomputers available if the computer is part of a localnetwork. The network administrator must set permis-sions on these drives before they can be accessedfrom a different network computer

When a drive is selected, the File Explorer ribbonmenu has several tabs: Home, Share, View, and Manage. Each of these tabs has a ribbon menu.

Each of the File Explorer ribbon menus contain avariety of tools. In the old Windows Explorer, using these tools required selecting from multiple pop down menus, and some tools easily found in File Explorer ribbons were very hard to find in the old Windows Explorer..

Some of the ribbon tools will be gray, or ghosted, when they are not available. They will become available when particular files or folders are selected.


The Home RibbonThe Home Ribbon

The example shows the Homeribbon when a folder has beenselected.

In the example, a drive namedTutorials (J:) has beenexpanded. This drive containsa folder named LensTutori-als, that contains 3 folders: Computer Tips and Tricks,LibreOffice-5, and Tutorials-Achives. The indented outlineform shows what folders arecontained inside of other fold-ers.

The example shows that asubfolder named Win10File-Explorergfx has been selected. The contents of this folder are displayed as icons in the window. The Direc-tory path shows the current selected location.

Observe that to the left of each drive and folder shown in the File Explorer list there is either a ˅ or a > symbol. The > symbol indicates that there are sub folders in this listing. When the > symbol is selected, the contents of that listing will be expanded. When the ˅ symbol is selected, the list will be compressed.

The Home ribbon provides tools to Move, Copy, or Delete the selected folder or file. The Home ribbon also provides a way to create a new folder or rename an existing file or folder.

Hot Key shortcuts: There are two keyboard shortcuts that you should memorize soon. The Copy shortcut is Ctrl+C, and the Paste shortcut is Ctrl+V. (Ctrl+C means hold the Ctrl key down and press the C key.)These shortcuts can not only be used in File Explorer, they can also be used in most application software such as Word Processing.

If you hover the mouse cursor over a tool, a tool tip will open that describes the function of the tool. The tool tip may also show a hot key shortcut to that function.

Home ribbon with active tools.


The Share RibbonThe Share Ribbon

If you want to email a file (orfiles) to a friend, use FileExplorer to locate the file,select it, and then open the Share ribbon and select the Email option. This will openyou Email program with theselected file (or files)attached.

The Share ribbon also pro-vides an easy way to burnfiles onto a CD or DVD. Sim-ply select the files you wantand then use the Burn to disctool found in the Share ribbon.

The View RibbonThe View Ribbon

Share ribbon Email tool..


The View ribbon providesoptions for displaying files.This is where you can chooseto show files in a detailed listor as different size icons.

You can open a Preview paneor Details pane. (The Details pane is illustrated.) A text boxshows the current directorypath.

There is a toggle box to dis-play check boxes beside eachitem. This provides an addi-tion to highlighting an item toshow it has been selected.

I always turn on the Filename extensions option. Sincethe file name extension showsthe type of file, I find thisindispensable.

I also alternate between the Details and Large icons lay-out view options. When I amlooking for graphic images Iuse large icons. When I wantto search for files by name ordate, I use the Details option(not to be confused with the Details Pane toggle).

The Details option lists fileinformation in columns. Whatcolumns are included is con-trolled by right clicking on thecolumn header and thenselecting options from a popup context menu.

Files can be sorted using the Sort by tool in the View ribbon. You can also sort files by clicking on the desired column header. Each time you select a column header, the sort alternates between ascending and descending order.

View ribbon tools.

Viewing by Details.


The Manage RibbonThe Manage Ribbon

Slide shows were never eas-ier! The Manage ribbon pro-vides a one click method forcreating a slide show if youhave selected a graphic filetype. If the selection checkbox option is on, (see sectionon the View ribbon) you canuse it to select picture files forthe slide show. Once thedesired files have beenselected, just click on the Slide show tool.

To stop a slide show, press the Esc key.When the slide show is running, right click toopen a context menu. This menu providesoptions for setting the speed and other func-tions.

The Manage ribbon also provides a tool tochange the Desktop background picture.(This does the same thing as the Personalize,Desktop Background option that is opened byright clicking on an empty spot on the Desk-top.)

If you select a graphic file, you can use the Manage ribbon to rotate the image. This isuseful if you have camera pictures that weretaken with the camera turned to portraitmode.

The Manage Ribbon

Slide show context menu.


The Play RibbonThe Play Ribbon

If you select one or more music files, the Play ribbonwill appear.

When you select the Play tool,the system will open yourdefault music player programand play the selected musicfiles.

The Add to playlist tool, whenused with the Windows Media Player, will help youcreate a new playlist. The example shows the resultof selecting the Add to playlist tool with the selec-tions shown in the previous figure. Windows MediaPlayer shows the selected files as an unsavedplaylist and provides an option for saving the list. Ibelieve that this is much easier than creatingplaylists in earlier versions of Windows.

Some folks might prefer using the Xbox music playerthat is available in Windows 10.

The Play Ribbon.

Windows Media Player


The Directory PathThe Directory Path

A useful feature in File Explorer is the Directory Path box.

Observe that the directory path shown in the example reflects the list of folders displayed on the left side of the File Explorer window. One handy feature of the directory path is that you can jump to any location in the path simply by clicking on it in the directory path box.

Let's analyze the directory path shown in the example. The starting point in the path is This PC (known in earlier versions of Windows as My Computer). A number of different disk drives are installed in the examplecomputer. In the example, drive E: (Bristol Village 500 GB) was selected. The Tutorials folder was selected from the root directory of drive E:. Next, the folder Using File Explorer was selected followed by selecting the folder Win8FileExplorer. The icons shown are for the files in the Win8FileExplorer folder, and the file Detective.jpg is selected.

This version was created August 22, 2016 by Len Nasman.

If you reproduce this document, please credit the Bristol Village Computer Club < www.bvres.org >.

Please send comments about this document to:

The Directory Path box.

http://bvres.org/BVWeb2012/Computer_club/bvcc/bvcc_home.html

http://bvres.org/BVWeb2012/Computer_club/bvcc/bvcc_home.html

http://www.bvres.org/

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