(If you’re using Windows 98 or Windows Me, there’s a version of this article specifically tailored to you.)

Windows is a remarkably flexible tool. It usually offers you two, three or more ways to accomplish the same task, leaving it up to you to choose the method that seems best.

Take a simple example such as renaming a file. You have your choice of four ways of doing this:

Method 1. Click the file once to highlight it, wait a second, then click it once more (it’s important to pause between the two clicks or otherwise Windows will think you’re double-clicking the file in order to open it). The name will be selected and you can type the new name directly over the old name or click with the mouse within the name to edit it. Once you’ve changed the name, press Enter.

Method 2. Right-click a file and choose Rename from the pop-up menu that appears, then edit the name as in method 1.

Method 3. Right-click a file to display the pop-up menu and press M, then edit the name as in method 1. (Are you wondering why this works? Take a look at the pop-up menu and you’ll see that the ‘m’ in Rename is underlined. When you open any menu, you can quickly activate an option in the menu by pressing its underlined letter. This technique works equally well in your word processor or graphics program as it does in Windows itself.)

Method 4. Click the file you wish to rename then click the Rename This File option in the list of File And Folder Tasks on the left. Type the new name for the file and press Enter. (Note: This method is not available in versions of Windows prior to Windows XP.)

You’ll find a similar choice of methods for almost anything you do in Windows. That’s certainly the case when it comes to organising your files.

Three ways to organise files

Most beginners start off by organising files directly via the My Documents icon or via My Computer. The first provides quick access to documents you have saved within the My Documents folder on your hard disk; the second provides shortcuts to files and folders on all of your disks, including hard disks, floppies and CD-ROM. A third alternative is to use a program called Windows Explorer.

Because it’s the simplest method, we’ll start by using My Documents.

What is My Documents?

The My Documents icon on the desktop is a shortcut to the My Documents folder on your hard disk. This folder is created automatically by Windows as a convenient repository for any files you create. You’re under no obligation to store your files in My Documents, but it makes sense to use it.

Why? Because storing your files in a central folder makes it easy to locate them and easy to back them up. As My Documents is already provided, why not use it? You can then create as many sub-folders as you like within the My Documents folder to organise your files further.

Another reason for using My Documents is that many Windows programs automatically assume you’ll use My Documents as your central storage folder. Microsoft Word, for instance, automatically saves documents in the My Documents folder unless you specify another location.

With each new release of Windows, Microsoft has placed increasing emphasis on My Documents as a central file store, encouraging customers to use it. Its special desktop icon is an indication of this status and, in the most recent versions of Windows, Microsoft has gone a step further by placing other special folders including My Pictures and My Music within My Documents.

In fact, you’ll find that Windows Explorer, the file management tool in previous versions of Windows, has faded into the background and has barely maintained its identity as a separate entity. Instead, XP encourages you to access all your files by clicking the Start Button and then selecting My Documents.

That’s one click too many, in my book, for something you use so often. So why not stick a shortcut to My Documents in your Quick Launch bar so you can open it with a single click:

  1. Open the Start Menu, right-click the My Documents icon and select Show On Desktop from the pop-up menu.
  2. Drag the My Documents icon from the Desktop onto the Quick Launch bar, immediately to the right of the Start button.
  3. If you can’t see the icon in the Quick Launch bar, unlock the Taskbar (right-click in an empty spot on the Taskbar and, if there’s a tick (checkmark) beside the Lock The Taskbar option, select the option to disable it). Now drag the horizontal divider between the Quick Launch area and the program launch area to the right until your new icon is visible. Then relock the Taskbar by reselecting the Lock The Taskbar option.
  4. If you desire, remove the Desktop My Documents icon by clicking Start, right-clicking the My Documents icon on the Start Menu and reselecting Show On Desktop.

Exploring My Documents

When you open My Documents, or any folder window for that matter, one of the biggest changes in XP becomes apparent. On the right of the window you can see a list of sub-folders and files contained within the My Documents folder, while along the top is a menu bar with a toolbar underneath, much like Windows 98 and Me. Down the left side of every folder window you’ll find something new: A Task Pane. The contents of the pane alter depending on the type of folder you have opened or the files you have selected. The overall structure of each pane, however, is the same: A list of tasks at the top; an Other Places section in the middle; and a Details section at the bottom. For special folders such as My Pictures, there’s an additional specialised tasks section at the top. You can hide or display any of these sections by clicking the chevron icon near the top right of the section.

Figure 1: A typical (albeit somewhat overstuffed!) My Documents folder in Windows XP. Click the image to see a full-size screenshot.

When you select one or more items, you’ll see the Task Pane options change. For single files, the options are Rename, Move, Copy, Publish to the Web, E-mail, Print and Delete. For folders, the print option isn’t available (shame, Microsoft!) but you gain a Share option, which lets you share the folder with other users on your computer or network.

The Task Panes supplement the old techniques for managing files. If you want to use the options on the File and Edit menus, or right-click commands or toolbar-based commands, you can do that, but you’ll usually find it easier to avail yourself of the Task Pane options.

Organising with sub-folders

You can create any sub-folders you like within the My Documents folder. If you share your computer with others, for example, you may wish to create a sub-folder for each person who uses the computer. Each user, in turn, can create their own sub-folders within their named folder.

Alternatively, you might like to organise your folders according to the type of file each contains or the function they perform (correspondence, budgetting and so on).

Working with folders

Try this yourself. To create a new folder, either:

or

or

To create a sub-folder within the folder you’ve just created, double-click the folder to open it and then repeat the step above, using whichever method you prefer. You can do this to your heart’s desire, creating sub-folder within sub-folder. To navigate between the folders, simply double-click to open a folder, then click the Up icon on the toolbar to move back up to the parent folder.

The folder tree

By creating folders within folders, you build a folder hierarchy, or tree. This is much easier to understand if you click the Folders button on the toolbar. When you do so, the Task Pane is replaced with a Folders list displaying a hierarchical list of folders. If you click a folder in the Folders list its contents are displayed on the right. Click through the folders on the left and watch the contents change in the right-hand pane.

The Task Pane is especially geared towards beginners, making a myriad of tasks easier to perform. But sometimes it makes sense to use the Folders List. Many experienced users prefer this two-paned view because it makes it easy to move files by dragging and dropping them.

For instance, to move the file Adagio for Strings.wma from its current location in the My Documents folder (see Figure 2) into the My Music sub-folder, all you have to do is drag the file onto the My Music icon on the left – the icon will be highlighted when you have the file in the correct position – and then release the mouse button. If you make a mistake, right-click in a vacant space in the right-hand pane and choose Undo Move from the pop-up menu.

Figure 2. Clicking the Folders button on the toolbar gives you a hierarchical, two-paned view of your files. This is akin to using Windows Explorer in Windows 98 and Windows 95. Click the image to see a full-size screenshot.

© 2002,  Rose Vines

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