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

This is the final article in this series for the present. To end off, I’m going to show you a bunch of techniques for moving, copying and deleting files, then throw in a bunch of tips to make your computing life less frustrating.

In the last article, you tried one technique for moving files from one folder to another. That technique – dragging-and-dropping in an Explorer window – is certainly the simplest, but not necessarily the safest. For instance, it’s fairly easy to drop a file accidentally onto the wrong folder; you may then have trouble locating its whereabouts. Also, how can you tell whether you’ve copied a file or moved it? There are techniques for doing both, but they’re not the same in Windows 95/98 and Windows Me.

Moving files the safe way

Windows provides other methods for copying and moving files, and one of them is pretty close to foolproof – perfect for beginners who can’t work out why their files keep disappearing.

This foolproof method makes use of Windows’ temporary storage area, the Clipboard. Just about all Window programs and folder windows allow access to the Clipboard using the Copy, Cut and Paste commands you’ll find in the Edit Menu. Any sort of data, from files to entire folders to a picture to a few words of text, can be temporarily stored on the Clipboard.

The key word here is temporarily. The Clipboard holds one item at a time, so every time you use either a Copy or Cut command it will obliterate the existing data on the Clipboard.

The normal way to move a file is to Cut it from its original location and Paste it into its destination folder. However, because it’s easy for beginners to delete files accidentally using this technique, here’s a surefire method:

  1. Open My Documents and locate the file you wish to move (it may be in a sub-folder, so dig around until you locate it).

  2. Click the file (or folder) you wish to move to highlight it.

  3. Click the right mouse button on any of the selected files to display a pop-up menu.

  4. Select Copy from the pop-up menu to copy the files to the Clipboard.

  5. Now navigate to the destination folder and open its window.

  6. Click the right mouse button in an empty space in the folder and select Paste from the pop-up menu. Be careful not to select Cut or Copy, or you’ll have to repeat the whole procedure.

  7. You’ll see the file added to the destination folder. Once you’ve made sure your file is safely in its new location, you can delete it from the original location if you wish.

Windows Me’s special moves

If you’re using Windows Me, there’s another simple way to move files:

  1. Open My Documents (or Windows Explorer) and locate the file you want to move or copy.

  2. Click the file once to highlight it.

  3. To copy the file to another folder, click the Copy To button on the toolbar; to move the file, click the Move To button on the toolbar. A Browse For Folder dialog box showing a list of your folders will appear.

(Note: If you can’t see the Copy To and Move To buttons, open the View Menu, select Toolbars and select the Standard Buttons option to place a tick beside it.)

  1. In the Browse For Folder dialog box, scroll through the list of folders until you find the destination folder, then click the folder once to highlight it. You may need to click the + sign beside a folder to see any sub-folders it contains, and remember if you want to copy/move the file to the Desktop or My Documents folders, these are positioned at the very top of the list.

  2. Click OK to complete the move or copy operation.

Copying files in Windows Me

One advantage Windows Me has over its predecessors – a simplified technique for copying and moving files. (Click the image to see a full-size screenshot.)

Deleting files

Deleting files is even easier than copying and moving them. If that sounds a little dangerous, never fear! In Windows, deleted files are first placed into a sort of limbo – which you and I know as the Recycle Bin. Deleted files can rise, Phoenix-like, from the Recycle Bin and be restored to their original locations.

To delete an unwanted file or folder, click it once to select it and press the Delete (or Del) key. If Windows asks whether you’re sure you want to delete it, click Yes.

Alternatively, you can drag-and-drop the file directly into the Recycle Bin (although in this case you won’t see the prompt asking whether you’re sure). Either way, the Recycle Bin will hold all your deleted files until you either choose to empty the bin or you run out of space in the bin. When the Recycle Bin is full, Windows will automatically start permanently deleting files in it, starting with the files you deleted first.

And undeleting them...

This double deletion method gives you a good chance to undelete files, a lifesaver when you find you’ve been too quick with the Delete key. On these occasions, all you need to do is:

  1. Double-click the Recycle Bin to open it.

  2. Locate the file you wish to undelete. If you’re having trouble locating the file, click the Views button and select Details. Then click the heading at the top of the Date Deleted column so there’s a grey down-arrow beside the heading. This places the most recently deleted files at the top of the list.

  3. Right-click the file you wish to undelete to display a pop-up menu and choose Restore to restore the file to its previous location.

  4. If you don’t want to place the file in its old location, instead of right-clicking it you can drag it onto the Desktop or into an open folder window.

Remember, the earlier you act, the more chance the file will still be in the Recycle Bin.

Custom recycling

You can change the features of your Recycle Bin to allow it to store more discarded files before deleting them permanently, and to adjust other settings. First, right-click the Recycle Bin and choose Properties from the pop-up menu to display the Recycle Bin Properties dialog. Now, try this:

To permanently delete all files in the Recycle Bin, right-click the Bin and choose Empty Recycle Bin from the pop-up menu.

Change the way your Recycle Bin works by adjusting its properties.

Hot tip 1: Finding files

Can’t remember where you stuck a file? Perhaps you can’t remember the filename, and all you recall is the subject of a file. No problem:

  1. Click Start, Search, For Files and Folders. (In Windows 95 and Windows 98, it’s Start, Find, Files or Folders.)

  2. Type in as much of the name as you accurately remember and click Search Now.

If you still can’t find the file, explore some of the other options in the Search window. For example, if you can’t remember a filename at all but you remember an exact phrase contained in the document, type that phrase in the Containing Text box and click Search Now.

Hot tip 2: Selecting multiple files

Often you’ll want to copy, move, delete or open more than one file at a time. To do this, you need to select multiple files simultaneously. Here’s how:

Hot tip 3: Selecting files by corralling them

For an even quicker method of selecting multiple files, you can click-and-drag a box around the files. This is best experimented with on the Desktop, so minimise any windows you have open so you can see the Desktop clearly. Now, click in a vacant spot on the Desktop and drag the mouse slightly downwards and to the right. Notice how, as you do so, a dotted outline of a box appears? (It disappears as soon as you released the mouse button.) This is called a selection rectangle.

Of course, this technique didn’t appear to do much because you tried it on a vacant part of the Desktop. If you now try the same technique and this time ensure that one or more icons are included in the selection rectangle you draw, you’ll notice that each of the included icons is highlighted (selected) when you complete the box (and release the mouse button).

You can use this same corralling technique in Windows Explorer, folder windows, and even in Open and Save As dialog boxes within applications.


Hot tip 4: Creating Desktop folders

You’re not restricted to creating folders within My Documents or via Windows Explorer. You can also create folders on the Desktop. This is especially useful when you need a folder on-the-fly or temporarily. You can easily delete it when it’s no longer needed. To create a folder on the Desktop:

  1. Right-click a vacant spot on the Desktop.

  2. From the pop-up menu displayed, choose New, Folder.

  3. Right-click the new folder, choose Rename, type in a name and press Enter.

  4. Using your mouse, drag the folder to an appropriate spot on your Desktop.

© 2002,  Rose Vines

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