SeniorNet
Exploring
Windows
Lesson Two: Windows Explorer
The last lesson covered some basics of Windows Vista. You learned about the desktop, the Start menu, how to find and launch programs, some basics on file hierarchy, and how to use the Help and Support feature.
In this lesson and the next, you will learn about Windows Explorer and work with files and folders. Learning how to effectively use Windows Explorer is perhaps the most important thing you will gain from this course.
In this lesson you will learn how to:
· Open Windows Explorer and examine parts of this window
· Change the view of the folders and files in Explorer
· Navigate through the folder hierarchy using the Address bar, Favorite links and the Folders list.
· View the Details and Preview panes
· Sort files view in Windows Explorer
Contents Page
Objectives...................................................................................................................................... 1
Windows Explorer........................................................................................................................ 3
Start Windows Vista..................................................................................................................... 3
The Student CD............................................................................................................................. 3
Start Windows Explorer.............................................................................................................. 4
The Explorer window................................................................................................................... 5
Set the View................................................................................................................................... 6
The Views button.......................................................................................................................... 7
Title Bar......................................................................................................................................... 7
The Address Bar........................................................................................................................... 8
Use the back and forward buttons............................................................................................. 9
Practice - open a file.................................................................................................................. 12
Menu bar...................................................................................................................................... 12
Toolbar......................................................................................................................................... 13
Organize button.......................................................................................................................... 14
Views button............................................................................................................................... 15
Navigation Pane.......................................................................................................................... 15
Navigate using Favorite Links.................................................................................................. 16
Navigate using the Folders list................................................................................................. 16
View the contents of a folder................................................................................................... 19
Navigate within the file list main window.............................................................................. 20
Resize the panes......................................................................................................................... 20
Resize the columns in Details view......................................................................................... 21
The Details Pane......................................................................................................................... 21
Preview Pane............................................................................................................................... 22
Sorting files................................................................................................................................. 23
Open Windows Explorer in other ways.................................................................................. 24
Close all programs...................................................................................................................... 24
Turn off the computer................................................................................................................ 24
Now you can .............................................................................................................................. 24
In
Start Windows
1 Power up your computer and log on (if
necessary) to
Windows Vista starts up and the desktop appears.
In this lesson, you will be using files contained on the Student CD given to you as part of this course. (Please note: some students may be using files from a flash drive instead of a CD, your instructor will assist you in the small changes necessary to use a flash drive.)
1 Open the DVD/CD tray of your computer, place the Student CD in the tray and gently push the tray closed.
Figure 2.1 DVD/CD Autoplay dialog
2 Click the X in the top right corner to close this dialog as no action is required at this time. You will be accessing the Student CD shortly.
1 On the desktop, click the Start button
The Start menu opens.
Figure 2.2 Start Menu
2 Click the Personal folder entry at
the top of the right column. You will not see an entry called “Personal folder.”
As mentioned before, it takes the name
of the user account that is logged in. In
these lessons, the Personal folder is Seniornet,
it will be different on the computer in the
Windows Explorer opens viewing the contents of the Personal folder (Figure 2.3).
Figure 2.3 Windows Explorer opens to view contents of the Personal folder
3 If the Explorer window does not open full screen, Click the Maximize button (Figure 2.4) in the top right of the toolbar to maximize the window (i.e. fill your computer screen with this window).
Figure 2.4 Click Maximize button to fill screen with window
The contents of the Personal folder appear in the file list in the right hand pane. Your screen may not be identical to Figure 2.3, since there could be a different “view” configured in Windows Explorer and different files and folders under the Personal folder, but the default folders such as Documents, Music and Pictures will be there. Shortly, you will configure the view to match that shown in these lessons.
The Explorer window is made up of a Title bar, Address bar, Search box, Toolbar, and one or more window “panes”. In addition, a Menu bar can be turned on or off. The large pane on the right is called the file list or main window, is always open and shows the contents of the folder shown in the Address bar.
The left hand pane of Explorer, if present in your view, is the Navigation pane. It is comprised of two sections: Favorite links and a Folders list. The latter shows the file system organized in a hierarchy of folders and subfolders. If the Navigation pane or the Folders list is not seen in the Explorer view on your computer, you will be turning it/both on shortly.
The first step is to set the view to match that shown in this lesson so that you can follow step-by-step. How you set the view later on is a personal choice.
1 Click the Organize button on the Toolbar.
A drop down menu appears (Figure 2.5).
2 Place the pointer on Layout and a fly-out menu appears.
If the Menu Bar entry in the fly-out menu is not checked, click this entry. If it is checked, skip this step.
Figure 2.5 Organize button menu sequence
3 If you do not see the Navigation pane on the left side of the Window as shown in Figure 2.3, click the Organize button on the Toolbar once again.
4 Point to Layout and then click Navigation Pane on the fly-out menu.
The Navigation pane (left side of window) appears.
The Navigation pane has Favorite links at the top (always visible) and a Folders list at the bottom which may be collapsed to the bottom of the pane.
5 If you do not see the Folders list as shown in Figure 2.3, click the up arrow next to the word “Folders” that appears at the bottom of the Navigation pane. (Figure 2.6)
The Folders list is displayed below the Favorite links.
Figure 2.6 Folder List heading in Navigation Pane
1 Click the Views button on the Toolbar (click the button, NOT the down arrow to the right of it).
With each click of the Views button, the view of the files and folders in the file list cycles through various views: list, details, tiles and icons of varying sizes. Click through until the details view is shown with headings: Name, Date Modified, Size and Folder Path.
You should now have a view similar to Figure 2.7. The parts of the Explorer window can now be examined in more detail.
Figure 2.7 Windows Explorer window – Common View
The title bar is the horizontal light blue bar at the very top of the window. In Windows Explorer, there is no “title” shown in the title bar but it does holds the familiar minimize, maximize/restore and close buttons on the right hand side.
The Address Bar tells you what folder you are viewing and allows you to navigate between folders. To the left of the Address bar are the Back and Forward buttons.
These enable you to move back and forth to view the folders and subfolders that you have already opened (see Figure 2.8). This is identical in operation to the back and forward buttons of your favorite Web browser.
Figure 2.8 Windows Explorer navigation buttons
To the right of the Address bar is the Search box. Entering text into the Search box performs a search only on the files within the folder being viewed. Operation of the Search box will be covered later.
1 Click the arrow just to the right of the Personal Folder entry in the Address bar. See Figure 2.9. Again, in this lesson the Personal folder is called Seniornet while on your computer it will be the name of the active user.
The small arrow now points down and a drop-down list of sub-folders appears. In this case it will be the Windows default folders located under the Personal folder such as Documents, Music, Pictures, other default folders plus any that have been added.
Figure 2.9 Folders under Personal folder in Address Bar
2 Click the Documents entry in the drop-down menu.
The path in the Address bar now shows the Documents folder. (Figure 2.10) The file list shows the file and folders contained in the Documents folder (the contents will vary from computer to computer).
Figure 2.10 Path to Documents in Address bar
3 In the Address Bar, once again click the arrow just to the right of the Personal folder name. (Figure 2.11)
The folder list drops down showing those folders under the Personal folder once more.
Figure 2.11 Sub-folders of Personal folder viewed on Address bar
4 Click the Pictures entry.
The Address bar now points to the Pictures folder and the file list shows the contents of this folder. (Figure 2.12)
Figure 2.12 Picture folder – contents in file list
Use the back and forward buttons
1 Click the Back button on the toolbar to go back to the previous window you were viewing – the Documents folder.
2 Click the Forward button on the toolbar to return to the Picture folder.
3 Click the small right facing arrow just to the left of the Personal folder entry in the address bar.
The arrow now points down and a drop down list appears showing a set of high level folders and locations such as Computer, Control panel and Desktop including the Personal folder.
Figure 2.13 Examining High Level folders in Address bar
4 Click the Computer entry.
The Address bar shows Computer and a view of your computer hard disk drives is shown in the file list. (As seen in Lesson 1.)
Figure 2.14 Address path set to Computer
5 In the Address bar, click the arrow to the right of Computer.
A drop-down menu lists the devices present. (Figure 2.15). This will vary on your computer.
Figure 2.15 Devices under Computer viewed on Address bar
6 Click the DVD/CD entry.
The address path now includes the DVD/CD drive and the file list shows the contents of the Student CD; specifically, the Class Files folder.
Figure 2.16 Path set to Student CD, Class files folder seen in file list
7 On the Address bar, click the arrow to the right of the DVD/CD entry and a drop down menu containing one entry – Class Files – appears.
8 Click Class Files. (Figure 2.17)
Figure 2.17 View Contents of DVD/CD by setting path in Address bar
The list of files contained in this folder appears in the file list (Figure 2.18)
Figure 2.18 Path to Class Files folder set, contents of folder in file list
To summarize, you have navigated the folder structure including viewing the contents of the Student CD using only the Address bar. This is only one of several ways to navigate the file system. You will be shown more techniques later in the lesson. In practice, navigate through the folder hierarchy using whatever technique or combination of techniques you are most comfortable with.
You can open a file in the file list by double clicking on the entry.
1 In the file list, locate the file with the name bio_top and double-click it.
The file opens in a word processing application – either Wordpad or Word -depending on how your machine is configured.
2 Click the X at the top right of the Title bar of the word processor to close this application.
3 You may try opening other files in the Class Files folder by double-clicking each. Close each new open Window that opens when done. Leave Windows Explorer open.
In Windows Explorer, the menu bar holds common commands similar to other Windows applications. In this case: File, Edit, View, Tools and Help. In setting the common view, you turned the menu bar on. The default is off. Most of the time, you will not need to access commands in the menu bar as the commonly used commands can be accessed through the Toolbar’s Organize and List buttons. On your own, explore the options available on the Menu b