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 bar.
Tip:
if the menu is off, you can turn it on temporarily by pressing the ALT key.
The Toolbar holds buttons representing commonly used functions. The Toolbar buttons change depending on what is being viewed but the Organize and Views buttons are always present. To see how the Toolbar changes to suit the type of files, you will now view different folders containing different file types.
1 In the Navigation Pane Favorite Links section, click Pictures.
The Toolbar now includes some new buttons such as Slide Show and Burn which are appropriate tools when dealing with picture files. (Figure 2.19)
Figure 2.19 Toolbar changes depending on type of files
2 Now single click an entry in the file list to select it– click either a picture file or folder containing pictures.
The Toolbar changes once more and adds buttons for commonly used functions for the file or folder type selected. (Figure 2.20)
Figure 2.20 Toolbar gives more options for image handling for picture files
In the example shown in Figure 2.20, a picture file has been selected in the file list and the Toolbar now contains buttons for Preview, Slide Show, Print, Email, Share and Burn (to a CD or DVD) in addition to the Organize and Views buttons.
3 In the Navigation Pane Favorite Links section, click Music and open up a folder containing music or select (i.e. single click) a music file in the file list.
The
Toolbar now holds buttons for playing the music, sharing and burning to CD or
DVD. (Figure 2.21)
Figure 2.21 Typical Toolbar when viewing music files
As you navigate through the file system, the Toolbar adapts to make commonly used functions easy to access.
1 In the Navigation pane, click the Documents entry in Favorite Links.
The contents of the Documents folder are viewed in the file list in the right hand side pane.
2 Click the Organize button on the Toolbar.
A drop down menu appears (Figure 2.22). Any commands that are “grayed” out are not active for that specific view.
Figure 2.22 Organize button drop down menu
3 Point to the Layout entry. (Do not click.)
A fly-out menu appears giving you the option to include the Menu Bar and optional panes in the Window layout. You will be trying these out later in this lesson
4 Examine some of the other choices the Organize menu incorporates such as the ability to create a new folder, copy, paste and delete selected item(s), and other commonly used tools. You will be using some of these later.
You previously used the Views button to change how the File list is displayed. This is now reviewed.
1 Click the down arrow to the right of the Views button (click the down arrow, not the Views button itself).
A drop-down menu appears with a slider control. (Figure 2.23)
Figure 2.23 Change the view using the slider
2 Place the pointer on the slider and click, hold, and drag the slider up and down (slowly) to see how the file list view is changed. Leave it at any setting and release the mouse button.
3 Click the Views button (not the down arrow but the button itself) and the file list view cycles through the various options. Leave the Views setting at Details.
The Navigation pane is comprised of a Favorite
Links section and a Folders section.
The Favorites Links section allows you to instantly jump to a folder such as
Documents, Pictures, or Music with a single click.
The Folders section in the lower half of the Navigation pane presents a hierarchal view of the folder structure and allows you to navigate through the file system much like you did using the Address bar.
1 In the Favorites Links, click Documents.
The file list displays the contents of the Documents folder.
2 In the Favorites Links, click Pictures.
The file list displays the contents of the Pictures folder.
3 Click the Back button on the address bar to return to the Documents folder.
4 In the Address bar, click the Personal folder entry to return to that folder.
You should now be viewing the contents of the Personal folder in the file list.
Challenge:
If you often go to a folder that is not on the Favorites Links list, find the
folder using Windows Explorer and then drag and drop that folder to Favorite
Links section. It will then be included in this list for quick access.
Navigate using the Folders list
The Folders list presents a hierarchal view of folders and sub-folders. In the Folders list, the Personal folder entry will be shaded indicating that is the active folder path (see Figure 2.24).
Figure 2.24 Folders list in Navigation pane
1 If the arrow to the left of the Personal folder entry is pointing to the right and there are no indented sub-folder below it (such as Contacts, Desktop, Documents and so on, as seen in Figure 2.24), click the arrow.
It changes to a tilted down arrow and the sub-folders appear indented below it.
Note:
you need to place the pointer near the folder entry – in this case the Personal
folder – for the arrow to appear assuming there are sub-folders to view.
2 If you already see the indented sub-folder, click the down arrow to the left of the Personal folder and note how the sub-folders now disappear and the tilted arrow goes back to one pointing right.
3 Leave the setting with the arrow tilted down, showing the sub-folders under the Personal folder.
4 Click the Documents entry in the Folders list.
All sub-folders and files contained within this folder appear in the file list.
5 A small right arrow to the left of a folder entry in the Folders list indicates it contains sub-folders. Click the right arrow to show the subfolders. The right arrow tilts down when the folder has been expanded to show its subfolders. Then click the tilted arrow to collapse or hide the subfolders. No arrow beside a folder indicates that there are no subfolders within that folder, though there may be files.
6 Click the arrow to the left of the Documents entry (if there is no arrow on your computer, there are no sub-folders). The arrow tilts down and any sub-folders are shown indented. (Figure 2.25)
Figure 2.25 Sub-folders of Documents
7 In the Folders list, find the Computer entry. You may have to scroll down this portion of the Navigation pane to find it. Bring the pointer to the Computer entry and click the small arrow to the left of this entry to display the drives and devices within Computer. (see Figure 2.26)
Figure 2.26 DVD/CD entry under Computer in Navigation pane
8 Click the DVD/CD drive entry to select it.
The contents of the Student CD - the Class Files folder appears in the file list. (see Figure 2.27).
Figure 2.27 Contents of Student CD – the Class Files folder
9 Click the small arrow left of DVD/CD drive entry in the Folders list.
The arrow changes to a tilted down arrow revealing an indented Class Files folder in the Folders list (see Figure 2.28).
Figure 2.28 View contents of DVD/CD drive in Navigation pane folders list
10 Click the tilted-down arrow to the left of the DVD/CD entry.
The arrow returns to a right pointing arrow and the sub-folder list (in this case the Class files entry) is hidden.
11 Click the right-pointing arrow to the left of the DVD/CD entry to reveal the Class Files folder once more.
Note: Why are you doing this somewhat
repetitive exercise? For practice of course and to get comfortable with
navigating through folders.
1 In the Navigation pane, click the Class Files under the DVD/CD entry in the Folders list.
The contents of this folder are presented in the file list. Numerous files are listed.
2 Click the down arrow to the right of the Views button on the toolbar and move the slider bar to Details if it is not already selected.
This allows you to see the Name, Size, Type and Modification Date for each of the files (see Figure 2.29).
Figure 2.29 Detail view of Class Files folder contents
3 In the Folders list, click the Documents folder and select it so its contents appear in the file list
(Hint:
you may need to scroll up the Folders list pane to find the Personal folder
entry. The Documents folder is a sub-folder of this. If it is not visible in
the list, click the arrow to the left of the Personal folder entry to reveal
its sub-folders including the Documents folder.)
Navigate within the file list main window
1 Click the Back button on the Address bar.
The file list displays files within the Class files folder.
2 Click the Back button once more.
You are returned to the Class Files folder in the file list.
3 In the file list (right side pane), double-click the Class Files folder entry to open it.
The contents of the Class files folder is listed.
Challenge:
at home, practice navigating through the folder hierarchy using combinations of
the Address bar, the Favorite Links, Folders list and File list. Often a
combination of these techniques can get you to the desired folder or file
quickest. Stay within the folder and subfolders under the Personal folder
Tip: Regardless
of how you navigate, keep an eye on the Address bar. It tells you where you
are!
If you need to make one of the panes wider to view the items in it, point to the divider separating the left and right panes (the pointer will become a double-headed horizontal arrow) and drag the pointer either left or right, depending on which pane you want to widen. Figure 2.30 shows the shape the pointer takes when resizing horizontally or vertically.
Figure 2.30 Resize pointers
1 Place the mouse pointer on the divider between the Navigation pane (left) and the file list (right) pane.
It becomes a double-headed arrow.
2 Press and hold down the mouse button and drag the pointer to the right to increase the size of the Navigation (left) pane.
The Navigation pane becomes wider as the right pane shrinks in size. If some of the folder names extend beyond the border, making the Navigation pane wider will enable you to see them better.
3 Drag the divider to the left.
The Navigation pane shrinks in size and the right pane gets wider. If some of the file details extend beyond the right border, making the right pane wider will enable you to see the information better.
Note: You can
also resize the split between the Favorite links pane and the Folders list pane
by placing the pointer on the horizontal divider that separates these two panes
and using the technique above – this time resizing vertically.
Resize the columns in Details view.
The Views must be set to Details to follow this. You also can drag each of the column separators in the file list view in the right pane to make the information easier to read (see Figure 2.31).
Figure 2.31 Resize a column
1 Place the pointer on the vertical separator on the right of the category title Name at the top of the file list pane.). Click and hold down the mouse button and drag the separator to the left or right.
The number of characters you can see in each file name in the list of file names expands or shrinks enabling you to see more or less of the file name, depending on which way you drag the separator.
2 Drag the other separators at the top of the file list pane to the left and right.
See how you can tailor the look of the Windows Explorer to meet your needs.
The Details pane displays at the bottom of the Explorer window and shows common properties of the selected file. The contents of the Class Files folder should be in the file list.
1 Click the Organize button on the Toolbar.
A drop down menu appears.
2 Point to Layout on the drop down menu and on the fly-out menu that appears click Details pane.
The Details pane appears at the bottom of the Explorer window.
3 Single-click a file in the file list to select it (Do not double click - that will open the file; single click to select it).
The Details pane provides detailed information on the selected field and provides a small thumbnail preview for certain image-related files (see Figure 2.32).
Figure 2.32 The Details pane
Select (i.e. single click) other files and file types to see how the detail information changes.
The Preview pane provides a preview – where possible - of the selected file. It appears as a pane on the right side of Explorer.
1 Click the Organize button on the Toolbar, point to Layout and click Preview Pane.
A new pane opens on the right side of the Window and provides a small preview of the contents of the document (see Figure 2.33).
Note: There may only be a limited number of
file types that can be previewed on your system. Select different file types to
see what kind of files are previewed on your system.
2 Select various files in the Class Files folder to see which file types provide previews on your computer.
Figure 2.33 Explorer with Details pane and Preview Pane open with an image (JPEG file selected).
The Class Files should still be listed in the file list. Windows Explorer allows you to sort the file list in various ways.
1 At the top of the file list, click the Name heading.
The list of file names is sorted alphabetically. If they are currently in ascending order they will be sorted in descending order and vice versa.
2 Click the Name heading again.
The list of file names is sorted alphabetically in the reverse order. Each time you click on a sort criterion, you reverse the present order.
Note: a
small arrow in the sort heading indicates the sort order – ascending or
descending.
3 Click the Size heading.
The files are sorted according to size in ascending order (the smallest files are listed first) or descending order (the largest files are listed first). This enables you to see which files are large, thus being prime candidates to consider copying to a back up disk and deleting if you are running out of disk storage space.
4 Click the Size heading again.
The files are sorted according to size in reverse order.
5 Click the Date Modified heading.
The files are sorted according to date in ascending or descending order. Sorting by date may assist you in finding a file you modified on a certain date, such as sometime last January.
6 Click the Date Modified heading again.
The files are sorted according to date in reverse order.
7 Repeat this exercise for the Type heading to group like files together.
8 Close Windows Explorer by clicking the “X” on the title bar.
There are other ways to sort and group the file list in Explorer that are beyond the scope of these lessons. If you are interested in learning more about sorting and grouping files, go on line to www.windowshelp.microsoft.com . You will find a wealth of information on using Windows Explorer as well as other Windows Vista topics.
Open Windows Explorer in other ways
There are several ways you can open Windows Explorer. You will try each of the following to see which method you prefer:
1 Press the Windows
key 
while you press the E key (+ E.)
Explorer opens with Computer selected as the top level.
2 Click the X on the title bar to close the Explorer window.
3 Right-click the Start button to open a pop-up menu. Click Explore in the pop-up menu.
Explorer opens with the Start Menu folder selected as the top level.
Close all programs
1 Click the X on the title bar of Explorer as well as any other open windows so that all programs are closed and you are returned to the desktop.
2 Press the eject button on the DVD/CD drive to eject the Student CD.
1 Click the Start button and bring the pointer to
the power option button 
.
A fly out menu appears with the various power options (Figure 2.34).
2 Click Shut Down to fully power-off the computer.
Figure 2.34 Power down options
· 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
In this lesson you became familiar with Windows Explorer and learned how to set various views and navigate the folder hierarchy. In the next lesson you will learn how to copy and move files.
Notes: