Access, retrieve and manipulate files
Principles of locating, selecting and opening files
Files and folders overview
Locating and selecting files
Opening a file
Use of folders and directories
Creating folders/directories and sub-directories
Good practice for frequently saving files
Auto-save
Version control
Basic procedure to exit software without loss of data
Difference between ‘Save’ and ‘Save As’
Summary
Check your progress
Principles of locating, selecting and opening files
Files and folders overview
All software applications involve creating or working with previously saved files and these are usually stored (saved) in folders on the local hard drive, a removable disk, or on another machine if connected to a network. All operating systems use folders, also known as directories, as a storage system for the files (just as you might use manila folders to organise information in a filing cabinet). This is referred to as the file structure of the organisation’s documents.
Different applications create different types of files such as documents, music, graphics, videos, and programs. To assist in the identification of files each file type has a unique extension attached to the file name to identify the type of file, eg ‘.xls’ indicates a file created by Microsoft Excel. Your operating system software may also give you the option to view files as icons (for viewing lists of files/folders from the desktop) and in this case different file types will identified with their own visual icon next to the file name.
Locating and selecting files
There are various ways to look for and select a file. Choose the best method depending on your situation and what you are going to do with the file. For example, here is a summary of ways to locate and select files with suggestions for when you might use that method:
Method for locating and selecting a file / Examples of situations1From the desktop: open the drive or disk that stores your folders/files (open by double clicking on the drive or disk icon on the desktop). Continue double clicking on folders to open them and view their contents. / (a)You want to explore the contents of drives and folders to find out where files are located.
(b)You know where the file is located you are looking for and haven’t yet launched the software application you will use.
(c)You are unsure of the software application used to create a file.
(d)You want to select the file so that you can copy it to another disk without having to open and resave the file.
2From the desktop: select a system software utility that allows you to browse, customise system menus and search for folders/files. / (a)You want to quickly scan the contents of a number of folders and sub-folders to look for files.
(b)You are unsure if you know where the file is, and may need to use a search tool to find it.
(c)You know where the file is located you are looking for and haven’t yet launched the software application you will use.
(d)You are frequently using the same folders/files and wish to place these in a desktop menu for easy access.
(e)You are unsure of the software application used to create a file.
3From within a software application: go to the File menu and select ‘Open’, or Control/Command key + O. This will open a box where you can browse all the directories (folders) on any drives to select the file you want. / (a)You are working in an application and need to open another file created by the same application.
(b)You need to open a file that has been created by another application, however the file format is compatible with your application.
(c)You want to open a file that was created with an older version of the software you are working in, and want to update the file to the newer version.
4From within a ‘search’ utility that is run by your system software: launch the search utility and enter key words or the exact file name in the search field. The file name and its location will be revealed in the search window. / (a)You know the name of a file but don’t know where it is saved.
(b)You don’t know the exact name of the file but know some key words it may contain in the file name.
(c)You want to find all the documents you have that contain the same key words or phrases.
Example: Applying different methods for selecting files
The following tutorial shows different ways to find and select and files or folders using Microsoft Windows XP as the example operating system and Microsoft Word.
1To select/access a file without first opening the application that was used to create it, use either ‘My Computer’ or ‘Explore’. My Computer is accessed by double clicking on the icon on the desktop. See Figure 1.
Figure 1
The view of the file structure from within My Computer may look like this:
Figure 2
Explore is accessed by right clicking on the Start button then left click on Explore as seen in Figure 3.
Figure 3
The view of the file structure from within Explore may look like Figure 4:
Figure 4
2You can also select a file from ‘Windows Explorer’. Click on Start/Programs/Accessories/Windows Explorer as shown in
Figure 5.
Figure 5
The view of the file structure from within Windows Explorer may look like Figure 6:
Figure 6
3To select and open a file from within an application go to the File menu and select Open, or, hold the <Ctrl> key and press the <O> key. This will open a dialogue box as shown in Figure 7 where you can choose a directory from the ‘Look in’ selection box and then a file from within the main window of the dialogue box.
Figure 7
With all of the above methods the next step is to select the location of the file, ie which drive, and which folder on that drive.
4For the occasions when you do not know where a file has been saved you can use the Search or Find functions within the operating system. Figure 8 shows how to access this facility in Windows XP from the Start button.
Figure 8
You can also reach the Search or Find facility from the toolbar within any of My Computer, Explore or Windows Explorer as seen in Figure 9.
Figure 9
If the file exists the Search/Find utility will report back with the file name and its location.
Opening a file
Once you have located the file by being able to view its name and/or icon within a folder window or dialogue box, you can open the file by either:
1double clicking on the icon/file name
2click once on the icon/file name ensuring the file name is highlighted (selected). Then go to the File menu and select ‘Open’, or press Control/Command key + O.
3if you have located the file by browsing in a dialogue box (eg using the Open command) you can select the file in the list then press the Enter key (or click on the OK button) to confirm your selection.
This will open the file in the application with which it was created, or you’ll be given an option for which application you want to use to open the file.
Opening an unknown file
If you don’t have the application that created the file you want to open, the system will display this warning when you double click on the unknown file. In this case, you can try launching a similar application and try selecting and opening the file from within this application (using File/Open method).
Use of folders and directories
To make the process of accessing files as efficient as possible, businesses need a structured filing system to logically organise the location of files. The uses of different folders (directories) that contain sub-folders (sub-directories) create a structured filing system. The root directory is the top level directory of a particular storage device and includes all other directories branching from it. It is often referred to by the letter of the drive on which it resides, eg C: drive, and may also have a name, eg ‘Local Disk’ (as in Figure 10).
To improve the organisation of the files and folders, system administrators take time to develop a ‘sensible’ folder structure and develop a policy for meaningful file names. An example of a meaningful file name is one that clearly indicates the content, date and author. For example, a letter to Bob Smith regarding paint needing to be bought could be saved as: Smith_paint_17-6-04.doc. Note: some characters are not acceptable by the operating system to use in file names, eg you cannot use the forward slash (/) or back slash (\) characters in file names in Windows XP.
The management of folders and files can be done from the desktop (ie viewing lists of folders and files within windows), or from within an application.
Figure 10: Example: in Windows 2000 C: drive is shown here as the root directory
Figure 11 below shows the hierarchical nature of the file structure from Figure 10 laid out in the more traditional sense of hierarchies. You can see that files and folders can be stored within other folders in a similar fashion to manila folders within a filing cabinet.
Figure 11
‘Path’ is the term used to describe the location of a particular folder, starting from the root directory and using a back slash (\) to separate each folder level down to the file, eg c:\itb\net\file.doc.
You need to be familiar with reading a path so that you can identify the location of a file and its ‘parent’ directory.
Example: Viewing the path of a file located within sub folders
This tutorial shows you how to view the path of a file when you have located it in a list using Microsoft XP as the operating system.
To display the complete path of files and folders in the Address bar in My Computer, Explore or Windows Explorer, select one or both of the following check boxes in the View tab (Figure 12):
- Display the full path in the address bar.
- Display the full path in title bar.
Figure 12
See Figure 13 for the impact of these changes on the options. The path of the selected file is displayed in the Address bar using Explore.
Figure 13
The Address bar may not be visible. In that case, open the View menu, choose Toolbars and select Address bar.
Creating folders/directories and sub-directories
Creating directories in the root directory and then sub-directories can be done through different methods:
1From the desktop or a using a desktop utility (eg Windows Explorer) locate the directory or folder in which you want to create a new sub-directory/folder. Double click on this folder to open it. Go to the File menu and select ‘New folder’. This places a new (empty) folder inside the folder you have opened.
2From within an application, create a new file or open an existing file and go to File menu and select ‘Save As’. The Save As dialogue box will give you the option to browse the directory for a folder or sub-folder to save the document into, or, an option to create a new folder inside a folder you have opened by browsing.
Example: Applying methods for creating new folders
1Using My Computer, Explore or Windows Explorer right click the mouse and select New/Folder. Enter a folder name in accordance with the business guidelines.
Figure 14
Figure 14 shows a directory called c:\Temp having been opened using Explore and the effect of the right click to insert a New/Folder.
2From within the Save As window (eg in the application Microsoft Word) there is a folder icon which creates a new folder and prompts you to enter the name of the new folder (Figure 15).
Figure 15
Good practice for frequently saving files
When working on any document, you need to save the file soon after creating the file, and then regularly resave, to avoid having to retype/rework the whole content should the system crash and there be no auto-recovery facility.
Auto-save
Most Windows applications have an auto-save option which saves ‘auto-recover’ information about the open document/s. This will enable the document data to be recovered in the event of a system collapse.
For example, if the option is set to save every five minutes then in the event of a system crash the user will have to redevelop, at most, the last five minutes of work rather than the whole document. This function is usually set within an Options or Preferences box that may be found, for example, under a File or Tools menu.
Figure 16: Example of Auto-recovery option found under Tools menu/options/Save tab in MS Word (setting auto-recover to ‘on’ and setting frequency)
The location of this saved auto recover information is set by the File Locations tab also found in the Options under the Tools menu.
Version control
In the event that a file is regularly changed/updated there are often times that previous versions of a document will need to be kept. Version control requires using the Save As option with carefully chosen, meaningful variations on the file name according to the business guidelines, rather than overwriting the previous version with the same file name using the Save option.
An example of file naming for two versions of the same document is:
Timetable_V1_23-04-04.xls
Timetable_V2_28-04-04.xls
where ‘V2’ is a more recent version than ‘V1’.
Basic procedure to exit software without loss of data
To avoid losing all your work, take care to use the Save or Save As options to store data before exiting an application.
Not only can the work you created be lost if software is not closed properly but any templates being used can easily become corrupt and unusable for future sessions.
Examples of incorrect exits would include simply turning off the computer and/or shutting down the system without closing all open files by using commands within the application.
Correct exiting of software means:
1closing all documents, being sure to choose carefully whether or not to discard any changes made
2using either the Exit or Close command under the File menu or clicking on a closebutton on the top bar of the file window.
Figure 17: Example: Exiting software via the File menu using MS Word. The grey work area and shaded icons indicate there are no documents open and thus it is safe to exit.
Difference between ‘Save’ and ‘Save As’
If an original file has not yet been saved, the Save command will automatically switch to the Save As option and open the Save As dialogue box. Save As gives you the opportunity to type in a file name by changing the default name. You should enter a file name in accordance with the business guidelines and take the opportunity to choose the correct location to save the file rather than accept the defaults. See Figure 18 and Figure19.
If the file has already been saved and you are just making alterations, the Save command will simply save the changed file over the previous version and only the changed file will exist.
The Save As option will always provide the opportunity to save the file with a new name and/or to a different location.
Example: Using ‘Save As’ to change the file name and select the location of a saved file
Figures 18 and 19 show the Save As box in Microsoft Excel.
Figure 18 shows that the file name of an unsaved document is a default name (Book1.xls) unless another name is overwritten in the file name field. Note:
- Changing the file name does not mean changing the file extension (.xls).
- The drop-down list from the file name field allows you to select an existing file name. If you choose an existing file name, you will overwrite that existing file with the contents of your new file.
Figure 19 shows the ‘Save in:’ drop down menu that allows you to navigate drives, directories, folders or sub-folders to select the exact location (eg folder) where the file will be saved. When a drive or folder is selected from this drop-down menu, the contents of that drive/folder appear in the window below. You can then double click (open) a sub-folder in this window to select it as the location where the file will be saved.
Figure 18
Figure 19
Summary
There are various ways to find, select and open a file that you can use, depending on what you want to do with a file, and what is available or convenient. For example, using the ‘Find’ or ‘Search’ function of an operating system can help you locate a file or folder if you are not sure where it has been saved.