using windows 8 file explorer.pdf

Using Windows 8 File ExplorerUsing Windows 8 File ExplorerBy Len Nasman, Bristol Village Computer Club

Understanding Windows 8 File Explorer is key to taking control of yourcomputer. If you have ever created a file and later had a hard timefinding it, or if you have downloaded picture files and want to orga-nize them into a manageable system, Windows 8 File Explorer will help.If you want to transfer files to or from flash drives or an externalhard drives, Windows 8 File Explorer can make the job easy.

The Windows 8 File Explorer presents a significant change from Win-dows Explorer that was included with earlier versions of Windows. If you are bothered by the changes, fear not. If you spend a little time going through this document and learn to use the new File Explorer, you will find it easy to use and more powerful then the old Windows Explorer.Just as Microsoft Internet Explorer provides a method of accessing the Internet in an organized fashion, Windows 8 File Explorer provides a method of examining and organizingyour files. This tutorial is designed to provide the basic information needed to take con-trol of your computer files through the use of Windows 8 File Explorer.

Computer FilesComputer FilesDid you know that nearly every bit of information in your computeris organized into files? The programs that run applications arestored in files. Applications are computer programs that allow youto do word processing, enhance pictures, read and write email,explore the Internet, or do anything at all with your computer. Thedata used to show the contents of an email message or a picture isstored in files. When you open an email message from someone, themessage is copied from a file somewhere in the world to a file inyour electronic mailbox. If you want to be in control of your com-puter, you have to learn about the computer filing system.

Computer files are stored on disk drives. Disk drives take the form of hard drives, CD andDVD drives, flash drives, memory cards, and, in the old days, floppy disk drives. The main storage location for computer files are hard drives, and the main hard drive in a Windows computer is identified as C: along with a drive name.It might help understand how computer files are organized by thinkingof using electronic file cabinets. The different disk drives in the com-puter are kind of like different file cabinets. Each file cabinet can haveseveral drawers, and each drawer can contain file folders where docu-ments (or files) are stored. Also, just like it is possible to place severalfolders inside of a larger folder in a file cabinet drawer, you can havefolders inside of folders on a disk drive.

In the electronic computer file cabinet, each disk drive can be organized into folders, anda folder can contain one or more files. It is also possible to have a folder inside another folder that is inside another folder and so on. The tool that can be used to visualize how these electronic files are organized, and the tool that gives you control over all of these disk drives, folders, and files is Windows 8 File Explorer.

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Inside a hard drive

Using Windows 8 File Explorer

Each computer file has a particular format, or method of organizing the bits of data that make the file. When an application program (like a word processor or a graphics pro-gram) saves a file, it organizes the data in a manner specific to that program.

Data is organized differently in text documents than it is in picture orgraphics files. To tell one type of file format from another, a three let-ter file name extension is added to the end of the file name. Forexample, if you save a document using a word processing programand name the document mine, the name of the file that is savedmight be mine.doc. If you create a picture using a paint program andname the picture mine, the file that is saved might be mine.jpg.When you want to retrieve your document or picture, Windows cantell from the three letter file name extension the difference betweendocument and picture files, and knows which program to use to open the file.

Windows 8 can be viewed either with the Start screen or with the Desktop screen. When the File Explorer window is open, the system will show the Desktop screen display. The Desktop screen display will contain a number of icons and has a horizontal area across the bottom of the display know as the Taskbar.

Opening Windows 8 File ExplorerOpening Windows 8 File ExplorerNOTE: In this document, select means to position the mouse pointer on an object and then click the left mouse button once.

Now it is time for you to start exploring the features of Windows 8 File Explorer.

Open Windows 8 File Explorer Method 1 Open Windows 8 File Explorer from the Desktop

display by selecting the File Explorer Taskbaricon.

Open Windows 8 File Explorer Method 2 Open Windows 8 File Explorer by holding the Windows Key

down and, while holding the Windows Key down, press the Ekey.

The File Explorer window uses the new ribbon toolbarstyle interface. This replaces the older drop down menustyle. The File Explorer window includes a Quick AccessToolbar. The Quick Access Toolbar includes tools for Properties,New Folder, Undo, Redo, and Rename,.The Quick AccessToolbar can also be customized.

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The Quick Access Toolbar mayappear either above or below the rib-bon toolbar. To change the QuickAccess Toolbar location, right-clickon the word File and select thedesired location.

The File Explorer ribbon menu isdivided into several parts: Home,Share, View, and Manage.

Each of the File Explorer ribbons con-tain a variety of tools. In the old Win-dows Explorer, using these toolsrequired selecting from multiple popdown menus, and some tools foundin File Explorer ribbons were veryhard to find in the old WindowsExplorer..

Some of the ribbon tools will be grey,or ghosted, when they are not avail-able. They will become availablewhen particular files or folders areselected.

The Home RibbonThe Home RibbonThe example shows the Home ribbon when a folder has been selected.In the example, a foldernamed Using FileExplorer has beenselected. The Home rib-bon provides toold to Move, Copy, or Deletethe selected folder or file.If you hover the mousecursor over a tool, a tooltip will open thatdescribes the function ofthat tool.

The Home ribbon alsoprovides a way to create a new folder or rename an existing folder.

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File Explorer ribbons.

Home ribbon with active tools.


The Share RibbonThe Share RibbonIf you want to email afile (or files) to a friend,use File Explorer to locatethe file, select it, andthen open the Shareribbon and select the Email option. This willopen you Email programwith the selected file (orfiles) attached.

The Share ribbon alsoprovides an easy way toburn files onto a CD orDVD. Simply select thefiles you want and thenuse the Burn to disctool found in the Share ribbon.

The View RibbonThe View RibbonThe View ribbon pro-vides options for display-ing files. This is whereyou can choose to showfiles in a detailed list oras different size icons.

You can open a Preview pane or Details pane.(The Details pane isillustrated.) A text boxshows the current direc-tory path.

There is a toggle box todisplay check boxesbeside each item. Thisprovides an addition to highlighting an item to show it has been selected.

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Share ribbon Email tool..

View ribbon tools.


I always turn on the Filename extensions option.Since the file name exten-sion shows the type of file, Ifind this indispensable.

I also alternate between theDetails and Large iconslayout view options. When Iam looking for graphicimages I use large icons.When I want to search forfiles by name or date, I usethe Details option.The Details option lists fileinformation in columns.What columns are includedis controlled by right click-ing on the column headerand then selecting optionsfrom a pop up context menu.

Files can be sorted using the Sort by tool in the View ribbon. You can also sort files by clicking on the desired column header. Each time you select a column header, the sort alternates between ascending and descending order.

TThe Manage Ribbonhe Manage RibbonSlide shows were never eas-ier! The Manage ribbonprovides a one click methodfor creating a slide show ifyou have selected a graphicfile type. If the selectioncheck box option is on, (seesection on the View ribbon)you can use it to select pic-ture files for the slide show.Once the desired files havebeen selected, just click onthe Slide show tool.

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Viewing by Details.

The Manage Ribbon


To stop a slide show, press the Esckey. When the slide show is running,right click to open a context menu.This menu provides options for set-ting the speed and other functions.

The Manage ribbon also provides atool to change the Desktop back-ground picture. (This does the samething as the Personalize, DesktopBackground option that is openedby right clicking on an empty spot onthe Desktop.) If you select a graphic file, you canuse the Manage ribbon to rotate theimage. This is useful if you have camera pictures that were taken with the camera turned to portrait mode.

The Play RibbonThe Play RibbonIf you select one or moremusic files, the Play rib-bon will appear.

When you select the Play tool, the systemwill open your defaultmusic player program and play the selectedmusic files.

The Add to playlisttool, when used with the Windows Media Player, willhelp you create a new playlist. The example showsthe result of selecting the Add to playlist tool withthe selections shown in the previous figure. Win-dows Media Player shows the selected files as anunsaved playlist and provides an option for savingthe list. I believe that this is much easier than cre-ating playlists in earlier versions of Windows.

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Slide show context menu.

The Play Ribbon.

Windows Media Player


Some folks might prefer using the Xbox music player that is available in Windows 8.

The Directory PathThe Directory PathA useful feature in File Explorer is the Directory Path box.

Observe that the directory path shown in the example reflects the list of folders dis-played on the left side of the File Explorer window. One handy feature of the directory path is that you can jump to any location in the path simply by clicking on it in the directory path box.

Let's analyze the directory path shown in the example. The starting point in the path is This PC (known in earlier versions of Windows as My Computer). A number of different disk drives are installed in the example computer. In the example, drive E: (Bristol Village 500 GB) was selected. The Tutorials folder was selected from the root directory of drive E:. Next, the folder Using File Explorer was selected followed by selecting the folder Win8FileEx-plorer. The icons shown are for the files in the Win8FileExplorer folder, and the file Detec-tive.jpg is selected.

This version was created December 4, 2013 by Len Nasman.

If you reproduce this document, please credit the Bristol Village Computer Club < www.bvres.org > . Please send comments about this documentto:

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The Directory Path box.

Using Windows 8 File ExplorerComputer FilesOpening Windows 8 File ExplorerOpen Windows 8 File Explorer Method 1Open Windows 8 File Explorer Method 2

The Home RibbonThe Share RibbonThe View RibbonThe Manage RibbonThe Play RibbonThe Directory Path

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