What is Windows Explorer

What is Windows Explorer: STARTING WINDOWS EXPLORER

The Windows Explorer lets us view, open, copy and manage our files and folders in the Windows operating system. In Windows 8, the live tiles can be seen by clicking on the Windows logo or clicking on the left bottom corner of the window. The live tiles organizes various application into a single window and also provides live feed.

The Windows Explorer can also be opened by clicking on the ‘Start’ button which appears when the mouse is moved to the right bottom of the window.

Open File Explorer by swiping in from the right edge of the screen, and then clicking Search, entering File Explorer in the search box, and then tapping or clicking File Explorer.

What is Windows Explorer: COMPONENTS OF WINDOWS EXPLORER

The various components of the File Explorer window are shown below:

1)                Left pane – It is used to get to all kinds of locations and drives.

2)                Back, forward and up buttons – These are used to navigate through locations or files.

3)                Ribbon – The Ribbon can be used for copying, moving, creating new folders, e-mailings, zipping items, changing views etc.

4)                Address bar – It is used for entering or selecting a location.

5)                File list – This is where the contents of the current folders are displayed.

6)                Column headings – It is used to view the files according to our desired need like ‘Date Modified’ option sorts the files according to dates on which they are created.

7)                Search Box – It is used to enter a word or a phrase to look for an item in the current folder.

8)                Status Bar – It can be used to view the total number of items in a location, or the number of selected items and their total size.

9)                Details/preview pane – It is used to view some common properties associated with the selected file such as author, date etc.

What is Windows Explorer: PANES OF WINDOWS EXPLORER

On clicking the View menu you can see the various panes available in Windows 8 Explorer as shown below

These panes are :

i)           Preview Pane

ii)         Details Pane

iii)       Navigation Pane

What is Windows Explorer: WORKING WITH FOLDER IN LEFT PANE 

 On expanding a disk drive or clicking a window/folder like Desktop, Downloads, Recent Places etc. you can get the content of the window/folder on the Right Pane of the Windows Explorer. And on selecting and clicking a disk drive , you can get the files and folders of that particular drive on the Right Pane of the windows explorer and all the folders of that drive on Left Pane of the windows explorer. And now, you can move files and folders from on place to another by dragging and dropping the same from left pane to right pane and vice-versa.

What is Windows Explorer: MANAGING FILES AND FOLDERS IN WINDOWS EXPLORER 

On selecting the folder

in left pane of the windows explorer you can view the files present in that folder. Similarly you can view the content of a disk drive. You can even directly drag and drop file(s) or folder(s) from one location to another location same like copy and paste.

 What is Windows Explorer: MODES OF VIEW 

The content shown on the right pane of the windows explorer can be viewed in one of the following modes Extra Large Icons, Large Icons, Medium Icons, Small Icons, List, Details, Tiles, Contents. Try it to view the effect of these modes.

What is Windows Explorer: FILE NAMING CONVENTION 

All the file systems follow the same general naming conventions for an individual file: a base file name and an optional extension, separated by a period. However, each file system may have own naming convention. Some of the basic rules followed while naming file sin Windows are listed below:

•           Use a period to separate the base file name from the extension in the name of a directory or file.

•           Use a backslash (\) to separate the components of a path.

•    Use a backslash as required as part of volume names, for example, the "C:\" in "C:\path\file".
•            Do not assume case sensitivity. For example, WINDOWS and windows should be treated equal.
•           Use any character in the current code page for a name, including Unicode characters and characters in the extended character set (128–255) except for the following reserved characters: 
•              < (less than) 
•               > (greater than) 
•              :   (colon)  
•              " (double quote) 
•              / (forward slash)
•            \ (backslash) 
•            | (vertical bar or pipe)
•           ? (question mark)
• * (asterisk)

What is Windows Explorer: SEARCHING FILES 

One or more files can be search by using Wild Cards, ? (exclamation) for one character and * (asterisk) for none, one or more characters. Searching of a file can be done based on either its name or its file extension.

For Example : *.docx will search display all the document files or word files in the drive or path selected. Similarly abc.docx will search and display word file having name abc

The Search Box is shown below:

 What is Windows Explorer: CREATING SHORTCUTS 

A shortcut is a link to an item (such as a file, folder, or program) on our computer. You can create shortcuts and then place them in a convenient location of our use. Shortcuts can be distinguished from the original file by the arrow that appears on the icon.

To create a shortcut

1.Open the location containing the item that you want to create a shortcut to.

2.Right-click the item and then click Create shortcut. The new shortcut appears in the same location as the original item.

3.Drag the new shortcut to the desired location.

 Clicking on Create Shortcut forms the short cut.

 To delete a shortcut

•           Right-click the shortcut that you want to delete, click Delete, and then click Yes.  If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Thank You!