Lab 16 / Using File Explorer

In this lab, you will investigate the Windows file system and practice some typical file
management tasks.

Exercise 1 / The Windows File System

In this exercise, you will investigate the user profile folders, navigate the Windows
directory structure, and look at how libraries can be used to consolidate multiple file
locations into one view.

1) If necessary, start your computer and sign in.

2) Press START + E to open File Explorer

3) Double-click the Desktop folder. This folder contains shortcuts, files, or folders that
you have added to the desktop folder in your profile, plus any shortcut added by setup
programs.

4) Click the Up One Folder button or click the This PC segment in the address bar
breadcrumb.

– click the “Up One folder (↑ )” or just click the “This PC” in the address bar to return to
the This PC segment.

5) Click the Up One Folder button again or click the arrow on the breadcrumb root icon
and select Desktop (note the different icon).
6) Right-click in some empty space here and select New > Text Document. Type the
name Navigating the Desktop then press ENTER.

o Right-click some empty space and select New > Text Document.

o Then, create Text Document named “Navigating the Desktop”

7) Press STARD+D to show the desktop. You should be able to see the text document
you just created. Press STARD+D again to restore the File Explorer Window.
8) Right-click the desktop and then click Personalize.

9) In the left-hand pane, select Themes, and then scroll down to click Desktop icon
settings.

10) In the “Desktop Icon Settings” dialog, select the Computer and User’s Files check
boxes, and then click OK.
NOTE: The Recycle Bin box is already checked by default.
11) Close the Settings app.

12) On the desktop, double-click the icon for your user account.

13) In File Explorer, click the View tab menu then select the Hidden Items.
14) Open the Pictures Folder, you should see the Paint picture you created earlier. Make a
note of the navigation objects shown in the breadcrumb.

15) Click in an empty part of the breadcrumb and note the directory path. It will be
something like “C:\Users\YourName\Pictures.”

16) In the navigation pane, expand This PC, and then click Local Disk (C:).

NOTE: Mine is not called “Local Disk (C:),” but rather “TeamgroupSSD (C:). Though,
they are still the same.

17) Open the Users folder. You should see a folder named after your user account and a
“Public” folder. Open the folder for your user account.
18) Open the Pictures folder. You should see the Paint picture you created earlier. Make a
note of the navigation objects shown in the breadcrumb.

19) Click in an empty part of the breadcrumb then overtype the existing file path with C:\
Users\Public\ and press ENTER.

20) Press START then type paint and press ENTER. Draw a picture of a seaside scene
then press CTRL+S to save the file.
21) In the “Save As” dialog, click in an empty part of the breadcrumb then overtype the
existing file path with C:\Users\Public\Pictures and press ENTER.

22) In the “File name” box, overtype the existing file name with The Beach. Click the
Save button.
23) Press ALT+F4 to close Paint.

24) In the navigation pane, select Libraries object.

25) Open the Pictures library. You may now see both Paint Pictures you have created or
just one, depending on how your computer was set up.
26) In the navigation pane, right-click the Pictures library object and select Properties.

27) In the dialog, click the Add button. Open C:\Users\Public then select the Public
Pictures folder and click the Include folder button. Click OK.

28) In the File Explorer, click the View tab menu then clear the Hidden items check box.
Exercise 2 / Create, Renaming, and Copying Folders and Files
Each user can create new folders and files within their own folders and in the public
folders. Creating folders and files outside these areas may require administrators’
privileges.

1) Open your Pictures library, right-click and select New > Bitmap image. Enter the
Sunny Day.

2) Right-click the new file and select Edit.

3) Create a picture of a sunny day in the countryside–the paintbrush tool is a good choice.
Save and close when you are done.
4) Click Start, type WordPad, and press ENTER. Use the Picture button on the ribbon to
add the picture you created. Write a caption or heading for it, making sure you use the
word holiday, then save and close the document in the Documents folder as Day Out.

5) Right-click some empty space within your Documents folder then select New > Folder.
Type the name Holidays and press ENTER.
6) Select the Day Out file then click-and-drag it over the "Holidays" folder—do not
release the mouse button yet.

7) Note that the default action shown in the tooltip is to move the file. Hold down the
CTRL key and note that the tooltip now reads "Copy to holidays." Release the mouse
button then the CTRL key.

8) Open the Pictures library from the navigation pane but ensure that the "Holidays"
folder is still expanded.

9) You should have two picture files (Sunny Day and The Sea). To select multiple objects
individually, CTRL+click them.
10) With both files selected, hold down CTRL then click-and-drag the selection to the
Holidays folder.

11) Open the Holidays folder. Open the Day Out file and make some amendments to it, making
sure you use the word beach. Save and Close the file when done.

12) Select all the files (you can press CTRL+A to do this quickly). Drag and drop the selection
over the Documents folder in the navigation pane.
13) Note that because the destination folder contains a file with the same name, you are
prompted whether to replace it or not. Select the Compare info for both files option.

14) In the File Conflict dialog, note the different file details (such as date modified and size).
Check both boxes to keep both versions of the file where there is a name conflict. Click
Continue.
15) Open the Documents folder and select the Day Out (2) file. Press F2 then type the new name
Another Sunny Day.

16) Move all the files back into the Holidays folder.

Exercise 3 / View Options and Search When you have a lot of files and folders to
manage, you can use view options and the search function to assist with locating
individual and groups of files quickly.

1) Open the Holidays folder. Select the View menu tab and cycle through the different options in
the “Layout” panel, leaving the folder set to using Details.
2) Click the column headers to sort by different file properties in ascending and descending
order.

3) Right-click the column headers and look at the fields that you can add to the view. You can
also add or remove fields by right-clicking a header and selecting More.

4) In the Choose Details dialog, check the box for Attributes and click OK.

5) From the View > Options list button select Change folder and search options.
6) Click the View tab. Click the Apply to Folders button then click Yes to confirm.

7) On the same tab, note some of the options, such as whether to preserve folder customizations,
launch new windows when opening folders, show pop-up descriptions, and so on. Click OK.

8) Open your Pictures folder. Note that this is a different type of folder to Documents (optimized
for viewing images) so the default view settings you just configured have not been applied.
9) Open the Holidays folder again. On the “View” tab, experiment with different options from
the Group by list box. Try sorting with different group options applied.

10) Select the “The Sea” image file. From the View tab, select Details pane.

11) Right-click The Sea and select Edit. In Paint, from the File menu, select Save As.
12) From the Save as type box, select JPEG. Use the Explorer tools to select the Holidays folder.
Click the Save button.

13) Click OK to the warning about transparency.

14) Close Paint.

15) In File Explorer, select The Sea.jpg. Click in the Tags field and type beach. Click the Save
button.
16) Press the START key then type beach then press ENTER. Note the search results.

17) Click the Documents icon to filter the results. Are any files found now? Yes

18) Switch back to File Explorer and select the Documents folder. Press F3 and type beach in the
search box. Note the results:
19) Now select the top-level Desktop icon under "Favorites" and repeat the search for beach and
note the results:

20) Finally, select This PC and repeat the search for beach and note the results:
Exercise 4 / Compressing Files
If your drive is getting low on space, you can compress files and folders. You can either make
the file system apply compression automatically or you can add folders and files to zip archives
(though you won't save any space this way unless you delete the original files).

1) In File Explorer, open the Documents folder.

2) Right-click the Holidays subfolder and select Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder.
3) Change the name of the zip file to HolidaysArchive.

4) Right-click the Holidays folder and select Properties.

5) Make a note of the Size on disk:

6) Click the Advanced button.

7) Check Compress contents to save disk space and click OK.

8) Click OK then OK again.

9) Check the folder properties again—how much space does it take up now? 208 KB

10) How does the size of the zip file compare to the uncompressed and compressed folder size?

– Compressed folder size is smaller than the uncompressed folder size.

11) Open the zip file and then open one of the files. Change some text then try to save—what
happens?

– It resulted in a warning message.

12) Cancel the save and close the document.
13) Close any open windows.

Exercise 5 / Deleting and Recycling Files

Files deleted from the local disk are not removed completely but put in the Recycle Bin.

1) Right-click the Recycle Bin icon on the Desktop and select Properties.

2) Open the Documents folder and delete all the contents.

3) Open Recycle Bin. Restore the Holidays folder. Check the restored folder in Explorer to see
what it contains.
4) Close all open windows.

5) Optionally, shut down your computer if you are not continuing to use it after this lab.

NOTE: Several images here are not mine. They are all derived from different sources on the
internet.