INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

UNIT ONE

ORGANIZATION OF FILES

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 1.1 Basics of Files and Folders
1.1.1 Files
In computer, file can be document, picture, audio, video, application, etc.
A file stores a data which can be a document, a picture, text, video, audio, etc.
A file is a collection of similar data stored in a computer system.
A file in computer is analogous to real world file which is used to store some data.
Eg, student’s data, teacher’s data, etc.
A file is a collection of data stored in one unit, identified by a filename. It can be a Word,
Spreadsheet, PowerPoint Presentation document.
A computer file can be both system generated and created or transferred from other sources
in to a computer.
Each file in a computer has a unique and has different icons.

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 1.1.2 Folders
A file folder is a mechanism to keep your computer files in an organized manner.
A folder is like manila folder (dossier), it is a container of a file and other folder.
Folder helps you organize similar files together so that you can locate files in a computer
easily.
A folder, also called a directory, is a container which is used to store related files together.
A folder contained in another folder is called a subfolder.
A folder holds one or more files, and it can be empty until it is filled.
it also contain other folders, and there can be many levels of folders within folders.
Is also called a directory, is a tool for arranging files on a disk.
Is a virtual location where programs, files and other folders can be located. Or
Programs, files and folders can be found in a virtual location called folder.
Folders which hold files or other folders on the computer are called sub-folders or
subdirectories.
Folder helps you organize similar files together so that you can locate files in a computer
easily.

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Similarities Between Files And Folders
 Both files and folders are containers which are located on the computer

Difference Between Files And Folders

 A file is a collection or group of interrelated data and information whereas a folder is a
container used to store different files and subfolders.
 We can have d/t types of Files such as text, video, document and image and each has

different extensions to identify their types but folders do not have extensions .
Importance of Folders
A folder helps us to organize related files together & this helps to locate files easily.
Folders allow you to have more than one file with the same file name. Eg, you can have a
file called My-letter.doc in your My Documents folder and another file called My-letter.doc
in a different folder called ’Letter collection’. If all your files were in a single place, every
file would need a unique file name

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 1.2 Managing Files and Folders
In Windows OS, the primary way of interacting with files and folders is through the File
Explorer application.
1.2.1 Using File Explorer
File Explorer enables you to create, view, rename, delete and search files and folders in
computer.
 File Explorer is also called Window Explorer in earlier versions of Windows 10 and has
the following main parts.

 Navigation pane
 Forward &Back buttons
 Ribbon
 Address bar
 Column headings
 Search box
 File &folder listing
 Preview/Details pane
 Status bar

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 Opening File Explorer
To open File Explorer,
click on the File Explorer icon. Or,
 click on the Start button and then clicking on File Explorer. Or,
use Win key + E keyboard shortcut.

1.2.2 Creating New File Application

A file is created using a computer software program.
To create a plain text file use a text editor such as Notepad or Notepad++, and use word processing
software such as WordPad, Microsoft Word and Libre Office Writer to create a text document file.
To create image file use image editing software such as MS-Paint, Paint 3D, Gimp and Adobe
Photoshop.
Save allows you to update a previously saved file with new content, whereas Save As allows you to
save a new file or an existing file to a new location with the same or different name.
A text file is considered as a plaintext file & Notepad is capable of creating and editing plaintext files.
 Notepad saves any text file with .txt file extension, which means no special formatting or fonts.

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To open the Windows Notepad program use the methods below.
1. Click Start.
2. Type Notepad in the search box/run box and press Enter .
Viewing, editing, and creating images
Microsoft Paint is a default image editing application software in window Operating system.
To create an image using Paint application use the next steps. ƒ

Click on Start→ Open Paint Application →Create your own image →Save your image .
Creating presentation file
Presentation files are created for e- presentations consisting of a series of separate pages or slides.

Application softwares we use includes MS-PowerPoint and Libre Office .

1.2.3 Creating a New Folder
Folder can help us to store related files in an organized manner. Steps we follow to create a new folder,
1. Navigate to the location where new folders are created.
2. In File Explorer, click on the Home menu item.
3. From the Home tab, click on the New folder button
4. Enter the name of your new folder.
5. Click anywhere outside the text area to exit.

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 1.2.4 Copying A File
Copying a file is used to put the file in a duplicated manner. To copy follow the following instructions.
1. Go to the files or folders you want to copy.
2. Highlight the file or files you want to copy by clicking them once with the mouse. To highlight more than
one file, you can hold down the Ctrl or Shift keys on your keyboard or drag a box around the files you want to
copy.
3. Right-click one of the highlighted files and select copy. Or press the Ctrl + C shortcut key or in File
Explorer, click Home at the top of the window and click Copy.
4. Open the destination folder, right-click an empty space in the folder, and choose paste. Alternatively, in the
File Explorer menu bar at the top, click Home and then click Paste.
A file name must be unique; otherwise, a number or “- Copy” will be appended to the end of a file name.
Appending a number to the end of the copied file’s name assures the copied file is unique. Example, if the
original file name is StudentMarkList.pdf and the copied file name could be Student MarkList (1).pdf or
Student MarkList - Copy. Pdf

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 1.2.5 Renaming File and Folder
To rename files and folders, you can use one of the following methods.
Method one
1. Highlight the file or the folder.
2. Right click the file with your mouse and select Rename from the menu that appears.
Method two
1. Highlight the file or the folder.
2. Press the F2 key on the keyboard.
Method three
1. Highlight the file or the folder.
2. Click File at the top of the window and select Rename from the list of available options
Method four
1. Highlight the file or the folder by single-clicking the file.
2. Wait a few seconds and click the file name again. A box should appear surrounding the file or folder
name, and you can rename the file.
If you do not wait long enough and click the file or folder too fast, it can open the file or folder rather than
allowing you to rename it.
If we want to rename multiple files or folders at once, we should keep the following steps.
1. Open Explorer.
2. In Explorer, select all the files you want to rename.
3. Once the files are selected, press F2 to edit the file name and type the new name for the files.

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 1.2.6 Accessing Files and Folders
To navigate your files and folders in File Explorer use either one of the following methods. ƒ
a. Using the Address bar (located at the top of File Explorer).
b. Forward and Backward buttons ƒ
c. From the Folders/Navigation pane ƒ
d. Using the Search function which is located at the right side of the file explorer.
e. Clicking the right-pointing triangle next to the file on navigation pane, to view the subfolders and/or
content of each folder

Using the address bar

The address bar, which is located at the top of File Explorer displays the path of the currently selected
folder.
The Address bar shows the full path of your current location. ƒ
File Explorer drop-down menus are available for each subfolder in the address bar.

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Viewing previously visited folders in the address bar
To view folders you have seen previously, you can do any of the following.
Option 1: Click on the forward or back buttons
Option 2: Click on a folder name in the address bar

Viewing the contents of a folder in the address bar

To view the contents of a folder in the address bar, click on the right-pointing arrow ( > ) next to the folder
whose subfolders you want to view. The arrow changes to a downward-pointing arrow ( V ) and a drop-

down list of the subfolders will be displayed .

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 1.2.7 Displaying Subfolders Using Navigation/Folder Pane
The Folders pane or the Navigation pane is found along the left edge of every folder and displays a
directory tree of all the folders on your computer (See Figure 1.4 and Table 1.1). You can select one or
more folders in the Folders pane to display their contents in the File List pane.
The Folder/Navigation pane contains several main sections: Quick Access, OneDrive, This PC and
Network (See Figure 1.4).
If you used previous versions of Windows 10, you know that a folder name would have a plus sign next to
it if that folder contains documents or subfolders. With Windows 10, if a folder contains subfolders, that
folder’s name will have a small right-pointing triangle next to it (>). ƒ
No triangle next to a folder name (Windows 10 ) means the folder has no subfolders.
Right-pointing triangle next to a folder name (› Network ) means the folder has subfolders. ƒ
 Down-pointing triangle next to a folder name (˅ This PC) means the subfolders are currently displayed
for that folder.
To view a folder’s subfolders, click on the right-pointing triangle (>) next to the folder. The right-pointing
triangle will turn into a down-pointing triangle and the subfolders will be displayed.

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 1.2.7 Displaying Subfolders Using Navigation/Folder Pane
The Folders pane or the Navigation pane is found along the left edge of every folder and displays a
directory tree of all the folders on your computer (See Figure 1.4 and Table 1.1). You can select one or
more folders in the Folders pane to display their contents in the File List pane.
The Folder/Navigation pane contains several main sections: Quick Access, OneDrive, This PC and
Network (See Figure 1.4).
If you used previous versions of Windows 10, you know that a folder name would have a plus sign next to
it if that folder contains documents or subfolders. With Windows 10, if a folder contains subfolders, that
folder’s name will have a small right-pointing triangle next to it (>). ƒ
No triangle next to a folder name (Windows 10 ) means the folder has no subfolders.
Right-pointing triangle next to a folder name (› Network ) means the folder has subfolders. ƒ
 Down-pointing triangle next to a folder name (˅ This PC) means the subfolders are currently displayed
for that folder.
To view a folder’s subfolders, click on the right-pointing triangle (>) next to the folder. The right-pointing
triangle will turn into a down-pointing triangle and the subfolders will be displayed.
“This PC” contains subfolders. To display the subfolders, just click on the folder name; to hide a
folder’s subfolders, click on the down-pointing triangle of that folder.
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 1.2.8 Moving Files and Folders on Computer
When moving files or folders, only one copy of the files is moved.
To move files you can use either of the following methods. ƒ
A. Cut and paste
B. Drag-and-drop ƒ
C. Use the “Move to Folder” command
Option 1:To move files using cut and paste method:
1. Select the file you want to move.
2. Right-click the highlighted file
3. Then select Cut.
4. Browse to the folder you want to move the file to.
5. Right-click in the folder, and select Paste.
Alternatively, you can click Home from file explorer, select Cut to cut the files, browse to where you want
to move the files, then select Home and Paste in the file menu.
Or select the files you want to cut, then press the shortcut key Ctrl+X . Cutting the files is like cutting text
in a document, i.e. it moves the files to a temporary clipboard until you paste them somewhere. Navigate to
the destination folder and press the shortcut key Ctrl+V to paste the files. The files are now in your
destination folder.
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Option 2: Drag-and-drop
To move the files and folders using drag and drop, follow these steps:
1. Highlight the files you want to move.
2. Press and hold your right mouse button and drag-and-drop the files to where you want to move them.
3. When you release the mouse button, a menu appears.
4. Select the Move here option to move the files.

Option 3: Use “Move to Folder”

To move the files and folders using Move to Folder command, follow these steps:
1. Select the file by clicking the file name.
2. Click the Home menu and select the Move to Folder option.
3. In the new window, browse to the folder you would like to move the file; then click the Move button to
move the file to that folder.
If you are using Windows 7 and below versions, once the files are selected, the Move to option is shown

under the File tab.

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 1.2.9 Deleting File and Folder
To clean up your drives and delete duplicated and unwanted files and folders use the following steps.
1. Locate the item you want to delete.
2. Highlight the file or the folder by left-clicking.
3. Press the Delete key.
You can delete multiple files or folders by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking each file or folder before
pressing Delete.
Deleted files /folders can be restored from Recycle Bin if not permanently deleted using shift + Delete key.

Use the following steps to delete a file or a folder

1. Open This PC or File Explorer.
2. Locate the file or the folder you want to delete and right-click it.
3. Choose the Delete option from the pop-up menu.
Caution!
The local disk contains files and folders that are important for your computer to run correctly. Unless you
know what you are deleting, please do not delete any file from this section.
Use the following steps to delete a file or a folder using Delete command from the Home menu.
1. Open This PC or File Explorer.
2.Select the file or folder you want to delete.
3. Click Home in the top menu bar, and select Delete

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 1.2.10 Searching a File on a Computer
All major operating systems running on computers can find files on the hard drive or other drives
connected to the computer.
Microsoft Windows has a search feature that helps you find any file such as document, spreadsheet, picture
or video on your computer. To find a file, it is not required to know its full name. Some of the methods
used to search files are discussed below.
Option 1: Using Start button
1. Press the Windows key; then type part or the entire file name you want to find.
2. In the search results, click the file name you want to open.
Option 2: Using File Explorer
1. Open File Explorer.
2. In the left navigation pane, click Computer or This PC.
3. Click in the Search field and enter part or the entire file name you want to find.
To find a file on a specific drive, click the drive under Computer or This PC in the left navigation pane.
Then enter the file name you want to search for in the Search field

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 1.3 Computer Drives
A drive is a computer hardware component used to store and retrieve data, files, programs, operating
system, etc. Example, when you write a letter in a word processor, the program is loaded from the hard
drive. When you save the document, it is saved to the hard drive or other disk or drive. In window
operating system, a drive is often referred to by its letter like C:, D: or F:. However, Linux operating
system uses tree structure starting from root represented by forward slash (/). For example, /home in Linux
is a directory used to store users files. A computer drive/ secondary storage devices can be a hard disk
drive, CD/DVD drive, removable disk (USB) flash drive, etc.
A HDD (hard disk or fixed disk) is usually designated as the “C:drive” & is the main data and program
storage hardware device that can provide quick access to large amounts of data and program in a computer.
A CD/DVD drive, which is also called optical disc drive, allows you to use CD and DVD to listen to
music, watch movie or store any files. It is usually designated as the “D: or G: drive”.
A USB drive / a flash drive / memory stick, is a small, portable device that plugs into the USB port on your
computer. USB drives are commonly used for storage, data backup and transferring files between devices.

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Examples of common computer drives include Hard drive, Flash drive & Optical drive.

“Drive” and “driver” are separate terms.

Drive refers to a mechanical hard drive or solid-state hard drive used to store the OS, data and programs.
Drive is a hardware component of a computer which stores datas / files and folders and it can be:
 Fixed/Static (built in) drive: including internal hard disk, SSD and the like.
Removable drive: including Flash Disk, Removable Hard Disk, CD, etc.
Fixed drives are found within a computer while removable drives are portable and plugged externally.
A driver is software code that enables one or more hw devices to communicate with the computer’s
operating system. Without drivers, a computer could not send and receive data correctly to hw devices.

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Accessing all drives available on a computer
In Windows 10, it is possible to view all mounted or attached drives in File Explorer. To achieve this,
follow the following steps carefully.
1. Open File Explorer by pressing Windows key + E.
2. In the left pane, select This PC.
3. All drives are shown on the right.
Note for safe removal of a flash drive.
When you have done using a flash drive, do not remove it from the USB port just yet! You will need to
make sure that it is disconnected properly to avoid damaging files on the drive.
Follow the steps below to safely remove your flash drive.
1. Right-click the flash drive; then select Disconnect (or Eject) disconnecting the flash drive.
2. You can now safely remove the flash drive from the USB port.
If you want to rename a flash drive, follow these steps
1. Right-click the flash drive; then select Rename.

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END OF UNIT ONE

THANK YOU!!

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