Navigating to Folders and Files

You view all the drives, folders, files, and peripherals that are part of your computer system, as well as those on any computers you are connected to through a network, in Microsoft Windows Explorer. There are several ways to do this. For example, you can:

• Click a folder link on the Start menu to open that folder. You can:

  • Click Computer or Network to display an overview of all the hard disk drives and storage devices accessible to your computer.

  • Click your user name to open your personal folder, or click Documents, Pictures, or Music to open those subfolders directly.

• Point to All Programs on the Start menu, click Accessories, and then click Windows Explorer (or press Windows logo key+E) to display the contents of your Documents folder.

• Right-click a folder on the Start menu or desktop and then click Explore.

The latter two options display the folder contents with the Folders list expanded in the Navigation pane.

Windows Explorer provides the means to manipulate folders and files in a variety of ways. For now, we will focus on the elements of the window that you use to navigate through the folder structure on your computer. In addition to the Address bar, Navigation pane, and Content pane discussed earlier in the book, these elements include the following:

• Back button and Forward button. Click these to display the contents of folders you have already viewed in the Content pane.

• Recent Pages button. Click this button to see a list of folders you have viewed so that you can select the one you want to display.

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In this exercise, you will navigate among folders in various ways.

1.	Click the Start button, and then click Computer. Start In the window that opens, the Content pane displays information about the storage devices and locations accessible to your computer. [View full size image]
2.	If your Folders list is closed as shown above, at the bottom of the Navigation pane, click Folders. The Folders list expands, displaying a hierarchical view (also called a tree view) of disks and folders. You can also access network resources (if any), Control Panel tools, and the Recycle Bin from the Folders list. [View full size image] Tip Your Windows Explorer display depends on the storage structure of your computer and whether you have explored its contents before. As a result, it will be different than the one shown in our graphics, but you will still be able to follow the steps in this exercise.
3.	In the Content pane, double-click the icon for your drive C (called Local Disk (C:) in the preceding graphic). The Content pane displays the folders and files stored on this disk. The Address bar reflects the fact that you are now looking at the contents of one of the drives accessible to your computer.
4.	In the Content pane, double-click Users. The Content pane displays all the user profile folders currently set up on your computer.
5.	In the Content pane, double-click your user profile folder. The Content pane displays your 11 personal content folders. [View full size image] The currently displayed folder is also selected in the Folders list so that you can see your position within the overall storage hierarchy. In some of these folders, such as Documents, you will store files; others, such as Contacts, will contain information you save through Windows Vista or Windows Internet Explorer. See Also For information about Windows Contacts, see "Using the Programs That Come with Windows Vista" in Chapter 7, "Working with Programs."
6.	In the Favorite Links list, click Documents. Tip You can add any folder to the Favorite Links list by selecting it in the Content pane and dragging it to the list. A black bar indicates where the new link will appear when you release the mouse button. The Address bar indicates that the contents of your Documents folder are currently displayed in the Content pane. At the top of the hierarchy in the Folders list, the link to the Documents folder within your personal folder is selected. You can use the links in Favorite Links and the links at the top of the Folders list to jump quickly to the folders you will probably use most, without having to navigate through the storage structure to find them. [View full size image] Troubleshooting The MSP folder will appear in your Documents folder only if you installed the practice files for this book in the default location. You can follow the steps in this exercise and the other exercises in this chapter using your own files, but to see the results shown, you need to install the practice files. Refer to "Using the Book's CD" on page xxix for more information.
7.	In the Folders list, point to Documents, and then click the white arrow to the left of the folder name. In the list of subfolders, click the white arrow to the left of MSP. Then click the white arrow to the left of SBS_WindowsVista. Each time you click, the arrow turns black and the folder expands to show its contents. As the structure indents to the right with each click, the Folders list adjusts itself in the Navigation pane, scrolling up or down or to the left or right to give you the best view of the current items. By clicking the arrows in the Folders list rather than the folders in the Content pane, you expose the hierarchical structure without changing the display in the Content pane or the path in the Address bar.
8.	In the Folders list, click Chapter03 to display that folder's contents in the Content pane. The Address bar changes to reflect the path of the displayed files.
9.	In the Address bar, click the arrow to the right of Chapter03. A list shows the subfolders within the Chapter03 folder. [View full size image]
10.	In the list, click 02_Presentations to display the files stored in that folder. Tip To close a list without making a selection, press the Esc key.
11.	In the Address bar, click the arrow between Chapter03 and 02_Presentations, and then in the subfolder list, click 03_Videos. By clicking the arrows between folders you can easily navigate to other folders in the same folder path.
12.	In the upper-left corner of the window, click the Back button to return to the most recently displayed folder, 02_Presentations. Back Notice that the Back button takes you back through your browsing history rather than back up the folder path.
13.	In the Folders list, point to Documents, and then click its black arrow to collapse the hierarchical structure without changing the Content pane. Tip You might have to wait until Documents moves to the right in the Folders list to see its arrow.
14.	Point to the Forward button to display a ScreenTip telling you where clicking the button will take you. Then click the Forward button to redisplay the 03_Videos folder. Forward
15.	To the right of the Back and Forward buttons, click the Recent Pages button. Recent Pages The Recent Pages list displays the folders you have opened since opening the Computer window, in reverse order. [View full size image]
16.	In the Recent Pages list, click Computer to return to your starting point.
17.	Experiment with the Windows Explorer navigation features until you feel comfortable moving through your computer's storage structure in various ways.
18.	In the upper-right corner of the window, click the Close button to close Windows Explorer. Close

Accessing Your Entire Network If you are connected to a network, you can use Windows Explorer to navigate not only to drives and resources on your own computer, but also to drives and resources across your entire network. To display an overview of your network resources, click Network on the Start menu. If you want to access a particular network drive or resource on a regular basisfor example, if you regularly connect to a specific serveryou can map the drive in Windows Explorer to make it more easily available. When you map a drive, you assign it a local drive letter so that it appears along with other available storage devices and locations when you view the contents of your computer. You can map a drive temporarily or instruct Windows to reconnect to that drive every time you log on. To map a drive: 1. On the Start menu, click Computer. 2. On the toolbar above the Content pane, click Map network drive. 3. In the Map Network Drive window, specify the drive letter you want to use for this drive. 4. Click Browse, navigate to the drive or folder you want to map, and then click OK to return to the Map Network Drive window with the path entered in the Folder box. 5. If you want to connect to this location only until the end of the current Windows session, clear the Reconnect at logon check box. 6. Click Finish. The network drive opens in a new window. To disconnect from a mapped drive or folder, right-click it, and then click Disconnect.