CS1: ICT CHAPTER THREE

ICT FILE AND FOLDER MANAGEMENT

Introduction

Hard disk drives have become very large in recent years and are capable of holding millions of data files created by computer applications installed on the computer. As a result, a method of organizing these files is essential. Windows uses folders to achieve this.

File management is about arranging your work on a computer in a way that makes is easy to use and accessible. While working with your computer programs, you create and save files, such as letters, drawings, or budgets in an organized way.

You use folders to group related files, as with paper folders in a file cabinet. In this chapter you will learn how to use different types of storage media to store information following the structure of files, folders and directories.

File and Folders

Files can be stored in folders. Folders can be stored within other folders and these are referred to as sub folders. Examples of the appearances of a file and a folder in windows Operating System is shown below.

Filenames are made up of two parts; document name and file extension. The document name can be up to 256 characters long, including spaces while the file extension is determined by the application being used. Some examples of file extensions are shown in the table below.

Files and folders can be stored on various storage media such as Flash discs and Hard discs.

Activity 3.1: File extensions and storage media

1. Other than hard discs and flash discs, identify other three different storage media within your school computer lab.
2. Compare any two storage media in terms of their advantages and disadvantages.
3. What are the file extensions of files created with:
– Microsoft Office Access
– Microsoft Office Publisher

Organizing Files

The management of computer files and paper files has much in common. If all the paper documents accrued in a house or business were stored in a single drawer without using paper folders, it would soon become impossible to find anything.

A well organized house will have some filing system to segregate electric bills from telephone bills and from bank statements etc. Files on a computer should be managed in a similar fashion. A good practice is to use a Personal Folder to organise your files.

This is the equivalent of a filing cabinet in paper filing. It can be created in the My Documents folder or in the C: Drive of the computer. This folder is the Root Folder of the filing system.

Sub-folders can then be created for subject areas. Within these, further sub-folders can be used to organise the files within each subject. An example is shown below:

• Create a Root folder in My Documents

• Create Sub-folders within the root folder for subject areas etc.

• Create further sub folders within the subject area folders

• Continue the process until the required level of organization achieved.

This organization will make files easier to find and backing up your files will involve copying the root folder to the backup device.

Activity 3.2: Creating folders

Folders can be created by a number of methods:
Method 1:
1. Browse to where you want to create the folder.
2. Click the File menu, choose New and then Folder.

3. The folder is created.
4. Type a name for the folder and press Return or click away from the folder to complete.

Method 2:
1. Browse to where you want to create the folder.
2. Right-click within the window, choose New and then Folder.

3. Complete as for method 1.
Method 3:
A folder can be created while saving a file in a computer application.
1. In Word 2007, click the Office button and choose Save As and Word Document

2. Browse to the required folder and click the Create New Folder button.

3. Name the folder and Double-click it to open it. Save the file in the new folder.

Managing Files and Folders

Files and folders can be Selected, Copied, Pasted, Moved, Renamed and Deleted.

Activity 3.3: Selecting Files

1. Open a drive or go to desktop where there are files and folders.
2. To select a single file, just click it. It changes color on selection.

3. To select consecutive files, click the first file, hold down the Shift key and select the
last file. The files in between are automatically selected.

4. To select non-consecutive files, hold down the Alt key and select the files in turn.

5. To select all the files in a folder, click the Edit command and choose Select All.

Note: The above procedures apply equally to groups of folders.

Activity 3.4: Copying and pasting files
1. First select the required file/s.
2. Then right-click the files and choose Copy.

Note: The files are copied to an area of the memory called Clipboard.
3. Browse to the destination folder, right-click it and choose Paste.

Moving Files without Leaving a Copy

The procedure is similar to copy and paste except that instead of choosing Copy, you choose Cut.

Renaming Files

Files must be renamed individually. To rename a file, right-click it and choose Rename. Type
t he new name and press Return or click away from the file.

Deleting Files

Select the files to be deleted. Right-click any selected file and choose delete from the menu.
Click the Yes button in the dialog box.

The Recycle Bin

Files and folders deleted from the computer are placed in the recycle bin. They are not lost until the recycle bin is emptied.

Activity 3.5: Managing the Recycle Bin

1. Delete a folder normally by right-clicking the folder and selecting Delete.

2. Check in the Recycle Bin to confirm if the folder/file has arrived.

3. To Undelete the folder, right-click the recycle bin and choose Open.

4. From the Edit menu, choose Undo Delete to restore the folder to its original location as it gets out of the recycle bin.

Measurement of Storage Capacity

In a computer system, data is represented using the binary system; combinations of binary digits (bits). There are only two binary digits, 1 and 0. These digits can be arranged in such a way that they represent characters, digits and other values.

Data storage has various units including bits (b), Bytes (B), Kilobytes (KB), Megabytes (MB), Gigabytes (GB), and Terabytes (TB).

Activity 3.6: Data storage units

1. Distinguish between a bit and a byte.
2. What is the relationship between bits, bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes and terabytes? Give examples where necessary.

Chapter Summary
In this chapter, you have learnt about:
 creating, saving and transferring files across various media.
 converting data storage into various units.