MS Windows – Files and folders: (last updated Sept 19, 2017)
The videos at the bottom of this page are about files and folders. Study this introduction before viewing the videos.
Computers store information in files. Every file has a name, such as “myfile.txt”.
Every file is stored in a folder. Every folder has a name, such as “Documents”.
On an MS Windows computer the main storage site is a hard disk that is referred to as the “C:” drive. Think of the C: drive as the master folder that contains all the files and folders stored on a computer.
Folders can contain files and folders. A folder is sort of like box that can contain objects (like a ball) or other boxes. You can have folders in folders just like you have boxes inside boxes. A folder that is inside a folder can be referred to as a sub-folder. A folder that contains particular files and folders can be referred to as the “Parent folder” of those files and folders.
Here is an example of a set of folders, sub-folders and files, The file names are colored red to make them easy to identify. Everything else is a folder:
In this example:
The “Harry” folder is inside the “Users” folder. The “Users” folder is the parent of the “Harry” folder.
The “Harry” folder is a sub-folder of the “Users” folder. The “homework” folder is also a sub-folder of the “Harry” folder, but it is “nested” several folders down from the “Harry” folder.
The “student_names.txt” file is in the “marion_2017” folder. What is the name of the parent folder of the “student_names.txt” file?
When you start up a brand new computer at home it already has many files and folders. The files are used by the computer operating system to do the things computers do. Most of the folders on a new computer are also part of the operating system.
However, one folder in particular is intended to be used by the user of the computer. This is the “Documents” folder. Most of the files and folders that you create and work with will be in the “Documents” folder or a sub-folder within the documents folder.
My hope is that all this will make more sense once you have watched the videos below. Click the links below to see the video. Be sure to have your speaker on for sound.