Lung Cancer Center

Have you ever worked for hours on a document, saved it to your computer and the
next time you went to use the file you could not find it? Hopefully this article will
help you and everyone else who uses your computer, save files in an orderly
manner; then you will always be able to find any file you need, quickly and
efficiently.

How to Create Folders

All PCs have an icon
or section on the computer labelled My Documents. This is where you
should be saving all of the files you create. Think of this area as a great big filling
cabinet. Instead of piling everything in the cabinet higgledy piggledy, as tempting as
it might be, you need to set up sections within the filling cabinet for the different
type of files you might be saving. Each section of the filing cabinet is called a
Folder

If several people are using the same computer, begin by assigning a Major
Folder to each person. For example:

Mr. Smith or Dad’s
Files
Mrs. Smith or Mom’s Files
Junior Smith or Junior’s Files
Jane Smith or Jane’s Files

You can give the Folder any name you wish, to make these Major folders, follow
these commands.

1. Click on Start (green button at
the bottom left corner of your screen).
2. Click on My
Documents.
3. On the top right corner of the My Document Screen click on
File.
4. Immediately under File, a white section comes up and click
on New.
5. To the right of the word New click on Folder.
6. A
Folder will appear in the white area of the screen saying New
Folder and it will be shaded blue, immediately type in the name of the folder
Dad’s Files.
7. If the Folder turns to white before you type in the name,
simply click on the word New Folder, then click on File, scroll
down and click on Rename, once again it will turn to blue and you can
type in the name of the new folder.
8. Continue making and naming
as many Folders as you need for each person or section you wish to
create.

Within each major Folder you can create other sections or Sub
Folders, to help you keep each person’s files organized. For
example:

Dad’s Files
———Business
——————Documents
——————Letters
—————————Company A
—————————Company B
—————————Company C
——————Faxes
——————Estimates
——————Insurance
——————Resumes
——————Miscellaneous
———Household Accounting Records
———Personal
———Friends
Moms Files
———Letters
———Special e-mails
———Household Documents
———Friends

Junior’s Files
———School work
———Friends
Jane’s Files
———School work
———Friends

How to Save Your Files to Your Folders

1. Once you have your folders set up, you can begin to
save your new files into the correct Folder.

2. Start by opening a new file in your Word
program.

3. Click on File in the top left corner and scroll down to
save as.

4. A new screen will appear with the words SAVE AS in
the blue shaded area, click on My Documents on the left side of
this screen.

5. A list of each of your major folders will appear.
Click on the Major Folder you wish to use.

6. The screen will open and list each of the Sub Folders
you have made.

7. Once you have reached the Sub Folder you wish
to save your document in, type in the name of your document in the
bottom of the screen labelled File Name.

If you are saving pictures on your computer, it is a good idea to set up
folders for
your pictures in the same manner as your documents. Set up your Folders in the
same manner in the My Pictures section of your computer.

File and
Folder Tasks

In the My Document screen (in the blue area on the left side) you will
see a section labelled File and Folder Tasks. Click on the small white circle
beside the name and a list of tasks will appear or disappear. You can use this
section to accomplish the following tasks

1. Rename a folder –
if you wish to give the folder a new name, just click on the folder, then click on this
command. The folder will turn blue and you can type in the new name and press
enter.
2. Move this folder.
a. Highlight the file by
clicking on the file Name.
b. Click on the command Move this file.
c. A new screen will appear called Move Items.
d.
Scroll through this screen until you find the Folder you wish to move the
file into.
e. Click on this:Folder and the Move
button at the bottom of this screen.
3. Copy this folder – follow the
same commands as to move the folder, instead of a screen saying Move
Items you will get a screen saying Copy Items
4.
Publish this folder to the web – click on the Folder you wish to
publish, then the Publish this folder to the Web, a Web Publishing
Wizard will appear, follow the directions that come up.
5.
Share this folder – once again, click on the Folder and the command
Share this folder and follow the instructions that appear.
6.
Email this folder – click on the Folder or File and the
command Email this folder, an e-mail will appear with the Files or
Folders attached, send the e-mail to the person you wish to send it
to.
7. Delete this folder – click on the File or Folder
and the command Delete this folder. A window will appear asking
you
if you wish to delete the file or folder. Click on Yes and the file
will be sent to your Recycle Bin. If you make a mistake and accidentally
delete the wrong file, you can always go to the Recycle Bin and move it back to its
correct location. This only works if you have not emptied your Recycle Bin
.

Lost Files

If you have previously saved a file to your computer and wish to find it, try the
following commands.

1. Go to the My Document screen.
2. Click on the
File command.
3. Scroll down to the Search
command.
4. Follow the directions on the left side of the screen that
appears. You can type in the name of the file, or a phrase that has been used in the
file. By clicking on the sections Look In you can tell the computer to look
in one specific area or the complete computer by clicking on the Local Hard
Drive.
5. Once the computer has found your file or files
with the information you requested, a list of possible files will appear on the
right side of the screen.
6. Click on the correct file and it
will open for you.
7. I suggest you save the file in a
Folder where you will quickly find it the next time.

Details
of Files

If you wish to find out how big a file is, when it was last used, or which program was
used to create it, follow the following commands.

1. Go to the My Document screen.
2. Click on the
View command at the top of the screen.
3. Scroll down to
the
Details command.
4. The screen will give you the
Name, Size, Type and Date Modified of each file in the folder you are
displaying.

Summary

It will only take you a few minutes to set up your filling system on your
computer but it will save you hours of scrolling through many files looking for the
one elusive file you need. As the old proverb goes “An ounce of prevention is
worth a pound of cures”. I also suggest that when you are working on a file,
that you take time to use the save command (found under File)
every five
minutes. Then if your computer suddenly decides to have a fit (crash), at least you
will be able to retrieve the bulk of your work.

I wish you many happy
hours of
computing and less frustration as you quickly locate all your files when you need
them. Enjoy your computer and keep learning how to make it work for you.

Author-Louise Kaye

DigitizMe.info

http://www.digitizeme.info

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