Managing files at ND Libraries
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Files Managing files at ND Libraries |
Where did that pesky file go? When looking for a missing file, ask yourself what you do know about the file. "I created it sometime around March of last year using Word and it had something to do with schedules" provides a lot of important clues. Let's explore some of the ways you could go about finding that file.
| Viewing files: Explore vs My Computer | |
| Show file details | |
| Sort files by date, file type, name, or size | |
| Find Files or Folders | |
| Recover files |
Viewing files: Explore vs My Computer
Windows offers two major methods of viewing file information. The screen on the left (below) was obtained by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Explore. The screen on the right was obtained by double-clicking 'My Computer' then double-clicking C:\. As you can see, both methods display much the same information. The discussion that follows is based on the 'Exploring' window, but you can use 'My Computer' if you prefer.
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The more information you have, the easier it will be to find a file. Here's how to display the file extension, size, and modification date.
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The file display should now look something like this. You'll have column headings for Name, File Size, File Type, Date last modified and Attributes. You may have to resize the window to see all five columns.
Sorted by Name
Folders (alphabetized by name) are shown before files (alphabetized by name). While alphabetical listings are useful, sometimes it's easier to spot files by date or type.
Sort files by date, file type, name, or size.
When you display files in Details view, you can sort them by clicking the column headings. To sort files in reverse order, click the column heading once more.
Sorted by Date
Sorting in Explorer is handy if you know which file folder to look in, but sometimes you don't know which folder the file may be hiding in. Let's look at the Find command.
This Windows utility is a powerful tool to locate files. Even if you only have fragments of information on the file, you can narrow down your search quickly. To use it...
| Classic View | XP view |
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Use
wildcards to find a file by name or parts of a name
If you know -- or think you know -- all or part of the name, you can search by what you know and let Windows show you all files that match what you've entered. In the example below, we've used a wildcard (the asterisk character *) to replace characters we're not sure of.
Windows would return all these files (if they existed) on the H:\ drive. We selected the N:\ drive from the Look in pull down menu.
Search for a file by narrowing down its location
You could also use the pull down "Look In:" menu to select Browse. Browsing allows you to point to a folder deep on your N:\ drive such as N:\private\2006\conferences\. Selecting a specific folder in this fashion drastically reduces the amount of time a search takes.
Find a file by specific text in file
This may be the most powerful search option of all! If everything else fails,
enter a key word or words, and be prepared to wait while Windows churns through
all the text in all your files in your search path to find what
you requested. (You can, of course, limit the search by indicating any or all
of the other search elements)
There are several other options for limiting your search. You
can access these options by either clicking on the buttons with arrows pointing down,
or you can just click on the text itself.
Find a file by
the date it was created or modified
By clicking on "When Was it modified?", you can narrow down the search even more by indicating the date range. Since the information enter here narrows the search, you may want to set the 'Look in' criteria to just N:\.
Find a file by
file type or extension
Click on "More advanced options" and use the pull down menu "Type of file:" to select a specific type of file. This is especially useful if you don't know the three-letter extension of the program used to create the file.
Last but not least, yet another option you can get by clicking "What size was it?"
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If you haven't found your file by now, it probably is gone. See the Recover topic for some ideas on where to go from here.
| Page last modified on: 12/01/2006 |
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