Managing Files

Article
12/09/2009

from Chapter 12, Microsoft Windows 2000 Administrator's Pocket Consultant by William R. Stanek.

Windows 2000 provides many ways to manage files. The most common file operations are copy and move. You can copy or move files within windows—such as within Windows Explorer—and between windows—such as copying a file from Windows Explorer to the My Network Places window. You can also copy or move files to and from the desktop.

Selecting Files and Directories

In Windows Explorer you can select individual and multiple files in a variety of ways. You select individual files by clicking them with the mouse. You select multiple files by

Holding down the Ctrl key and then clicking the left mouse button on each file or folder you want to select.
Holding down the Shift key, selecting the first file or folder, and then clicking the last file or folder.

Copying Files and Folders by Dragging

To copy or move items to any open window or visible area on the desktop, complete the following steps:

Select the item(s) you want to copy or move.
Hold down the mouse button and drag the item(s) to the new location.
If you drag the file or folder to a new location on a different drive, it's copied automatically. To move the file instead, hold down the Shift key as you drag the file or folder.
If you drag the file or folder to a new location on the same drive, Windows 2000 will try to move the item instead. To prevent this, hold down the Ctrl key as you drag the file or folder.

Note: To copy a file, the source and destination location must be visible. This means you may need to open multiple versions of Windows Explorer or multiple windows and expand the folders within these windows, as necessary.

Copying Files and Folders to Locations That Aren't Displayed

You may also need to copy items to locations that aren't currently displayed. To do this, follow these steps:

Select the item(s) you want to copy.
Hold down the mouse button and drag the item(s) into the Folders pane.
Slowly drag the items up to the last visible folder at the top of the pane (or down to the last visible folder at the bottom of the pane). You should be able to scroll up or down slowly through the existing tree structure.
When you find the destination folder, release the mouse button. If it's on a different drive, the item is copied. Otherwise, it's moved.

Copying and Pasting Files

I prefer to move files around by copying and pasting. When you copy and paste files, you don't have to worry about whether the file will be copied or moved. You simply copy files to the clipboard and paste them anywhere you like. You can even paste copies of files in the same folder—something you can't do by dragging.

To copy and paste files, follow these steps:

Select the item(s) you want to copy.
Right-click and from the pop-up menu select Copy. You could also select Copy from the Edit menu or press Ctrl+C.
Access the destination location, then right-click, and from the pop-up menu select Paste. You could also select Paste from the Edit menu or press Ctrl+V.

Note: Windows 2000 may not let you copy files and folders to special windows. For example, you generally can't copy a file and then paste it into the My Computer window. Similarly, you may not be able to copy items in special folders and paste them into other windows.

Moving Files by Cutting and Pasting

To move files by cutting and pasting, follow these steps:

Select the item(s) you want to move.
Right-click and from the pop-up menu select Cut. You could also select Cut from the Edit menu or press Ctrl+X.
Access the destination location, then right-click, and from the pop-up menu select Paste. You could also select Paste from the Edit menu or press Ctrl+V.
When prompted to move the selected items, click OK.

Note: When you use the CUT and PASTE commands, Windows 2000 doesn't delete the item(s) from the original location immediately. The CUT command simply places a copy of the item(s) on the clipboard. After you use the PASTE command to paste the file to the new location, the file is deleted from the old location.

Renaming Files and Directories

To rename a file or directory, follow these steps:

Right-click the file or directory name, and then from the pop-up menu select Rename. Or select the file or directory name, and then from the File menu select Rename.
The resource name is now editable. Type the new name for the resource.
Press Enter or click the resource's icon.

Deleting Files and Directories

To delete files and directories, follow these steps:

Select the items to be deleted.
Press the Delete key or choose Delete from the File menu. Alternatively, you could choose Delete from the pop-up menu.

Note: By default, Windows Explorer puts deleted items in the Recycle Bin. To delete the files permanently, you need to empty the Recycle Bin. To delete a file immediately and bypass the Recycle Bin, press down the Shift key, and then press the Delete key or choose Delete from the File menu.

Creating Folders

In Windows Explorer you can create a folder by following these steps:

In the Folders pane, select the directory that will contain the new folder.
In the Contents pane, right-click, and then from the New menu select Folder. A new folder is added to the Contents pane. The folder name is initialized to New Folder and selected for editing.
Edit the name of the folder and press Enter.

Examining Drive Properties

Windows Explorer, My Computer, and My Network Places all let you examine the properties of your drives. This includes logical drives, floppy disk drives, removable disk drives, network drives, and CD-ROM drives.

To examine drive properties you can do either of two things:

Right-click the drive's icon. From the pop-up menu select Properties.
Select the drive by clicking on it. From the File menu select Properties.

Figure 12-6 shows the Properties dialog box for a logical drive. Some of the tabs shown are only available for NTFS. For example, on NTFS you can use the Security tab to set access permissions, auditing, and ownership.

The exact number of tabs available depends on the type of drive. Table 12-3 provides a quick overview of how the tabs are used and when they're available.

Table 12-3 Availability and Description of Drive Property Tabs

Tab	Availability	Description
General	All drive types	Provides an overview of drive configuration and drive space.
Tools	Hard disk drives, floppy disk drives, and removable disk drives	Provides access to drive tools for error checking, defragmentation, and backup.
Hardware	Hard disk drives, floppy disk drives, and removable disk drives	Provides access to device properties and troubleshooting features.
Sharing	All local drives	Allows you to share the drive with remote users.
Security	NTFS drives	Sets access permissions, auditing, and ownership.
Remote Storage	NTFS drives	Manages remote storage.
Quota	NTFS drives	Configures disk usage for users on a per disk basis.
Web Sharing	All local drives	Allows you to share the drive with a local Web server. (Available when the system has Internet Information Server or Personal Web Server installed.)

Examining File and Folder Properties

Windows Explorer, My Computer, and My Network Places all let you examine the properties of files and folders. There are two ways you can do this:

Right-click the file or folders icon. From the pop-up menu select Properties.
Select the file or folder by clicking on it. From the File menu select Properties.

Figure 12-6: The Properties dialog box provides a quick overview of the drive. The number of tabs available depends on the type of drive.

Figure 12-7 shows the Properties dialog box for a folder on NTFS. The General tab provides an overview of the folder and allows you to set its attributes. Folder and file attributes include

Figure 12-7: The file and folder Properties dialog boxes are similar. The availability of tabs depends on the file system type and the file type.
Read-Only Shows whether the file or folder is read-only. You can't modify or accidentally delete read-only files and folders.
Hidden Determines whether the file is displayed in file listings. You can override this by telling Windows Explorer to display hidden files.
Advanced Allows you to set compression, encryption, and archiving for the file.

With file and folder properties, the availability of tabs depends on the type of file or folder. Table 12-4 provides a quick overview of how the common tabs are used and when they're available.

Table 12-4 Availability and Description of Common File and Folder Tabs

Tab	Availability	Description
General	All files and folders	Provides an overview of the item and lets you set its attributes.
Web Sharing	All local folders	Allows you to share the folder with a local Web server. (Available when the system has Internet Information Services installed.)
Sharing	All local folders	Allows you to share the folder with remote users.
Security	NTFS files and folders	Sets access permissions, auditing, and ownership.
Summary	Win32 DLL and executable files	Provides editable summary, authoring, and revision information.
Version	Win32 DLL and executable files	Allows you to check the file version, description, copyright, and other key information.

Note: When you register a new file type, the file type can create entries that add and remove property tabs. For example, with most image files, you'll see additional tabs. These tabs can include Keywords, Description, Caption, Origin, and Credits. Adobe Photoshop adds another tab called Photoshop Image, which can provide a thumbnail for the image that allows you to view it without having to open it.

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