For New Computer Users

 How To Copy Folders and Files

Remember this! All files are kept in folders!

This may seem like such easy stuff, but trust me, I find a lot of people who get very confused when it comes to these easy things. You will find with computers there is usually more than one way of doing things. This does not mean one way is better, but it may be the easier one for you remember. Here is a rule of thumb about left and right clicking when you want to open a folder or highlight a file you left click. When you want to do something like delete, or rename a folder or file, you right click on it. If you are not sure left click and see what happens.

The examples I will use are for Windows XP because that is, by far, the most popular operating platform in use in 2004. If you will click on the start button, then click on the My Documents the documents folder will open. This folder is where most of the files you use are stored. Notice the different sub folders (sub to My Documents.) Some common categories may by finances, letters written to friends, etc. If you scroll down to “M” you should see a folder labeled My Pictures and if you do not have one you should make a folder called “temp.” To make a folder click on file and you will see a new box with an arrow pointing to Folder. See Fig. 2.
      
                     Fig. 2
Click on the folder icon and a box will open up called New Folder. This is where you label your new folder. See Fig.3
     
                    Fig. 3          
Double click on My Pictures. if you have any picture files in this folder, click on one of them. This will do several things, it marks that file for further action and if you look over to the left, you will see a box called File and Folder Tasks. See Fig.4
      
              Fig. 4                   Fig. 5

Click on “Copy this file.” The window in Fig. 5 will open showing your new folder called “temp.” Click on temp, then click copy. That is all there is to it. This example shows you how to copy a file and when you are working with picture files it is always good to copy them to a temp folder first and then you can edit them and still retain your original picture.

Another method to copy a file is to left click with the mouse to highlight it, then hold down the control key and push C. Now open the folder that you want to copy the file to. Then hold down control and push V.Two things to remember, and don’t be afraid to write them down, are (1) the name of the file and (2) the folder you copied it to. If you do lose the file, here is how to find it. click on start, search and select what you want to search for. I usually select All files and folders. Next fill in the criteria. Scroll down and fill in the date modified if you can, then click on search.