How many times have you saved a document and not been able to locate it again afterwards? How about all those photos that you’ve received in email attachments? Do you ever have trouble finding them again after you’ve viewed them the first time? Did you download them? Your computer is really one big filing cabinet and it’s definitely worth taking the time to understand the basics of file management. It could save you hours of trouble and frustration!
If you are using Windows on a laptop or desktop PC, your files are organized by something called “File Explorer”. This can be found in the start menu – just click on the start button (or Windows Icon) down at the bottom left of your screen, then click on “File Explorer”.
Microsoft has changed how things display in File Explorer, from version to version of Windows, but the principals are the same for each version. On the left of the File Explorer window you will see a whole long list of things. Don’t get concerned about having to learn what each one of them is, but do get familiar with at least one of them – the “Downloads” folder. Depending on which version of Windows you have, this may look like a yellow folder, or it may be a blue arrow pointing downward. In both cases, it should be labeled as “Downloads”. This is the default place where any files that you download from the internet are stored. It’s also the place that most email services use to store attachments that you elect to download and keep (be careful here: never download / keep attachments from emails that you don’t recognize or that look suspicious! – http://www.thefriendlytechguy.com/?p=93).
So what happens when you want to look at some photos that were sent to you? You have to go to the Downloads folder and find them. One thing that can make that easier to do is to select the “detailed view” of the downloads folder: with the folder open, click the “View” menu at the top and select the “Details” view. Now you’ll see your list of downloaded files, each with several columns of information. Find the column that’s labeled “Type” and click on the word “Type”. Now your list of downloaded files will be sorted into different file types. Look down the list until you find files of the type .jpg or .jpeg. These will likely be your photos, or other images that you’ve downloaded.
Why not create a photos folder and put all your photos in there? You can create new folders and have them live on your desktop, which makes them easy to find. Go to your desktop and right-click in an empty space. From the list that comes up, click on “New” and then “Folder”. This will place a new folder on your desktop. Give it a name by right-clicking on it and selecting “Rename”. Type in your new folder name – “Photos” – and press enter when you’re done. Now you have a folder to put your photos in!