A computer keeps files the same way a filing cabinet does: things inside folders, folders inside other folders. Once you can picture that, you can find anything on any computer, including one you have never used.
Open File Explorer on Windows, the folder icon usually at the bottom of the screen. Inside you will find Documents for your work, Downloads for anything you download, and Pictures for images.
This is the same idea as the Files app on your phone. Downloads means the same thing in both places. If you learned lesson 2 of Phone Skills, you already understand this.
You save a document. Where should it go?
What happens: It works, until there are forty of them and you cannot find anything. On a shared computer, a desktop file is also visible to the next person.
What happens: Findable next week, tidy, and it does not sit in front of the next person who uses the machine.
I downloaded something and cannot find it
It is in Downloads, exactly like on a phone. Open File Explorer, click Downloads on the left, and sort by date so the newest is at the top.
What is the difference between copy and move?
Copy leaves the original where it was and makes a second one. Move takes it away from the old place. When you are putting work onto a USB drive, copy is safer, because the file still exists on the computer if something goes wrong.
Before you move on
- Find File Explorer and open Documents
- Make a folder with your own name
- Remember Downloads works the same as on your phone
Check what you know
3 questions. Have a look at what this lesson asks.
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