8. Working with Your Files in File Explorer and OneDrive
This chapter shows you how to use File Explorer to organize your folders and files by exploring these tasks:
Getting started with File Explorer
Managing your files and folders
When you need to manage, copy, and organize files and folders in Windows 10, you use File Explorer to accomplish that task. This tool has been around as long as Windows has existed, although its name changed from Windows Explorer to File Explorer with the advent of Windows 8.
In Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, OneDrive—which is integrated with File Explorer so you can get to your cloud files easily—has gotten a development boost. Now OneDrive files are available to you “on-demand,” which means you’re able to see all your files when you view them in File Explorer, but OneDrive downloads and opens the files you need as you open them. This preserves disk space for you and makes it seamlessly easy for you to work with files anytime, anywhere.
This chapter introduces you to File Explorer and shows you how to save files to—and retrieve files from—your OneDrive folders in the cloud.
Getting Started with File Explorer
Sure, media and gaming are both big draws for computer and device users these days. But once upon a time most of us used our computers to get work done—to create, edit, and share files; to create and manage projects; to track sales and produce reports; and more.
Whether social media and movies have taken over a large percentage of your computer time or not, files and folders are still at the heart of computing for many people.
Working with the files you create is likely a daily reality, whether you are updating and sharing worksheets and documents or you need a way to manage your favorite media. File Explorer is the tool in Windows 10 you use to work with your many files and folders. Luckily, it’s always within reach: You launch File Explorer from the taskbar or from the Start menu, which means you can get to it easily no matter what else you might be doing.
Starting File Explorer
The easiest way to launch File Explorer is to click or tap the File Explorer icon on the left side of the taskbar. File Explorer opens in a window on your screen.
Touring the File Explorer Screen
File Explorer is simple to use, and the tools are fairly intuitive. Across the top you see four tabs—File, Home, Share, and View—that contain the tools you’ll use to work with your files and folders. The column on the far left is a Navigation pane that lists the different places your files are stored.
The Quick Access area is the place where you can pin all the folders you use most often—this way you can find them quickly anytime you need them.
The center column shows you the contents of the selected location, and the column on the right shows you more about a file selected in the center column.
Here are some of the key tools you’ll be using in File Explorer:
Location bar—The Location bar shows the currently displayed folder.
Refresh button—The Refresh button updates the list of files in the current folder.
Search box—You can use the Search box to find folders and files in File Explorer.
Navigation pane—The Navigation pane displays your favorites, folders, and files on your computer.
Quick Access—Quick Access displays key folders and accounts, such as Office 365, that you use often. You can pin folders in the Quick Access area so you can reach them easily.
Preview pane—The Preview pane shows an image of the file selected in the center column of File Explorer.
Minimize the ribbon—Use this tool to both hide and display the File Explorer ribbon.
Get Help—Click Get Help to display a pop-up window of help information related to the task you were performing in File Explorer.
Working with Quick Access
The Quick Access area in File Explorer gives you access to key folders and accounts connected to your computer or device. For example, you can get to your desktop, your Downloads folder, your Office 365 account, the Recycle Bin, and other folders you pin in place in the Quick Access area.
If your phone is connected to your Microsoft Account (and connected by USB to your PC), you’re able to access the files on your phone by using File Explorer as well.
Click Quick Access in the Navigation pane.
Click the arrow to the left of Quick Access to display the items in the list.
Click any folder you want to view.
To pin a folder to Quick Access, right-click the folder you want to add.
Click Pin to Quick Access.
Checking Out This PC
This PC, located in the Navigation pane, also gives you top-level access to your content, organized by type or location. The content is arranged by category (what in earlier versions of Windows we called libraries): Music, Pictures, Documents, Videos, and Downloads. This PC also shows you at a glance which devices and drives are connected to your PC.
Click or tap the arrow to the right of This PC in the Navigation pane. The list of primary folders appears.
Select the folder with the files you want to view.
Click the arrow to display subfolders.
Click a file in the folder to see its Preview pane.
Using the Ribbon
The File Explorer ribbon offers the tools you need based on what you’re trying to do. Even the major tabs change, depending on what you’ve selected. If you choose This PC, for example, the tabs that appear are File, Computer, and View. But if you select one of the folders in the This PC group, the tabs are File, Home, Share, and View.
In addition to the primary tabs, the File Explorer tab displays contextual tabs that appear only when you’ve selected a specific something. For example, when you click one or more picture files, the Picture Tools contextual tab appears above the ribbon. When you click outside the picture file, the Picture Tools tab disappears.
Learning the Ribbon Layout
The tabs in File Explorer group all the tools you need for working with your files and folders.
The File tab gives you access to the folders you use frequently. You can also work with the command prompt, delete the file history, display help, and close File Explorer.
The Home tab provides common tools you’ll use for copying and pasting files and paths; moving, deleting, and renaming files and folders; adding folders; opening files and folders; displaying file and folder properties; and selecting files and folders.
The Share tab contains tools for sharing the content you’ve selected, whether you want to email the files or folders, compress them into a zip file, share them with your HomeGroup, or fine-tune the security settings assigned to the file or folder.
The View tab includes tools you can use to change the way the File Explorer window appears. You can use the tools in the View tab to set up File Explorer the way you want it, displaying the Navigation pane, the Preview or Details panes, the size of the icons you want to use, and the data that will be either hidden or displayed. You can also add columns, sort files, and select from different layouts in the File Explorer screen.
Showing and Hiding the File Explorer Ribbon
The ribbon contains the tools you use to work with your files and folders in File Explorer. Each tab contains a unique set of tools, and categories within the tabs group like tools. For example, in the Organize group of the Home tab are tools for moving and copying files to other folders. Additionally, the Organize group includes files for deleting and renaming files.
Some users prefer hiding the ribbon when they aren’t working with it; this gives them a little more room to work with their files. The tool for hiding and displaying the ribbon is near the Help tool in the right side of the File Explorer window.
You can hide the ribbon by tapping or clicking the Minimize the Ribbon tool.
Display the ribbon by tapping or clicking the same tool, which is now called the Expand the Ribbon tool.
Managing Your Files and Folders
Everything you need to do with files—copy them, rename them, put them in folders, and delete them—you can do in File Explorer. You can work with those files whether they are document files, picture files, media files—any type of file! You can easily create and move folders and store files both on your computer or device or in Web access.
Finding Files and Folders
File Explorer includes a comprehensive search tool that makes finding files and folders easy. You can enter a word or phrase in the Search box for a simple search or refine your search by searching for a specific date, kind of file, size, or other file properties.
Begin by tapping or clicking the folder (for example, Documents, Music, Pictures, or Videos) or the drive where you want to search.
Tap or click in the Search box, and type a word or phrase to describe what you’re searching for. The Search Tools Search contextual tab appears above the ribbon.
In the Location group, tap or click whether you want to search your entire computer, the current folder, or all subfolders.
In the Refine group of the Search Tools Search tab, tap or click a search filter if you want to apply one: Date Modified, Kind, Size, or Other Properties.
Tap or click the search result you want to see.
If you want to repeat the search in a different location, select Search Again in the Location group and click or tap your choice.
Selecting Files and Folders
Selecting a file or folder might be as simple as clicking or tapping it. You might also need to select multiple files or folders to move to other places in File Explorer. The Home tab of File Explorer gives you the tools you need to select files and folders easily.
In the Navigation pane, click or tap the drive, Quick Access item, or folder where you want to select files.
Click or tap the Home tab.
If you want to select all contents of the selected folder, tap or click Select All in the Select group.
If you want to deselect any files or folders you’ve previously selected, click or tap Select None.
If you have previously selected multiple files (by pressing Ctrl and clicking files or tapping multiple selections) and want to change the selection to all those that were previously unselected, tap or click Invert Selection.
Viewing File Information
You can change the way you view the files in the folders you select by using the tools in the View tab.
The Panes group on the far-left side of the ribbon contains tools you can use to preview the selected file or display details about the file you’ve chosen.
Click or tap the folder containing the file you want to see.
Use Search if necessary to locate the file.
Click or tap the View tab.
Tap or click Preview Pane in the Panes group if you want to see a preview of the file.
Tap or click Details Pane if you want to see the details of the file.
Tagging Files
The information in the Details pane isn’t just for viewing; you can also change the information and save it while you’re there. By clicking or tapping in the Tags area and adding identifier tags, you can categorize your files so you can find them faster when you search for them later.
Select the file you want to tag in File Explorer.
In the Details pane, tap or click in the Tags field. Type tags you can use to identify or categorize the file, separating multiple tags with semicolons.
Click or tap Save.
Arranging Folder Display
We all like to work in different ways. Some prefer working with thumbnails of our files; others want a simple list. Especially if you have many files in a folder, you might want to filter them so they appear in the order you prefer. You might also want to arrange them by the author or the date the file was last modified, for example.
Click or tap the folder that contains the files you want to arrange in the Navigation pane.
Click or tap the View tab.
Click or tap the Sort By option in the Current View group. A list of options appears.
Click the setting that arranges the files the way you want them to appear. Authors lists the files and folders alphabetically by author; Date Modified lists files with the most recently modified files shown first; Tags arranges files alphabetically according to any tags you’ve assigned to the file; Type shows the files organized by file type; and Name lists the files alphabetically (from A to Z).
Any Folder Works
You may notice that the images for this example use OneDrive, which I cover at the end of this chapter. Files and folders in OneDrive work the same in File Explorer as any other file or folder on your computer.
Copying, Moving, and Sharing Files and Folders
Some of the practical tasks you’ll need to perform regularly with File Explorer involve copying, moving, and sharing your files. Copying can be as simple as selecting a file, pressing Ctrl+C, and then pressing Ctrl+V to paste the file into the folder in which you want it to appear. File Explorer helps ensure you’re not copying over existing files by prompting you if a copy conflict occurs.
Copying Files
You can use the Copy To tool in the Organize group of the Home tab to copy one or many files in the selected folder.
In the Navigation pane, click or tap the folder containing the files you want to copy.
Select the files or folders you want to copy.
Click or tap the Home tab.
Click or tap Copy To. A list of copy destinations appears.
Click the folder where you want to paste the files. File Explorer immediately copies the selected files to the location you selected.
If you want to create a new folder or scroll through a list of possible folders, select the file you want to copy, click Copy To, and select Choose Location. The Copy Items dialog box appears.
Click the arrow to display subfolders.
Click the folder where you want to copy the selected files.
Click Make New Folder if you want to copy the files to a new folder.
Click Copy to complete the operation.
Sharing Files
When you’re ready to share your files with friends, family, and co-workers, select the file or group of files you want to share and tap or click the Share tab. You’ll find tools that enable you to print, email, fax, burn to disc, or share the files with others in your HomeGroup (or who have accounts on your computer). Windows 10 includes a Share tool in the Send group of the Share tab.
Select the file or files you want to share.
Click or tap the Share tab.
In the Send group, click Share. The panel on the right opens, offering the ways you can share the file. Depending on the type of file you’ve selected and the means of sharing available to you, you may be able to share only with your phone or another app.
Click Email if you want to share the file through email.
Click Zip if you want to compress the selected file(s).
If you want to stop sharing selected files, click Remove Access.
Fine-tune your security settings by clicking or tapping Advanced Security and adjusting the permission levels assigned to those you’re sharing the files with.
Compressing and Extracting Your Files
Sometimes when you want to email a bunch of files, it’s easier to compress them into one file you can attach to an email message instead of attaching 10 or 12 different documents. After the recipient receives the compressed file, he needs to extract the contents. File Explorer includes tools to do both of those jobs: compressing and extracting files.
Select the files you want to include in the compressed file.
Right-click your selection and point to Send To.
Click Compressed (Zipped) Folder. File Explorer compresses the files and displays the zipped file with the name highlighted.
Type a new name for the compressed file.
To see and extract the contents of a compressed file, double-click or double-tap it.
Click or tap Extract All. The Extract Compressed (Zipped) Folders dialog box appears.
Click Browse if necessary to choose a folder for the extracted files. (It’s okay to leave the default setting if that folder is where you want the uncompressed files to be placed.)
Click Extract. File Explorer extracts the files and places them in the folder you specified, ready to use.
Using Files On-Demand with OneDrive
OneDrive is Microsoft’s cloud storage service, and it works similarly to other such services, such as Apple’s iCloud and Dropbox. Cloud storage allows you to automatically sync files and folders from your local hard drive to the Internet. Making use of this feature has two benefits. One, files stored in the cloud are available to you anywhere you have an Internet connection. Two, if something happens to the data stored locally on your computer, that data remains safe in the cloud.
The big news for OneDrive in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is that now OneDrive accesses and displays your files “on-demand,” meaning you can view the files and folders in File Explorer, but the files won’t actually be downloaded to your computer or device unless you open them. So the files are retrieved on an as-needed basis, which saves disk space while not costing you any wait time.
To access OneDrive, you need to set up a Microsoft Account, as I discussed earlier in this book. When you log in to your computer using a Microsoft Account, you have immediate access to your OneDrive data through File Explorer. OneDrive shows up in the navigation pane on the left, just below the Quick Access area.
Early in 2016, Microsoft changed the amount of storage available with OneDrive because some users were taking advantage of the “free, unlimited” storage space and posting entire movie collections and more. To gain some control over space management, Microsoft instituted the following changes:
Free OneDrive storage is now set to 5 GB for all users.
Previous paid storage plans for 100 GB and 200 GB are being discontinued, and the new rate is $1.99 per month for 50 GB.
Office 365 Home, Personal, or University subscriptions include 1 TB of OneDrive storage as part of the monthly subscription fee.
Because OneDrive is integrated into File Explorer, all the procedures you read earlier in this chapter work with your OneDrive folders. You can copy, paste, and edit files in your OneDrive just as with anyplace else on your computer.
Working with OneDrive in the Taskbar
In addition to seeing OneDrive listed in the Navigation panel in File Explorer, you can also access OneDrive—and check on things like file syncing and settings—by using the OneDrive icon on the right side of the taskbar, in the notifications area.
Click or tap the OneDrive icon. A pop-up list appears.
The list shows the files that are currently being uploaded to OneDrive.
Notice the status of the syncing process.
If you want OneDrive to display all your files and folders in the cloud (but only open the ones you select on-demand), click Show All Files.
Click the Settings button to open OneDrive settings.
