If you have a limited number of files, you can easily keep them all in a single folder, such as the Documents folder. However, if you have files that you want other people to have full access to, or files dealing with many different projects, you’ll probably want to organize them by placing them in individual folders. If a file doesn’t have a suitably descriptive name, you can change it to one that’s more useful. If there’s a group of related files, you can rename each file in the group with the same group name, followed by consecutive numbering—for example, stories, stories(1), stories(2), and so on.
Open the window containing the file or files you want to move or copy.
Hold down the right mouse button, and drag the item or items onto the destination folder in the Folders list or into the Favorite Links list in the Navigation pane.
From the shortcut menu that appears, choose whether you want to move or to copy the item or items.
To delete a file or a group of files, select the file or group of files, and press the Delete key.
See Also
"Navigating Folders" for information about displaying the Navigation pane and using the Folders list.
"Sharing Files with Other Users" for information about keeping your files private so that other people who have access to the computer can’t open them.
- Select the file or folder or the group of files you want to rename, and press the F2 key; or right-click the first selected file of a group, and choose Rename from the shortcut menu.
Type a new name, or click to position the insertion point and then edit the name. Press Enter when the name is correct.
Try This!
Select a group of files or folders, and press Ctrl+C to copy them or Ctrl+X to cut them so that you can move them into a new location. Go to the new destination, and press Ctrl+V to paste the items into the new location. Now select a different file, press Alt+E, and choose Copy To Folder or Move To Folder from the Edit menu. Use the dialog box to copy or move the file.
Tip
To select a series of adjacent files, click the first file, hold down the Shift key, and click the last file in the group. To select nonadjacent files, hold down the Ctrl key as you click each file to be selected.
Caution
File names (or folder names) can be as long as 255 characters, including the full file path and the file extension (the characters following the period at the end of the file name), but a descriptive short name is usually a better choice. You can use spaces and underscores in names, but you can’t use the * : < > | ? " or / characters. If there’s a file extension, don’t change or delete it. Windows Vista uses the file extension to identify the type of file.