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Folders are your best friends.
 technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

T e c h n o f i l e
How to find things on your computer, Part 2: Organize, organize, organize


Aug. 7, 2005


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2005, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2005, The Post-Standard

   What good is something if you can't find it? This week I'll tell you three easy ways to arrange stuff on your computer so you can find anything within a few clicks of your mouse. My tips work on both Windows PCs and Apple Macintoshes.
   Start out by taking a look at last week's column, the first in this mini-series, in which I explained how you can banish uninformative icons from your file-and-folder windows. Instead of pretty (and pretty useless) icons, you can choose your computer's "Details" view to see a lot of information about items you're storing. (You can read that column on the Web at http://technofileonline/texts/tec073105.html.)
   Ready for your three-step program? Here goes.
   1. Make sure all files and folders have sensible names.
   Never let your camera name your picture files, for example. Give them names that make sense to you. (Unless, of course, IMG00893.JPG makes sense to you. if so, you are a super geek and need not read further.) If you have a picture named "Mary's 7th birthday party.jpg," you'll be able to find it in a snap. If it's named with some odd combination of numbers and letters, you might never see it again.
   To rename a file in a standard Windows file-and-folder window, select the file and press F2, then type the new name and press Enter. To rename a file in comparable Macintosh file-and-folder window, select the file and press the Return key. Type the new name and click off to the side. (Note that you might have a program that lets you rename items within it. Use whatever technique it offers in such cases. It might not work the way I described.)
   Let's back up a little. Renaming works the same way for anything -- files, folders, shortcuts, you name it. (Sorry. I couldn't resist.) Remember that you can rename a folder the same way you rename a file.
   2. Folders are your best friends. OK, maybe they're just pals, but you'll agree they're something special when you start organizing stuff inside other stuff.
   Suppose you have a lot of MP3 music files. You could create a main folder called, obviously, "MP3 music" or something like that. In that main folder you could make other folders called, for example, "Rap," "Ska" and "Hip Hop." You could sort your music by putting the appropriate MP3 files into the right folders.
   Doing that kind of thing automatically creates order out of chaos, especially if you also do it for your digital photos, your school work and even your downloads.
   3. Shortcuts get you places faster. Stop digging through half a dozen nested folders every time you need to reach something. Create shortcuts to those far-off locations and put the shortcuts where you can click on them quickly -- in a folder on your desktop, maybe.
   To make a shortcut in Windows, click the right mouse button on the item and drag it with the right button held down. Release it and choose "Make Shortcut(s) Here" from the menu. On a Mac, make a shortcut (or alias, as Apple calls it) by holding down Cmd and Option while dragging the item. When you let go, you'll have a shortcut.
   For a detailed explanation of shortcuts and how they can work for you, see http://technofileonline/texts/bkshortcuts97.html.