T 'n' T: Be a Windows Explorer Explorer From File Management To File Mastery Gregg Keizer
Wed 2/20/02 -- If rooting through your PC's hard disk feels like rummaging through your attic -- i.e., you can't find anything -- it's time to smooth some rough edges from the Windows Explorer file manager. Explorer's my preferred path to file management mastery, but I've had to tweak it seven ways from Sunday to make it so. This week's tips 'n' tricks tell you how.
Show file extensions. Windows would rather show you pretty icons than the three-letter filename extensions -- like .DOC and .GIF and .XLS -- that those of us who came from DOS use to tell one file from another. But REPORT.DOC is different from REPORT.XLS, just as WPLANET.JPG is from WPLANET.ICO.
To force Windows to show extensions, call up Settings/Control Panel/Folder Options from the Start menu (in Windows 98 and 95, open Windows Explorer and choose Folder Options from the View menu). Click the View tab, then uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types" or "Hide MS-DOS file extensions for known file types." Click OK.
Groupies. One of Windows XP's slickest file management features is the new way it groups files in Explorer. Handy for organizing files by type, name, date modified, or size, grouping makes it easier to find files, with each bunch clearly segregated by white space. To use groups, open Windows Explorer, then the desired folder. From the View menu, select "Arrange Icons by" and choose "Show in Groups." Repeat the procedure, but this time select a criterion -- name, size, type, or "modified" (which means "date modified") from the menu. With the last option checked, for example, files will be organized under headings such as "Today," "Yesterday," "Last Week," and "Last Month."
Details, details. Windows Explorer's Details view is the most flexible and informative of the file manager's various looks, for it shows not only files' names and icons but everything from size and date last modified to attributes and date last accessed.
Use the Details view by choosing Details from the View menu. To customize the information presented, pick Choose Details from the View menu (it's Choose Columns in Windows Me and earlier), then check the boxes beside the items you want to display. You can further finesse Explorer by dragging and dropping column headings into new positions.
Start Explorer swiftly. For some reason, Microsoft wants us to use My Computer and My Documents to review and access our computer files. But Windows Explorer is a much faster and more flexible tool for seeing what's what and where, and the best place for Explorer is a prominent position on the Start menu, not a lowly listing under Programs/Accessories.
So put Explorer where it belongs by right-clicking the Start button and choosing Open. From the File menu, pick New/Shortcut; in the "Command line" field, enter C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE and click Next. Give it a name -- Get Files is my usual -- and click Finish.
Go right to work. Even if you create a shortcut to Explorer and stick it in the Start menu, alas, Windows still thinks it knows better than you: it always opens the same initial folder (the C:\ or root folder for Win 95 or 98, or My Documents for Win Me, 2000, or XP). If you're wild-eyed rebel enough to store your favorite files someplace else, twist Explorer's arm till it opens that folder by default.
How so? Right-click on the Start menu, choose Open, then right-click the Explorer shortcut you created earlier. Choose Properties, then click the Shortcut tab and edit the Target field to:
C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE /n, /e, c:\myfolder
where C:\WINDOWS is your Windows directory and c:\myfolder is the folder you want to open automatically. Click OK.
