Who Knew Windows Could Do That?

Painless File Management

Managing files is the key to organizing all your work and play materials--but such chores can be a pain. Here are some easy ways to make your Windows file-management housekeeping simpler and faster.

Size It Up, Part 1

All Versions Wondering how big a file or group of files is? Or how many items are in a folder? The secret is in the status bar, which usually runs along the bottom of your screen (if you don't see it in your Explorer or folder windows, choose View, Status Bar). Click inside an empty area of the folder to make sure nothing is selected. The status bar shows the total number of objects in the folder and the amount of space they use (minus the contents of any subfolders). Select one or more items in a folder to have the status bar provide information just on those items (again, the size and number of items in subfolders isn't included).

Size It Up, Part 2

All Versions The Explorer status bar won't tell you the number of files in one or more selected folders, or tally the disk space those folders consume, but that information is still close at hand. Select one or more folders or files and press Alt-Enter, or right-click the selection and choose Properties. Look on the General tab of the Properties sheet. If you have only a single item selected, Alt-double-click it to display the Properties sheet.

Size It Up, Part 3

All Versions To see how much space remains on your hard drive, double-click My Computer. Make sure the folder is using Web View and then select a drive icon (see Figure 6). In Windows 2000 and Me, you see the same information if the folder window is showing the root of a drive, and no items in the folder are selected (click inside an empty area to deselect everything).

The diagram showing your disk space and capacity rounds figures to the nearest tenth of a megabyte. If you want to know the truth down to the last byte, employ the techniques used in the previous tip to open the Properties sheet for any drive. This is the only method that works in Windows 95.

Do Do the Undo That You Do So Well

All Versions Copying, moving, renaming, deleting, and other file operations can be undone. You can often use the Edit, Undo command in Windows Explorer to reverse file operations performed by other apps. How do you know what choosing Undo will do? Check the status bar (if it isn't visible, choose View, Status Bar). Move your pointer over the Edit, Undo command, the Edit, Undo Copy command, Edit, Undo Delete, or another undo command, but don't click; the status bar will show what file or files will be affected (see Figure 7).

Create Folders in a Flash

All Versions Windows lacks a quick-and-easy way to make a new folder (see " An Open Letter to Mr. Gates"). But you still have these folder-making tools at your disposal:

• Windows doesn't have a keyboard shortcut for making a folder, but pressing Alt-F-N-F is the next best thing. This only works in Explorer or a folder window with nothing selected--not on the desktop.
  
  
• On the desktop or in any folder, right-click and choose New, Folder.
  
  
• Or use Shift-F10-N-F; that'll work in a folder, in Explorer, or on the desktop.
  
  
• Many file dialog boxes (such as Open and Save As) have a little button at the top that will make a new folder within the current folder. Just click it.
  
  

Copy, Move, or Shortcut?

All Versions When you drag a file to another location, Windows sometimes moves the file and other times copies it. And when you drag an application, Windows only makes a shortcut. Why? There's a method in this madness. Dragging moves a file if it's dropped to a point within a single disk, but copies if it's dragged to a different disk. Dragging an application usually creates a shortcut, because moving an application out of its installed folder may cause it not to function.

If you need to move an app, hold down Shift as you drag to force a move, and hold down Ctrl to force a copy. You can press these keys anytime during the drag as long as you haven't released the mouse button. It may be simpler just to get in the habit of dragging with the right mouse button. When you drop the file, you'll see a pop-up menu that lets you choose to copy, move, or make a shortcut.

Uncover Thumbnail View

All Versions Windows 2000 and Me let you display the contents of any folder as thumbnails--miniature representations of common graphics and Web formats. (For all other file types, you see a large icon in a box.) Just open a folder and select View, Thumbnails (the command doesn't appear for certain system folders, such as My Computer and My Network Places). This feature is also found in Windows 95, 98, and 98 SE, but it's hidden.

To enable thumbnail view, right-click a folder icon and choose Properties. Select the General tab, check Enable thumbnail view, and click OK. Now double-click the folder to open it. You should see a Thumbnails command on the View menu where none existed before. Note: For Windows 95, this tip requires Internet Explorer 4's Desktop Update.