Thousands of photos, hundreds of movies and countless files. Organizing your files can be a chore. Do you throw everything in one folder and search for good luck every time? With a little effort, you can put File Explorer into high gear and use a few third-party programs to put things in order. Literally and figuratively.
Tip 01: Make an inventory!
What about the layout of your computer? For extra insight, a little help can't hurt; this way you can see what the hard drive is made up of. We use WinDirStat for this. The program makes an analysis of the contents of the hard disk. The window consists of two parts: in the upper part you see all the files, with next to it an area in which you see the file formats. In the lower part you can see a graphical representation of the disk layout. Each color represents a specific file type. Click on a folder or file to see it in the visual overview. In addition to a good overview of the hard drive layout, WinDirStat helps organize the computer. In the upper part of the window, double-click a folder to expand it and see what the folder is made up of.
Tip 02: Adjust the Explorer to your will
Windows Explorer has been around for many years and has been improved under the hood over time. Despite the other programs we also use for file management in this article, File Explorer remains usable. Of course: a shortcut on the desktop to Explorer is quickly created. But how do you make sure that the shortcut opens your favorite folder directly? Right click on an empty area of the desktop and choose New, Shortcut. In the Target box, copy the following command: C:\Windows\Explorer.exe /n, /e, X:\Map. Replace here X:\Folder by the drive letter, path, and folder name. click on Next one. Give the shortcut a suitable name and close the window via OK.
Tip 03: Rename at once (1)
Do you have a set of files or folders that you want to give the same name in one go (distinguished by a sequential number)? Select all items and right click on them and choose Renaming or press F2. Enter the name and press Enter. All files are given the same name, with a unique sequential number (for example, 'Croatia (1).png', 'Croatia (2).png').
First, inventory the contents of the hard drive Tip 04: Rename at once (2)
If you want to rename a large set of files in the same folder each, you can easily do that. Select the first file you want to rename and right click on it. Choose Renaming. Rename the first file and then press the Tab key. The cursor moves to the next file or folder. Enter the desired name and press Tab again for the next file.
Tip 05: Search specific
The search box in Explorer is very useful in organizing our files. Of course you can use the window to search for specific folder and file names, but you can also request overviews of groups (for example of all jpg files). To do this, type *.jpg and press Enter.
Tip 06: Copy as path
When organizing the files, it is useful to copy the path to the location, for example if you want to create a shortcut to a file and need the full path. This can be done via Explorer: right-click on the file while holding down the Shift key. A hidden option will appear: Copy as path. You can then paste the path (for example into a shortcuts window).
Explorer doesn't show all options by default, which is a shame Explorer on the turbo
You can work even faster with Explorer with a few handy key combinations:
Windows key+Open Explorer
Alt+Right Arrow Forward
Alt+Left Arrow Back
Alt+Up Arrow To Root
Alt+Tab Switch between items
Use Alt+DAdressbar to specify path
F4 Open address bar menu
F3Search
Alt+P Open or hide preview pane
Alt+Shift+POpen or hide detail pane
Alt+Enter View properties of a folder or file
F2 Rename a folder or file
Ctrl+Shift+NCreate new folder
F10Open File Menu
F11Full screen
Ctrl+MousewheelChange the size of the icons
Tip 07: Quick access
You can access various options from the ribbon in File Explorer, such as display options on the tab Image. At the top of the Explorer window you will find the item Quick access: This section next to the title has space for options you use often. Any option — or even entire groups of options — from the ribbon can be added to Quick Access. Suppose you want from the tab Image the option group Show/Hide so you can quickly toggle filename extensions on and off and show hidden items. Open the tab Image and right click Show/Hide. Choose Add to Quick Access Toolbar. The option is now directly available via the title bar.
Tip 08: Via the taskbar
Do you have a folder that you open often? Pin it to the taskbar. Open File Explorer and drag the folder you want to make easily accessible to the File Explorer button (left of the Windows taskbar). Then right-click on the File Explorer button. The folder has been added to the list Pinned. To remove folders, right click on them and choose Unpin from this list.
