Intuitive folders can make a big difference in your productivity
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I made an awful lot of resolutions for 2007 but only one seems to have stuck: getting organized on my computer. That, in no small part, is due to Windows Vista. I did okay on Windows XP, but I still searched around too often for files and folders that I used frequently. And forget about the files and folders I didn’t access that much?I could waste several minutes looking for one of those.
Windows Vista, however, comes with a variety of common folders that I use as anchors for everything else. By using these folders, Windows Vista automatically finds information for me when I open up a program, such as Windows Media Player. Along with these folders is another new folder feature called the Search Folder. It will save your searches and later automatically search for and display the most current files as you designate.
Intuitive folders can make a big difference in your productivity
Related Links
|
I made an awful lot of resolutions for 2007 but only one seems to have stuck: getting organized on my computer. That, in no small part, is due to Windows Vista. I did okay on Windows XP, but I still searched around too often for files and folders that I used frequently. And forget about the files and folders I didn’t access that much?I could waste several minutes looking for one of those.
Windows Vista, however, comes with a variety of common folders that I use as anchors for everything else. By using these folders, Windows Vista automatically finds information for me when I open up a program, such as Windows Media Player. Along with these folders is another new folder feature called the Search Folder. It will save your searches and later automatically search for and display the most current files as you designate.
In this article, I’ll show you what these folders are and how Vista uses them to get you files more quickly than any other operating system. The automated, intuitive nature of these Windows Vista folders saves time by getting you the information you need so you can move on with your day and improve your productivity.
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Is it a file or a folder? |
Is it a file or a folder?
Files and folders are easy to confuse if you’re not sure how your computer sees them. A folder is essentially a container for your files?think of a desk with a drawer of hanging folders and the papers within those hanging folders. That sort of organizational method is exactly what Windows Vista uses to help you organize your information. The “hanging folders” are your folders; the “papers” within them are your files.
Folders are always represented by a yellow folder icon; the files within a folder are represented by a variety of icons to help you find the right file quickly. In the figure below, you can see how file icons might appear within a folder.
Different icons represent different file types in Windows Vista.
Use Windows Vista common folders for your files
With Windows Vista, there are several common folders that you can use to organize your files. You don’t have to use these folders, of course, but as you’ll see, they make it simple to store and find files easily. Common folders are plainly named: Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos, and Downloads.
You can access common folders from a variety of different programs within Windows Vista. That’s why they are called “common”?they are common to all programs within Windows Vista. For example, whether you open Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center, both programs will automatically display the music files from your Music folder.
Your Personal folder is where all the other common folders are located. The personal folder isn’t actually called “personal.” It’s the one with your name that appears when you click the Start button in Windows Vista, as shown in the figure below. You can access individual common folders directly from here if you wish?just open your personal folder to see them all.
In the example shown here, the personal folder is the one with my name on it. This view appears when you click the Start button in Windows Vista. Below the personal folder are some of the individual common folders that Windows Vista displays by default in Start view: Documents, Pictures, Music.
Common folders are stored within your Personal folder (shown here with my name), and some can also be accessed individually from the Start menu.
Here is a quick overview of each common folder you will see in Windows Vista:
| • | Documents: The documents folder is where you can store all your files from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, and other business-oriented documents. It’s probably the folder that I use the most since most of my work is done in Word and PowerPoint. |
| • | Pictures: I use the Pictures folder for all my digital pictures?whether from my digital camera, scanner, or anywhere else. |
| • | Video: For video files, such as clips from my digital camera or the digital files from my camcorder, I use the Videos folder. A bonus with Windows Vista is that when you download these pictures or videos, or copy them from a CD, Windows Vista will automatically place them into either the Pictures or Video folders for you unless you tell it not to. |
| • | Music: This folder holds all your music files, which Windows Vista then automatically uses as primary folders for Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center. Whether you download music or copy it from a CD, your music will automatically go here unless you direct it to another location. |
| • | Downloads: This folder is a new concept for me to use. Previously, I lumped together anything I downloaded from the Internet into a single folder. But it is easier to separate the items that I download?I occasionally download something from the Web that isn’t music related, for example, and shouldn’t go in the Music folder automatically. By letting the downloaded file go straight to the Downloads folder, I can find it later and then file it where I want to. |
With all of these common folders, I create a variety of subfolders. I tend to list my music by artist subfolders and my pictures by dates or events, for example. You can add tags to your files, too, when you open or save a file. Tags help you identify files more easily by allowing you to input additional information that will be seen during a search.
Tags can be easily added to any file as it is saved or opened in Windows Vista.
Take advantage of the Search Folder
Depending upon how often you search for a certain group of files, you might want to take advantage of Windows Vista’s new Search Folders, too. These are searches that run instantly when you click them—you don’t even need to insert a search term after the first time you run a search and save it.
You can use the preconfigured searches that Windows Vista offers, such as Recent Documents (which shows you all recently used documents on your computer), or you can set up your own searches.
To set up your own Search Folders, click Start and click your personal folder. In your personal folder navigation pane, click Searches to bring up the program “searches.” Click the program and the Search Folders window will appear.
Next, type in the information that you want to search for in the search box at the top right of the Searches window. In the example shown here, I typed in Microsoft. Then I clicked Save Search to save the search. Now, the next time I’m looking for information related to Microsoft, I just click my personal folder and select the Microsoft search from my Search Folders.
This shows the results of a search called Microsoft. Clicking Save Search turns that initial search into one that you can run with a single click of the mouse.
To use Windows Vista’s preconfigured Search Folders, open the search that you want and you will see all the files on your computer related to that search. For example, selecting the Recent Music search will show you all music recently used on your computer. You can see in the figure shown below that both preconfigured Windows Vista searches and my own (see the Microsoft icon?) are shown as selections to choose from.
Windows Vista Search Folders run instantly and show you all files on your computer related to the search you run.
Take a few minutes to explore the common and Search folders on your computer running Windows Vista. Because of the intuitive nature of Windows Vista, you’ll find that getting?and staying?electronically organized is actually pretty straightforward. It looks like computer organization is one resolution I can keep this year!
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S.E. Slack S. E. Slack specializes in simplifying complex topics so the masses can both understand and apply difficult concepts. She is a co-author of Breakthrough Windows Vista: Find Your Favorite Features and Discover the Possibilities. She is currently writing CNET Do-It-Yourself Digital Home Office Projects. She has written five other books. |
