Folders and Files

In 4 years of teaching PC and Internet the most common complaint from existing PC users is that they can’t get a grip of Folders.  This has always intrigued me but a revelation came when discussing them with my wife. “But that’s a File”, she said when I pointed to a Folder.

If you back away from computers for a moment and return to a traditional workplace, the Filing cabinet or draws contained Customer Files which comprised bundles of documents. A File of this type may be a bunch of papers held together with a ribbon or it may be placed in a large envelope, a Box File or sometimes a card Folder.

In PC storage, Files and Folders take on specific meanings and a ‘File’ is quite different from that described in the previous paragraph.

Files and Folders on a PC:

In PC speak, a File is an individual item, a Newsletter, a Photo, a Music Track, a Video etc..  
A File will be stored in a Folder.

A “Folder” is just a container, much the same as a card Folder available in stationery. The Folder icon is a representation of one of these.

Folders are given a name and can contain other Folders. e.g. A Folder named “Timesheets” may contain sub-Folders named “Jan”, “Feb”, “Mar”... etc.

In this example, the Folder "Apl" may contain the individual Timesheets for that month as individual Files.