Becoming Familiar with the Open Dialog Box--tutorial.jcwcn.com

When you're ready to open a file, you'll use the Open dialog box. This is one of the "file management" dialog boxes in Word. Others are the Save As, Insert File, and Insert Picture dialog boxes. It's important to spend a few minutes becoming familiar with file management dialog boxes because you will use them not only to locate files, but also to organize your files and folders. After you use Word for a while, you'll see that you spend a lot of time in these dialog boxes.

To display the Open dialog box, Click File==>Open or (ctrl+O).

Opening a File

When you open the Open dialog box, Word automatically displays the most recently used folder.

Different types of files have different file icons. The icon for a Word document has blue W on a white page.

To open a file, follow these steps.

1. Click the file you want to open.

2. You can also double-click the file to select and open it at the same time.

Customizing the View

There are several different ways to display files and folders in the Open dialog box. The way you display them could be personal preference, or a different view could make it easier to locate a file. Whatever the reason, switching to a different view is a snap using the View button.

You can click the View button through the different views, or you can click the drop-down arrow to the right of the View button to choose from the following options.

Thumbnails— Displays thumbnail size images of picture files, and in some cases, documents. Otherwise, a large icon on a white page identifies the type of file.

Tiles— Displays the files and folders in two columns with large icons. The type and size of the document are also shown.

Icons— Displays the folders and files with an identifying icon. Only the folder or filename is shown.

List— Displays the names of the folders and files with small icons.

Details— Displays the names of the folders and files with small icons. The size, type, and modification date and time are also shown.

Properties— Displays the properties for a selected file in the right pane.

Preview— Displays a preview of a selected file in the right pane.

WebView— Displays a preview of HTML documents that will be posted on the Web.

Open dialog box and display more files and folders at one time. This capability is especially helpful when you're using the Details view. Point to a side or corner of the dialog box and wait for the two-sided arrow to appear. Then click and drag the dialog box border. Release the mouse button when you're satisfied with the new size. If you click and drag a corner, you'll maintain the aspect ratio as you resize the dialog box.

Arranging the File List

The Details view provides an added advantage: You can sort the file list by the creation or modification date, size, or type. For example, you might arrange the file list by the modification date to locate a file that you edited on a specific date.

To rearrange the file list, follow these steps:

1. Click a column heading that you want to sort by, such as Type

2. Click the column heading again to arrange the list in reverse order.

At first, you may choose to save all your documents in the same folder because keeping everything in one place is often easier when you are just starting out. However, the more documents you create, the more difficult it may become to locate the one you want. The "Organizing Files in Folders" section later in this chapter covers file management strategies to help you organize your files.

You can easily move around the drives or folders on your system by using the tools in the file management dialog boxes that is, Open, Save As, Insert File. Use these techniques to look through the drives and folders:

1. Double-click a folder icon to open the folder and display the list of files and folders in that folder.

2. Click the History button and choose a recently viewed folder or drive.

3. Click the Up One Level button to move up a level in the folder list or move back to the previous folder.

4. Click the Look in drop-down list arrow and choose another folder or drive.

The hard drives being installed in new computers are absolutely huge. You can store thousands and thousands of files on a single drive. Even with the best file management system, however, locating a single file can sometimes be daunting. Learning how to use the tools that help you locate files is one of the most important skills you can master. Word has a nice collection of tools to help you locate files so you don't have to start another program to do a search.

Listing Files by Type

When you have many different types of files in a folder, limiting the number of files in the list can be a big help. One way to accomplish this is to display only a specific type of file in the list. For example, if you display only Word documents in the list, you can more easily find the file you are looking for.

By default, the file type is set to All Files (*.*), so you will see every file saved in that folder, whether or not you can work with that file in Word.

To display only a particular type of file, follow these steps:

1. Click the Files of type drop-down list arrow to display the list of file types.

2. Choose the type of file you want displayed in the list.

3. When you are ready to see all the files again, select All Files (*.*) from the Files of type drop-down list.

Searching by File

Say you can't remember the exact filename or exactly where your document is stored. You might remember a partial filename or maybe something about the contents. It could be a client's name, a project name, a technical term, or a phone number all you need is a single piece of information that can be found in the file. You can then take that information and use it to search for the file.

To search for files by content, do the following:

1. Click the File button on the toolbar and then choose Search to display the File Search dialog box.

2. Type the text you want to search for in the Search text text box.

3. Open the Search in list box and select the location that you want to search in.

4. Open the Results should be list box and choose the type of file you want to search.

5. Choose Search. Word searches for the files and displays a list of files that contain the search text in the window.

Creating an efficient system for organizing your files is very important. You may have already experienced the frustration of spending hours on a document, only to have trouble finding it the next day. Even the very best documents won't do you any good if you can't find them later.

The nice thing about Word is that you can perform all your file management tasks from within the program. Create new folders and move files around. Also, you can work with virtually any file on your system, not just Word files.

Creating New Folders

You can create a folder on your hard disk and give it a name. Organizing files into folders by account, subject, project, or client helps you to locate the files you need quickly and easily.

To create a new folder, do the following:

1. In a Word file management dialog box, such as the Open or Save As dialog box, open the drive or folder where you want to create the new folder.

2. Click the Create New Folder button on the toolbar.A new folder dialog box appears in the file list.Type a name for the folder.

OR right-click in the file list and choose New, Folder. A new folder icon appears in the file list with the temporary name New Folder.

3. Type a name for the folder. Because the temporary name New Folder is selected, the name that you type automatically replaces it.

4 .Either press Enter or click in the file list when you are finished.

If you accidentally save a file to the wrong folder, it's not a disaster. You can always move it to another folder later. Just be sure to move the file rather than copy it because you don't want two copies in two different places. Otherwise, things can get pretty confusing when you're trying to figure out which copy is the most recent.

To move files, follow these steps:

1. Select the files that you want to move.

2. Right-click a selected file and choose Cut.

3. Navigate to the folder where you want to store the files.

4. Right-click in the file list and choose Paste.

Renaming Files

When you save a file or create a folder, you try to give it a descriptive name. Later, however, that name may no longer seem appropriate. The situation could be as simple as a misspelling in the name, or a case in which the content of the file changes and the name needs to reflect that change. Regardless of the reason, you can quickly rename a file or folder in just four easy steps.

To rename a file or folder, do the following:

1. Click the file or folder that you want to rename.

2. Click the file or folder and press F2. An outline appears around the file or folder name, and the name is selected.

3. Edit the name as necessary.

4. Either press Enter or click in the file list when you are finished.

If you decide that you no longer need a file or folder, you can delete it. Before you delete a folder, open it and make sure that it doesn't contain any folders or files that you need to keep. Deleting a folder automatically deletes the contents.

Follow these steps to delete a file or folder:

1. Select the files or folders.

2. Click the Delete button, or right-click the selected files or folders and then choose Delete.

Mistakes can happen to anyone, which is why we all love the Undo Delete feature. If you accidentally delete a file or folder, you can quickly restore it. Right-click in the file list and then choose Undo Delete. You can also press Ctrl+Z, which, by the way, is the universal keystroke for undoing actions.

discuss this topic to forum

[Print][Close][Bookmark:digg+,reddit+,del.icio.us+,dzone+]

Becoming Familiar with the Open Dialog Box

relation tutorial

Category

New

Hot