IN THIS CHAPTER

Managing files with the desktop’s File Explorer

Navigating drives, folders, and flash drives

Creating and naming folders

Selecting and deselecting items

Copying and moving files and folders

Writing to CDs and memory cards

Understanding Windows OneDrive

By leaving their paper-strewn oak desktops and moving to computers, people hoped things would be much easier. Important papers would no longer slide behind the desk or languish in dusty drawers. Thirty years later, though, we know the truth: Computers come with just as many nooks, crannies, and hiding places as did the desks they replaced … maybe even more.

In Windows, File Explorer serves as your computerized file cabinet. Plug a flash drive or portable hard drive into your computer, and File Explorer appears, ready for you to start rustling through folders.

You’re stuck with File Explorer whenever you need to find folders inside your computer, outside your computer on plug-in drives and digital cameras, and even in some storage spots on the internet called clouds.

Whether you’re using a touchscreen tablet, a laptop, or a desktop PC, files and folders still rule the computing world. And unless you grasp the Windows folder metaphor, you may not find your information very easily.

This chapter explains how to put File Explorer to work. (You may recognize it as Windows Explorer, its name from older Windows versions.) This chapter also explains how to use OneDrive, your cloud storage space, to store files away from your computer and on the internet, instead.

Along the way, you ingest just enough Windows file management skills for you to save and retrieve your work without too much discomfort.

Browsing the File Explorer File Cabinets

To keep your programs and files neatly arranged, Windows cleaned up the squeaky old file cabinet metaphor with whisper-quiet Windows icons. Inside File Explorer, the icons represent your computer’s storage areas, allowing you to copy, move, rename, or delete your files before the investigators arrive.

To open File Explorer, shown in Figure 5-1, and begin rummaging around inside your computer, click the File Explorer icon. Shown in the margin, it’s near the middle of the taskbar’s row of icons along the bottom of your screen.

In previous versions of Windows, File Explorer opened to show your computer’s largest file cabinets, called drives or disks in computer lingo. Windows 11 goes one step further.

Instead of dropping you off at the drives and forcing you to dig for your files, the Windows 11 File Explorer tries to be more helpful. It simply lists your most popular folders along the top, in its Folders section. For example, it shows Documents, where you store most of your files, and Downloads, the holding tank for everything you download from the internet. (You also see shortcuts to your Music, Videos, and Pictures folders, as well as your Desktop.)

Below those main folders, in the Recent Files section, File Explorer may list shortcuts to the items you've opened most recently. If you worked on a spreadsheet yesterday, for example, find it again by opening File Explorer: A link to that spreadsheet lives in the Recent Files section, ready to be reopened with a double-click.

Seeing your main storage folders and recently opened files may be all you need to start working. But if you need to see all your computer’s storage areas, click the words This PC in the pane along the left edge. File Explorer opens to a similar view, but with your computer’s storage areas — hard drives, disk drives, flash drives, and similar holding tanks — listed below them, shown in Figure 5-2.

The File Explorer images shown in Figure 5-2 will look slightly different from the ones on your PC, but you should still see the same basic sections:

• Navigation pane: The handy Navigation pane, that strip along every folder’s left edge, lists shortcuts to different storage spaces on your PC, on OneDrive, and on any other connected computers. (I cover the Navigation pane in Chapter 4.)
• Folders: When opened, File Explorer lists shortcuts to your main storage folders, as well as your computing history, a list of recently accessed folders and files. Unless you’re starting a brand-new project, you can probably find your most recent work here.

• Devices and Drives: Shown in Figure 5-2, this area lists your PC’s storage areas and devices. (The term devices usually refers to gadgets plugged into your PC.) Every computer has at least one hard drive. Double-clicking a hard drive icon displays its files and folders, but you can rarely find much useful information when probing that way. No, your most important files live in your Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos folders, which appear near the top of Figure 5-2.

  Notice the hard drive bearing the little Windows icon (shown in the margin)? That means that Windows 11 lives on that drive. If you click the Layout and View icon from the top menu and select Tiles, a multicolored line appears next to each drive's icon. The more colored space you see in the line, the more files you’ve stuffed onto your drive. When the line turns red, your drive is almost full, and you should think about deleting some unwanted files, uninstalling some unused programs, or upgrading to a larger drive.

  You may also see some detachable gadgetry attached to your computer. Here are some of the more common items:

  • CD, DVD, and Blu-ray drives: As shown in Figure 5-2, Windows places a short description next to each drive’s icon. For example, CD-RW means the drive can store files on CDs but not DVDs. DVD-RW means that it can both read and store files onto DVDs and CDs. A BD-ROM drive can read Blu-ray discs, but it can store files only to CDs and DVDs. And the ever-so-versatile BD-RE and BD-R drives can read and store files onto Blu-ray discs, DVDs, and CDs.

    Writing information to a disc is called burning. Copying information from a disc is called ripping.

  • Flash drives: The icon for some flash drive brands resembles the actual flash drive. Most flash drives simply show a generic icon like the one in the margin.

    Windows doesn’t usually display icons for your computer’s memory card readers until you’ve inserted a card into them. To see icons for your empty card readers, open File Explorer, click the Layout and View Options icon, and click Show from the drop down menu. Finally, select the Hidden Items option from the drop-down menu. To hide them again, take a few breaths, and then repeat these steps.

  • iPads, phones, and MP3 players: Android phones, iPads, and iPhones usually receive a generic icon of a hard drive, tablet, or MP3 player. Some let you copy photos to and from the device; others don’t. If you own an iPhone or iPad, you need the Apple iTunes software (www.apple.com/itunes) that runs on the Windows desktop. Windows can’t copy songs to and from an iPhone or iPad by itself. (I cover MP3 players in Chapter 16.)
  • Cameras: When plugged into your computer’s USB port, digital cameras usually appear as camera icons in the File Explorer window. To import your camera’s photos, turn on your camera and set it to its View Photos mode rather than its Take Photos mode. Then right-click the camera’s icon in File Explorer and choose Import Pictures and Videos from the pop-up menu. After Windows walks you through the process of extracting the images (see Chapter 17), it places the photos in either your Pictures folder or OneDrive’s Picture folder.

If you plug a digital camcorder, phone, or other gadget into your PC, the File Explorer window often sprouts a new icon representing your gadget. If Windows neglects to ask what you’d like to do with your newly plugged-in gadget, right-click the icon to open a list of everything you can do with that item. No icon? Then you need to install a driver for your gadget, a precipitous journey detailed in Chapter 13.

To see the contents of an item listed in File Explorer, perhaps a flash drive or your digital camera, double-click it. To back out of that view, click the left-pointing arrow (shown in the margin) above the Navigation pane.

Tip for tablets: When you read the word click, substitute tap. Similarly, right-click means touch and hold. And the term drag and drop means slide your finger along the screen as if your finger is the mouse pointer and then lift the finger to drop the item.

Getting the Lowdown on Folders

This stuff is dreadfully boring, but if you don’t read it, you’ll be just as lost as your files.

A folder is a storage area, just like a real folder in a file cabinet. Windows divides your computer’s hard drives into many folders to separate your many projects. For example, you store all your music in your Music folder and your pictures in your Pictures folder. That lets both you and your programs find them easily.

Windows gives you several main folders for storing your files. For easy access, they live in the This PC section of the Navigation pane along the left side of every folder. Shown earlier, Figure 5-2 shows your main storage areas: Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, and Videos. (Microsoft removed the 3D Objects folder, a head-scratcher found in Windows 10.)

Keep these folder facts in mind when shuffling files in Windows:

• You can ignore folders and dump all your files onto the Windows desktop. But that’s like tossing everything into your car’s back seat and pawing around to find your sunglasses a month later. Organized stuff is much easier to find.
• If you’re eager to create a folder or two (and it’s pretty easy), page ahead to this chapter’s “Creating a New Folder” section.
• The Windows 11 web browser, Microsoft Edge, conveniently drops all your downloaded files into your Downloads folder. Until you delete them, every file you download from the internet lives on inside that folder.

• File Explorer folders use a tree metaphor. File Explorer shows an icon for a drive which, when clicked on, branches out into folders. Click on a folder, and it branches out into even more folders. Keep clicking inside those folders, and eventually, you reach files, which represent the leaves on your computerized tree.

Peering into Your Drives, Folders, and Other Media

Knowing all this folder stuff not only impresses computer store employees but also helps you find the files you want. (See the preceding section for a lowdown on which folder holds what.) Put on your hard hat and get ready to go spelunking among your computer’s drives and folders as well as your CDs, DVDs, and smartphones. The following sections are your guide.

Seeing the files on a drive

Like everything else in Windows, disk drives are represented by buttons or icons. File Explorer also shows information stored in other areas, such as phones, digital cameras, networked gadgetry, portable hard drives, flash drives, and scanners. (I explain these icons in the section “Browsing the File Explorer File Cabinets,” earlier in this chapter.)

Opening an icon usually lets you access the device’s contents and move files back and forth, just as with any other folders in Windows.

When you double-click a hard drive icon in File Explorer, for example, Windows promptly opens the drive to show you the folders packed inside. But how should Windows react when you insert something new into your computer, such as a CD, DVD, or flash drive?

Earlier versions of Windows tried to second-guess you. When you inserted a music CD, for example, Windows automatically began playing the music. Today’s newer, politer Windows, by contrast, asks how you prefer it to handle the situation, as shown by the pop-up notification in the lower-right corner of Figure 5-3.

When that message appears, choose it with a click of the mouse. A second message appears, as shown in Figure 5-4, listing every way your PC and its gang of apps and programs can handle that item.

Choose an option — Open Folder To View Files, for example — and Windows fires up File Explorer to display your newly inserted drive’s contents. The next time you plug that drive into your PC, your computer won’t bother asking; it will automatically summon File Explorer and display your drive’s folders.

But what if you change your mind about how Windows should treat a newly inserted item? Then you need to change how Windows reacts: In the This PC section of File Explorer, right-click the inserted item’s icon, choose Show More Options, and choose Open AutoPlay. Once again, Windows shows the message from Figure 5-4 and asks you to plot the future course.

Adjusting the AutoPlay settings comes in particularly handy for USB thumb drives. If your flash drive carries a few songs, Windows may want to play them, slowing your access to your flash drive’s other files. To prevent that, select the AutoPlay option, Open Folder to View Files.

• When in doubt as to what you can do with an icon in File Explorer, right-click it. Windows presents a menu of all the things you can do to that object. (You can choose Open, for example, to see the files on a flash drive, making it simpler to copy them to your computer.)

• If you double-click an icon for a CD, DVD, or Blu-ray drive when no disk is in the drive, Windows stops you, gently suggesting that you insert a disk before proceeding further.
• Spot an icon under the heading Network Location? That’s a little doorway for peering into other computers linked to your computer — if there are any. You find more network stuff in Chapter 15.

Creating a New Folder

To store new information in a file cabinet, you grab a manila folder, scrawl a name across the top, and start stuffing it with information. To store new information in Windows — notes for your autobiography, for example — you create a new folder, type in a name for the new folder, and start stuffing it with files.

To create a new folder quickly, click New from any folder’s upper-left corner, and choose Folder from the drop-down menu: A new folder appears, ready for you to type its name.

You can also create a new folder with this quick and foolproof method:

1. Right-click on a blank spot inside your folder (or on the desktop) and choose New.

   The all-powerful right-click shoots a menu out the side.

2. Choose Folder.

   When you choose Folder, shown in Figure 5-6, a new folder quickly appears, waiting for you to type a new name.

   

3. Type a new name for the folder.

   A newly created folder bears the boring name of New Folder. When you begin typing, Windows quickly erases the old name and fills in your new name. Done? Save the new name by either pressing Enter or clicking somewhere away from the name you just typed.

If you mess up the name and want to try again, right-click the misnamed folder, choose the unlabeled Rename icon (shown in the margin) along File Explorer’s top edge, and start over.

• Certain symbols are banned from folder (and file) names. The “Using legal folder names and filenames” sidebar spells out the details, but you never have trouble when using plain old letters and numbers for names.

• Shrewd observers notice that in Figure 5-6, Windows offers to create many more things than just a folder when you click the New button. Right-click inside a folder anytime you want to create a new shortcut or other common item.

• Cautious observers may remark that their right-click menu looks different than the one shown in Figure 5-6. There’s nothing wrong; programs and apps often add their own items to the right-click menus, making the menu look different on different PCs.

Renaming a File or Folder

Sick of a filename or folder name? Then change it. Just right-click the offending icon and choose the Rename icon (shown in the margin) from the top edge of the pop-up menu. Windows highlights the file’s old name, which disappears as you begin typing the new one. Press Enter or click the desktop when you’re done, and you’re off.

Or you can click the filename or folder name to select it, wait a second, and click the name again to change it. Some people click the name and press F2; either way, Windows automatically lets you rename the file or folder.

• When you rename a file, only its name changes. The contents are still the same, the file is still the same size, and the file is still in the same place.

• To rename large groups of files simultaneously, select them all, right-click the first one, and click the Rename icon. Type in the new name and press Enter, and Windows renames that file. However, it also renames all your other selected files to the new name, adding numbers as it goes: cat, cat(2), cat(3), cat(4), and so on. It’s a handy way to rename a group of photographs after a special event.

• Renaming some folders confuses Windows, especially if those folders contain programs. And please don’t rename your main folders: Downloads, Documents, Pictures, Music, or Videos. (That can cause under-the-hood problems that you don’t want to deal with.)

• Windows won’t let you rename a file or folder if one of your programs currently uses it. Sometimes closing the program fixes the problem. Other times, you need to restart your PC. This releases the program’s clutches so that you can rename the file or folder.

Selecting Bunches of Files or Folders

Although selecting a file, folder, or other object may seem particularly boring, it swings the doors wide open for further tasks: deleting, renaming, moving, copying, and performing other file-juggling tricks discussed in the rest of this chapter.

To select a single item, just click it. To select several files and folders, hold down the Ctrl key when you click the names or icons. Each name or icon stays highlighted when you click the next one.

To gather several files or folders sitting next to each other in a list, click the first one. Then hold down the Shift key as you click the last one. Those two items are highlighted, along with every file and folder sitting between them.

Windows lets you lasso desktop files and folders, as well. Point slightly above the first file or folder you want and then, while holding down the mouse button, point at the last file or folder. The mouse creates a colored lasso to surround your files. Let go of the mouse button, and the lasso disappears, leaving all the surrounded files highlighted.

Here are a few things you can do with a bunch of files you’ve selected:

• You can drag and drop armfuls of files in the same way that you drag a single file.
• You can also simultaneously cut or copy and paste these armfuls into new locations using any of the methods described in the “Copying or Moving Files and Folders” section, later in this chapter.
• You can delete these armfuls of goods, too, with a press of the Delete key. (They all drop into the Recycle Bin and are available for emergency retrieval.)

To quickly select all the files in a folder, choose Select All from the folder’s See More menu: three dots in the folder’s upper-right corner. (No menu? Then select them by pressing Ctrl+A.) Here’s another nifty trick: To grab all but a few files, press Ctrl+A, and while still holding down Ctrl, click the ones you don’t want.

Getting Rid of a File or Folder

Sooner or later, you’ll want to delete a file that’s no longer important — yesterday’s lottery picks, for example, or a particularly embarrassing digital photo. To delete a file or folder, right-click its name or icon. Then click the Delete icon (shown in the margin) from the top edge of the pop-up menu. This surprisingly simple trick works for files, folders, shortcuts, and just about anything else in Windows.

To delete in a hurry, click the offending object and press the Delete key. Dragging and dropping a file or folder to the Recycle Bin does the same thing.

You can delete entire folders, including any files or folders stuffed inside those folders. Just be sure you select the correct folder before you delete it and all its contents. Deleted something by mistake? It’s waiting to be recovered in the Recycle Bin.

• Unlike earlier Windows versions, Windows 11 doesn’t toss a box in your face, asking whether you’re sure you want to delete the file. If you prefer being asked, right-click the Recycle Bin, choose Properties, and place a check mark next to Display Delete Confirmation Dialog, then click the OK button to save your change.

• Be extra sure that you know what you’re doing when deleting any file that depicts a little gear in its icon. These files are usually sensitive hidden files that belong to apps or programs, and the computer wants you to leave them alone. (Other than that, they’re not particularly exciting, despite the action-oriented gears.)
• Icons with little arrows in their corners (like the one in the margin) are shortcuts, which are push buttons that merely load other files. (I cover shortcuts in Chapter 6.) Deleting shortcuts deletes only a button that loads a file or program. The file or program itself remains undamaged and still lives inside your computer.
• As soon as you find out how to delete files, trot off to Chapter 3, which explains several ways to undelete them. (Hint for the desperate: Open the Recycle Bin, right-click your file’s name, and choose Restore.)

Copying or Moving Files and Folders

To copy or move files to different folders on your hard drive, it’s sometimes easiest to use your mouse to drag them there. For example, here’s how to move a file to a different folder on your desktop. In this case, I’m moving the Traveler file from the House folder to the Morocco folder.

1. Align the two windows next to each other.

   I explain this in Chapter 4. If you skipped that chapter, try this: Click the first window and then hold the  + key and press the right-arrow key. To fill the screen's left half, click the other window, hold the  + key, and press the left-arrow key.

2. Hover the mouse pointer over the file or folder you want to move.

   In my example, I hover the mouse pointer over the Traveler file.

3. While holding down the right mouse button, move the mouse until it points at the destination folder.

   As you see in Figure 5-7, I’m dragging the Traveler file from the House folder to the Morocco folder.

   Moving the mouse drags the file along with it, and Windows explains that you're moving the file, as shown in Figure 5-7. (Be sure to hold down the right mouse button the entire time.)

   Always drag icons while holding down the right mouse button. Windows is then gracious enough to give you a menu of options when you position the icon, and you can choose to copy, move, or create a shortcut. If you hold down the left mouse button, Windows sometimes doesn’t know whether you want to copy or move.

4. Release the mouse button and choose Copy Here, Move Here, or Create Shortcuts Here from the pop-up menu.

When dragging and dropping takes too much work, Windows offers a few other ways to copy or move files. Depending on your screen’s current layout, some of the following onscreen tools may work more easily:

• Right-click menus: Right-click a file or folder and choose either the Cut or Copy icons, depending on whether you want to move or copy it. Then right-click inside your destination folder and click the Paste icon. It’s simple, it always works, and you needn’t bother placing any windows side by side.
• File Explorer commands: In File Explorer, click your file or folder, and then click either the Copy or Move icon from the top of File Explorer. Then click inside that item’s destination and click the Paste icon to neatly deposit the item into its new location.
• Navigation pane: Described in Chapter 4, this panel along File Explorer’s left edge lists popular locations: drives, networks, OneDrive, and oft-used folders. That lets you drag and drop items into a folder on the Navigation pane, sparing you the hassle of opening a destination folder.

After you install a program on your computer, don’t ever move that program’s folder. Programs wedge themselves deeply into Windows. Moving the program may break it, and you’ll have to reinstall it. However, feel free to move a program’s shortcut. (Shortcut icons contain a little arrow in their lower-left corner.) If you no longer need the program, head to the Start menu, right-click the unloved app, and choose Uninstall from the pop-up menu.

Seeing More Information about Files and Folders

Whenever you create a file or folder, Windows scrawls a bunch of secret hidden information on it, such as the date you created it, its size, and even more trivial stuff. Sometimes Windows even lets you add your own secret information, including reviews for your music files or thumbnail pictures for any of your folders.

You can safely ignore most of the information. Other times, tweaking that information is the only way to solve a problem.

To see what Windows is calling your files and folders behind your back, right-click the item and choose Properties from the pop-up menu. Choosing Properties on a song, for example, brings up bunches of details, as shown in Figure 5-8. Here’s what each tab means:

• General: This first tab (far left in Figure 5-8) shows the file’s type (an MP3 file of the song “Gut Bucket Blues”), its size (6.54MB), the program that opens it (in this case, the Groove Music app), and the file’s location.

  Want a different program to open your file? Right-click the file, choose Properties, and click the Change button on the General tab, shown in Figure 5-8. A list of your computer’s available music players appears, letting you choose your preferred program.

• Security: On this tab, you control permissions, which are rules determining who may access the file and what they may do with it. System administrators earn high wages mostly for understanding this type of stuff.

• Details: True to its name, this tab reveals arcane details about a file. On digital photos, for example, this tab lists EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) data: the camera model, f-stop, aperture, focal length, and other items loved by photographers. On songs, this tab displays the song’s ID3 tag (IDentify MP3), which includes the artist, album title, year, track number, genre, length, and similar information.
• Previous Versions: After you set up the Windows File History backup system, this tab lists all the previously saved versions of this file, ready for retrieval with a click. I cover File History in Chapter 13.

Normally, these tidbits of information remain hidden unless you right-click a file or folder and choose Properties. But what if you want to see details about all the files in a folder, perhaps to find pictures taken on a certain day? For that, switch your folder’s view to Details by following these steps:

1. Click the Layout and View Options tab along the folder’s top edge.

   A menu drops down, listing the umpteen ways a folder can display your files.

2. In the Layout group, select Details, as shown in Figure 5-9.

   The screen changes to show your files’ names, with details about them stretching to the right in orderly columns. A small dot appears next to your folder’s current view, in this case, Details, shown in Figure 5-9.

Try all the views to see which view you prefer. (Windows remembers which views you prefer for different folders.)

• If you can’t remember what a folder’s toolbar buttons do, rest your mouse pointer over a button. Windows usually displays a helpful box summing up the button’s mission.

• Feel free to switch among the different views until you find the one that fits what you’re trying to accomplish, be it to see a particular photo’s creation date or see thumbnails of every photo in a folder. Different views work better for different folders; there’s no “right” view. Experiment, and choose the one you most prefer.

  

• Folders usually display files sorted alphabetically. To sort them differently, right-click a blank spot inside the folder and choose Sort By. A pop-up menu lets you choose to sort items by size, name, type, and other details. Or click the Sort and Group Options button (shown in the margin) that lives atop every folder to see the same options.

• When the excitement of the Sort By menu wears off, try clicking the words at the top of each sorted column. Click Size, for example, to reverse the order, placing the largest files at the list’s top.

• Feel free to add your own columns to Details view: Right-click a column header you don’t need, and a drop-down menu appears, letting you choose a different criterion. (I always add a Date Taken column to my photos, so I can sort my photos by the date I snapped them.)

Writing to CDs and DVDs

Most computers today write information to CDs and DVDs by using a flameless approach known as burning. To see whether you’re stuck with an older drive that can’t burn discs, first remove any discs from inside the drive. Then from the desktop, click the taskbar’s File Explorer icon and look at the icon for your CD or DVD drive.

Because computers always speak in secret code, here’s what you can do with the disc drives in your computer:

• DVD-RW: These drives both read and write to CDs and DVDs.
• BD-ROM: These can read and write to CDs and DVDs, plus they can read Blu-ray discs.
• BD-RE: Although these have the same icon as BD-ROM drives, they can read and write to CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs.

If your PC has two CD or DVD burners, tell Windows which drive you want to handle your disc-burning chores: Right-click the drive, choose Properties, and click the Recording tab. Then choose your favorite drive in the top box.

Working with Flash Drives and Memory Cards

Digital camera owners eventually become acquainted with memory cards — those little plastic squares that replaced the awkward rolls of film. Windows can read digital photos directly from the camera after you find its cable and plug it into your PC. But Windows can also grab photos straight off the memory card, a method praised by those who’ve lost their camera’s cables.

The same holds true for smartphones, which also use the cards, as well as some audio recorders and digital gaming devices.

The secret is a memory card reader — a little slot-filled box that stays plugged into your PC. Slide your memory card into the slot, and your PC can read the card’s files, just like reading files from any other folder. Some tablets, laptops, and PCs include built-in memory card readers.

Most office supply and electronics stores sell memory card readers that accept most popular memory card formats: Compact Flash, SecureDigital High Capacity (SDHC), Micro-SecureDigital High Capacity (SDHC), Micro-SecureDigital Extended Capacity (SDXC), and a host of other tongue twisters. Some computers even come with built-in memory card readers on the front of their case.

The beauty of card readers is that there’s nothing new to figure out: Windows treats your inserted card just like an ordinary folder. Insert your card, and a folder appears on your screen to show your digital camera photos. The same drag-and-drop and cut-and-paste rules covered earlier in this chapter still apply, letting you move the pictures or other files off the card and into your Pictures folder.

Flash drives — also known as thumb drives — work just like memory card readers. Plug the flash drive into one of your PC’s USB ports, and the drive appears as an icon (shown in the margin) in File Explorer, ready to be opened with a double-click. Skip back to this chapter’s “Copying or Moving Files and Folders” section for step-by-step instructions on transferring the flash drive’s contents to your PC.

• First, the warning: Formatting a card or flash drive wipes out all its information. Never format a card or flash drive unless you don’t care about the information it currently holds.

• Now the procedure: If Windows complains that a newly inserted card isn’t formatted, right-click its drive and choose Format. (This problem happens most often with brand-new or damaged cards.)
• Most smartphones and tablets contain memory card slots, as well. Their cards work the same as the ones found in digital cameras.

OneDrive: Your Cubbyhole in the Clouds

When you’re sitting in front of your computer, you naturally store your files inside your computer. It’s the easiest place to put them. When you leave your computer, you can bring along important files by stashing them on flash drives, CDs, DVDs, and portable hard drives — if you remember to grab them on the way out.

But how can you access your files from your computers if you’ve forgotten to bring along the files? How can you grab your home files from work, and vice versa? How can you view an important document or hear some favorite tunes while traveling? How can you grab your PC’s files with your smartphone?

Microsoft’s answer to those questions is called OneDrive. It’s your own private file storage space on the internet, and it’s built into Windows. With OneDrive, your files are available from any computer with an internet connection. You can even grab them from phones or tablets from Apple or that run Android: Microsoft offers a free OneDrive app for both operating systems.

If you change a file stored on OneDrive, that updated file is available on all your computers and devices. OneDrive automatically keeps everything in sync. You only need the following things in order to put OneDrive to work:

• Microsoft account: You need a Microsoft account in order to upload, view, or retrieve your files from OneDrive. Chances are good that you created a Microsoft account when you first created your account on your Windows PC. (I describe Microsoft accounts in Chapter 2.)
• An internet connection: Without an internet signal, either wireless or wired, your web-stashed files remain floating in the clouds, away from you and your computer. (You can avoid that problem by choosing to keep all your OneDrive files stored on your computer as well as the cloud.)
• Patience: Uploading files takes longer than downloading files. Although you can upload small files fairly quickly, larger files such as digital photos or movies take much longer to upload.

For some people, OneDrive offers a safe internet haven, sometimes called the cloud, where they can always find their most important files. For others, OneDrive brings another layer of complication, as well as another possible hiding place for that missing file.

The following sections explain how to access OneDrive from within Windows, as well as from a web browser on any other PC or device. They also explain how to tweak OneDrive’s many settings so it works perfectly on both desktop PCs, laptops, and small tablets with limited storage space.

Setting up OneDrive

Windows places a link to OneDrive in every folder’s Navigation pane, where it’s easily accessible. There, OneDrive works like any other folder but with one exception: Files and folders you place inside your OneDrive folder are also copied to your OneDrive storage space on the internet.

That can create a problem: Today’s smaller phones, tablets, and laptops don’t include much storage space. OneDrive, by contrast, can hold lots of files. Some smaller computers, usually small tablets, don’t have enough room to keep a copy of everything you’ve packed away on your desktop PC’s OneDrive folder.

To meet everybody’s needs, OneDrive can work in these three ways:

• All files: The simplest option, and the one chosen by most desktop PC owners, this puts all your OneDrive files on both the internet and your PC. Then it keeps them all in sync: Update a file on your PC, and it’s updated on the internet, and vice versa. It’s a convenient way to keep your most important files instantly accessible and always backed up.
• Some files: Designed for devices with limited amounts of storage like some tablets and laptops, this lets you pick and choose which folders should live only on OneDrive and which should also be stored on your computer, too.
• Files On Demand: The best option for people with limited storage space, this lets your PC display names of all your OneDrive files and folders. Then, when you open a file or folder, Windows quickly downloads it to your device for you to display its contents. It requires an internet connection, and it’s a little slower, but it lets you access any of your OneDrive files without them all hogging your PC’s storage space.

When you first click the OneDrive folder on a new PC, Windows begins the setup process, described in the steps listed below. If you’ve already set up OneDrive, but want to change its settings, skip ahead to the next section, “Changing your OneDrive settings.”

To set up OneDrive on a new PC, follow these steps:

1. From the taskbar, click the File Explorer icon and click the OneDrive icon in the folder’s left edge.

   Since this is the first time you’ve set up OneDrive on the computer, OneDrive displays an opening screen.

2. If asked, sign in with your Microsoft account and password.

   Only Local account holders need to sign in; Microsoft account holders already sign in when they sign into their user account. (I describe how to convert a Local account into a Microsoft account in Chapter 14.)

   Local account holders can sign in with any Microsoft account. They don’t need to convert their account to a Microsoft account.

   After you enter a Microsoft account name and password, a window appears, pointing out the location of your OneDrive folder.

3. If you want to change where to store your OneDrive files, click the Change Location button. Otherwise, click the Next button.

   If you’re using a desktop PC with plenty of storage space, just click the Next button. OneDrive will store all your OneDrive files on your C: drive, which normally has plenty of room.

   Inexpensive tablets and laptops, by contrast, contain very limited storage space. To add more storage, many tablet owners buy a memory card and slide it into their tablet’s memory slot. If you’ve bought and inserted a memory card into your tiny tablet, click this window’s Change Location button and tell OneDrive to save its files on your tablet’s memory card instead of the default C: drive. (The memory card is often called the D: drive.)

   If an advertisement appears, asking you to increase your storage for a monthly fee, click the words Not Now. (You can always change your mind later.)

4. If asked, choose which folders to sync to your PC.

   OneDrive lists your existing OneDrive folders, if you have any, as shown in Figure 5-10.

5. Select the files and folders you’d like to keep synced between your PC and OneDrive, and click the Next button.

   OneDrive gives you two options, which you can change later:

   • Sync All Files and Folders in my OneDrive: Unless you have a reason not to, select this option to keep all your OneDrive files mirrored on your PC’s or tablet’s memory card. Most desktop PCs won’t have a problem with this option, and it’s the most trouble-free way to access OneDrive.
   • Sync Only These Folders: Select this option on tablets or PCs with very little storage. If you select this option, place a check mark next to the folders you consider to be essential enough to warrant storage both on your PC and OneDrive.

6. Click Next to save your changes.

   OneDrive leaves you with an Open my OneDrive Folder button, which you can click to see the results of your file syncing decisions.

Feel free to sync different folders on different computers. For example, you can choose to sync only the essentials on your small tablet — perhaps just your photos. On a desktop PC with large storage, you can choose to sync everything.

Accessing OneDrive from the internet

Sometimes you may need to access OneDrive when you’re not sitting in front of your computer. Or you may need to reach a OneDrive file that’s not synced on your PC. To help you in either situation, Microsoft offers OneDrive access from any web browser.

When you need your files, drop by any computer, visit the OneDrive website at https://OneDrive.live.com, and, if asked, sign in with your Microsoft account name and password. The OneDrive website appears, shown in Figure 5-13.

After you sign in to the OneDrive website, you can add, delete, move, and rename files, as well as create folders and move files between folders. You can even edit some files directly online. (OneDrive even contains a Recycle Bin for retrieving mistakenly deleted OneDrive files, whether they were deleted online or on your phone, PC, or other device.)

It’s much easier to manage your files directly from the folder on your computer. But if you’re away from your computer, the OneDrive website provides a handy fallback zone.

The OneDrive website also lets you share files by emailing people links to them, making it a handy way to share folders.

You can also share OneDrive files with friends directly from your PC: Right-click the file or folder you want to share, and choose OneDrive, then choose Share from the pop-up menu. A window appears, where you can enter the email address of who should receive a link to the shared item. When the recipient clicks the link in the email, they’re taken online to view the file or folder’s contents.

If you find yourself using OneDrive regularly, take note that Microsoft offers free OneDrive apps for Apple, and Android smartphones and tablets. OneDrive simplifies file sharing among all your gadgets.