NOT a Guru!
Keeping it simple, without the hype. PC tips and Internet advice for mom and pop businesses.
Keeping it simple, without the hype. PC tips and Internet advice for mom and pop businesses.
Yesterday, we took a look at how to organize your computer by moving files to folders.
If you are cleaning up your computer’s contents and want your document titles to be more meaningful so that you know at a glance what they are about without having to open them, updating your file names is a good idea. It’s very easy to do.
Using Windows Explorer, let’s open up the “Miscellaneous” folder that was created yesterday. You’ll see the text file that we added yesterday called “FailedList” and another I added for this example that is a Word document currently labeled “Ad_Concept.”
The icons to the left of the file name indicate what types of files these are; i.e., Microsoft Word and text. You can change the view for a more detailed look which tells you the type of file in case you don’t recognize the icons, the size of the file, and when it was last modified. To do this, click “View” and then select any of the options in the drop down menu. In this example, we’ll use the detailed view by clicking “details.”
As shown below, here is the “detailed view” that shows the size, type and the last time the file was changed.
Regardless of whether it is a text, Word, gif, jpg, PDF file or any other format, it is easy to change the file name. Using your mouse, right click on the file that you want to rename and a drop down menu will appear. Select the “rename” option. You might not have as many options as I do because of all the programs I have on my computer; nonetheless, you still want to select the “rename” option.
After you have clicked “rename,” a box will appear around your file name. Just backspace and type in the new name that you want.
In the image below, I’ve changed the name of the file from Ad_Concept to 12-22-2008_NotGuru_Example. The extension (i.e., doc for a Word file) will not change.
Click your return (or enter) key and the name has changed. I’ll also do the same thing with the text file called “FailedList” to show that any type of file can be renamed.
As you can see below, the “FailedList” file has been renamed to Bad-Emails. In both instances, the type of file format did not change. The first document is still a Word document and the second document remains a text document.
Another thing to note is that after changing the name of the file, as shown in the image below, the “Date Modified” remains the same. If you were to open one of the documents and edit it, the “Date Modified” would change to the date of your edit.
For purposes of organizing your computer, the fact that the “Date Modified” does not change when you rename a file is a good thing. If you drafted a letter two years ago, you will want the date from two years ago so that you know when you last worked on it. The file name is only to help you locate the document.
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