Module I2 Session 16

Efficient storage and management of electronic files Learning objectives

By the end of this session the student should be able to : Organise project files into a hierarchy of folders Give suitable names to project files, and set up file descriptions Backup project files regularly

Organising your files

A typical project will generate many computer files containing documents and reports, spreadsheets with data, computer programs or macros, tables, charts etc. f you are not careful these files can end up being stored hapha!ardly on your computer, making it difficult to find files that you want, and hard to keep track of which files are up"to"date and which are obsolete. #his is e$uivalent to having lots of unrelated paper documents piled up on your desk and shelves. #he way to control a large number of paper documents is to have an organised filing system. %ou might have a filing cabinet with several drawers, each with a label on the front telling you the type of document it contains. n each drawer you could have some labelled hanging folders, which contain papers that relate to a particular subject. t is then easy to find a paper that you want, and also easy to decide which folder a new paper should be held in. %ou can create new folders to contain papers on new subjects. &ortunately, 'indows provides an e$uivalent system for organising your electronic files. 'indows ()plorer allows you to create folders, which are simply named containers for other files. mportantly, a folder can also contain other folders within it, so you can create a hierarchy of folders that reflects the structure of your project. *o you can keep related computer files together in an appropriate folder, without mi)ing them up with unrelated files.

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Example of a folder structure for a project

3et4s create a folder structure for a project to study 5 6 incidence in your country. #his project will be carried out over two years, where the results of the first year will be used to design and carry out the second year4s study. 'e e)pect the same types of computer files to be needed in both years. Open your My Documents folder in 'indows ()plorer. 'e will now create a project folder within it called 5 6 incidence. %ou can do this using the menu item File, New and choosing Folder from the drop"down list. Alternatively you can right click in an empty part of the ()plorer window and choose New from the drop"down menu, and then Folder from the drop"down list. (ither method creates a folder called New Folder, which you can then rename by typing the project name. #he project will be carried out in two yearly phases, so we will create a folder for each year within the project folder. +ouble click the project folder name to open the folder 7at present it will have nothing in it8. 9ow create two folders and name them Year 1 and Year 2. 9otice that you can include spaces 7 and most other characters8 within folder names, and that names can be $uite long if you wish 7up to :; characters8. +ouble click the folder Year 1 to open it, and create suitably named sub"folders to contain documents, spreadsheets, software and reports. 'e want Year 2 to contain the same structure of sub"folders. %ou could create them using the same method as for Year 1, but it is easier to copy the folder structure from Year 1 to Year 2. n the folder Year 1, select all the subfolders 7you could use Edit, Select All or Ctrl+A8. #hen use Edit, Copy or Ctrl+C to copy the structure to the clipboard. 9ow open the folder Year 2 and use Edit, Paste or Ctrl+ to paste the same folder structure into it. Of course for a real project you should choose more appropriate folder names, and you may need more levels of folders to reflect the project4s structure.

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Organising files within a folder

As your project progresses, you may find that some folders will contain a lot of similar files, which can lead to confusion. *ome possible ways round this problem are: f feasible, create some suitable sub"folders and move related files into them. Give each file a recognisable name to distinguish it from similar files. 'e recommend that ()plorer should display the file e)tension as well as the name of each file. n ()plorer, choose the menu item !ools, Folder "ptions. *elect the iew tab, and look for the checkbo) labelled #ide e$tension %or &nown %ile types. f it is ticked, click on the checkbo) to remove the tick and then click O<. f you have made several versions of the same file 7e.g. draft versions of a report8, it is important that you can recognise which version is the latest. #here have been many cases where an old and incomplete version of a report has been published, to everyone4s confusion= 'e recommend that you include the date and the version number of the report in the file name, so that it is more obvious which is the latest. %ou might also create a sub"folder called something like Old >eports, and move old versions into it, so that the main folder only contains the latest version. &or e)ample ?&inal >eport ;/;@;@.docA corresponds to the version of a final report saved on the /st Buly .;;@, while ?&inal >eport ;C;C;@.docA corresponds to the version saved later on and which should replace the version saved in Buly.

File description
A handy but little"used facility in 'indows ()plorer is the ability to attach a brief description to a file. n ()plorer, right click on the file name and choose Properties. *elect the Summary tab. #his gives a number of te)t bo)es that you can fill in as you wish to describe the file and its contents. #his information is then displayed whenever you position the mouse over the file name. 9ote that the file description does not affect the file name or its contents.

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Module I2 Session 16

Backing up your files and folders

t is very important that the electronic files for your project are backed up regularly to a removable device or to another computer. #his is to guard against losing information due to unfortunate events such as a disk crash, theft of your computer, fire etc. *ome networks provide automatic backup methods whereby your files are copied at regular intervals to another computer on the network, preferably one that is kept in a different building than your computer. (ven if you do not have an automatic system, you should copy your files regularly to a removable medium such as a ,+ or memory stick, and keep it separately from your computer 7for e)ample, take it home with you8. &or projects of average si!e it is probably easiest to copy all files, though if some files are very large it may be more practical to copy them only when they have been changed. 5owever, it is easy to forget to copy them= 'e recommend that a backup copy should be taken every day, so that in the worst case you will only lose information that has been added or changed today.

Exercise 1
#he !ipped file ?()ercise / -odule B/ *ession .;.!ipA contains a folder with a number of files that constitute a project. >eorganise these files into a more sensible folder structure, giving your folders understandable names, and changing the file names where appropriate. %ou may need to open some of these files to find out what they contain, and so determine what names to give them.

Exercise !
f you have a copy of the +6+ that contains this session, e)plore the structure of the files on the +6+. 5ave we followed the advice we provideD

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Module I2 Session 16

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