Understanding Windows 7 Windows Explorer and How To Sort and Filter Items in It?

The Windows 7 Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer) provides you the means for navigating your computer system by giving you access to all aspects of your computer system from your document files.

This explorer window is same like the Windows Explorer in the previous versions of Windows, so it provides a quick access to all the files and folders in the computer.

To access the Windows 7 Windows Explorer, you can click any of the following links that appear in the right column of the Start menu:

• Documents: Opens the Documents library, which typically contains the document files you create - this is the default location for saving document files for programs such as Microsoft Word and Excel (It is equivalent to My Documents in Windows XP).
• Pictures: Opens the Pictures library, which typically contains the digital photographs and other types of graphic files you store on your computer (It is equivalent to My Pictures in Windows XP).
• Music: Opens the Music library, which typically contains the music audio files (in all different audio formats) you store on your computer (It is equivalent to My Music in Windows XP).
• Games: Opens the Games window, which contains all the games that come installed with Windows 7.
• Computer: Opens the Computer window, which displays all the local and mapped network drives on your computer as well as all peripheral devices currently connected to it.
• Control Panel: Opens the Control Panel, which displays all the settings you can change on your computer system.
• Devices and Printers: Opens the Devices and Printers window, which shows all the various devices (such as cameras, USB drive, etc) currently connected to your computer along with all the installed printers.

To change the display of the Windows 7 Windows Explorer

• Open any document windows (for example click the Start button and click on Documents)

• Click the Organize button drop down menu and point to Layout and you will see the following submenu:

- Menu Bar: Turns on and off the display of the menus File through Help.
- Details Pane: Turns on and off the display of the Details pane along the bottom of the window. The pane gives you information about the currently selected item in the window.
- Preview Pane: Turns on and off the display of the Preview pane on the right side of the window. It displays a live view of whatever folder or file is currently selected in the window.
- Navigation Pane: Turns on and off the display of the Navigation pane on the left side of the window. You can use this pane to open new folders on your computer system.
- Library Pane: Turns on and off the display of the Library pane immediately above the file display of the files in one of your libraries (Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos). It shows you information about the library's contents and also enables you to change the order in which its files are displayed.


• Click on the Change your view drop-down button contains the following view options:


- Extra Large Icons: Displays the folders and files in the window as really huge icons with their names displayed as captions beneath the icons.
- Large Icons: Displays the folders and files in the window as fairly large icons with their names displayed beneath the icons.
- Medium Icons: Displays the folders and files in the window as medium sized icons with their names displayed beneath the icons.
- Small Icons: Displays the folders and files in the window as fairly small icons with their names displayed as captions to the right side of the icons.
- List: Displays icons followed by the folder names and filenames in a single column list.
- Details: Displays information about the folders and files in the window in a strict columnar format that includes Name, Date Modified, Type, Authors, and Tags.
- Tiles: Displays the folders and files in the window as icons with text giving their names and file sizes arranged in one or two vertical columns.
- Content: Displays the information about the folders and files in a two column format, the first of which contains an icon or thumbnail identifying the type of file and the second of which displays file information: the date modified and file size in the case of text files, date taken and file size in the case of photos, and the length and file size in the case of music and video files.

To sort items in Windows 7 Windows Explorer

• Open any document windows (for example click the Start button and click on Documents)
• Click on the Change your view drop-down button and select Details from the slider.

• Windows displays column headings such Name, Date Modified, Type, and Size buttons at the top of the display area.
• Make sure your document library contains a least 3 documents only you can see the effects.
• To sort the contents, simply click the column headings button that you want to use in sorting. The lists will be sorted either by ascending or descending order (indicated by a triangle pointing upward and downward).

To filter items in Windows 7 Windows Explorer

• Open any document windows (for example click the Start button and click on Documents)
• Click on the Change your view drop-down button and select Details from the slider.
• Click the down-arrow at the right hand side of any column headings buttons (Name through Size) and from the drop-down menu, select the check boxes for all the types of folders and files you want displayed.

Note: To restore Windows 7 Windows Explorer to its previous contents after filtering it, simply remove the check marks from all the check boxes on the different buttons' drop down menus that you selected.

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