Macintosh OS X

Working with Files

Working with files is an important part of managing documents.

Locating Files
Copying Files
Moving Files
Naming and Renaming Files
Deleting Files
Working with Trash Files

Locating Files

Locating Files on the Hard Drive

On the desktop, double click the hard drive icon
On the toolbar, in the Search text box, type the filename
Press [return]
To see where the file is located, click once on the filename
In the lower part of the window, the navigational path appears.
OPTIONAL: To open the file, double click the filename

Locating Files on the Network

On the desktop, double click the hard drive icon
To access the network, on the toolbar, click the COMPUTER icon
Double click the NETWORK icon
Locate the network server you want to search for files on
On the toolbar, in the Search text box, type the filename
Press [return]
To see where the file is located, click once on the filename
In the lower part of the window, the navigational path appears.
OPTIONAL: To open the file, double click the filename

Copying Files

Copying files is useful when you want a second copy or a backup copy of a file. When making a backup copy, make sure the copy is stored on a different drive. If the drive or folder that contains the original should develop a problem, you do not want to lose both copies.

To copy files, you can use a method similar to copying text. The process is similar if you are copying files to another location on a drive or between different drives.

Copying Files: File Menu

NOTE: Copied files cannot be pasted into existing files (e.g., a Microsoft Word document).

Select the file you want to copy
From the File menu, select Duplicate
The copy appears in the same location as the original with the word copy appearing after the filename.
If necessary, adjust the filename (see Naming and Renaming Files)
Drag the copied file to the desired location

Copying Files: Drag and Drop

Locate the file you want to copy
Do one of the following:
1. If new location is on a different drive, drag the file to the drive icon
2. If new location is on the same drive, hold down the [option] key and drag the file to the new location

Moving Files

Moving files is useful when you want to rearrange your files to create better file organization. To move files within the same drive, you can use the a method similar to the Drag and Drop copying function.

From the Finder window, locate the file that you want to move
NOTE: For more information about using Finder, see Navigating the Mac OS X Environment.
Adjust the view so you can see the new location for the file
Do one of the following:
1. If new location is on a different drive, hold down the [shift] key and drag the file to the new location
2. If new location is on the same drive, drag the file to the new location

Naming and Renaming Files

Naming Files

With Mac OS X, you can name your files almost anything you want, as long as it has fewer than 32 characters, including spaces and punctuation. To keep your files organized, you may want to keep your filenames as short as possible. If you wish to share files with a Windows machine, it would be wise to use the three letter extension following the document name (e.g., .doc, .xls).

Also, you cannot use some characters such as colons (:) and, in some applications, slashes (/) because they are used as separators in pathnames.

Renaming Files

You can rename a file any time you choose, but you should be careful not to alter the three letter extension following the document name, if there is one (e.g., doc, .gif).

Select the file to be renamed
Click the name a second time
A shaded box appears around the filename.
Type the new filename
Press [return]
OR
Click anywhere else on the screen
The filename is changed.

Deleting Files

Deleting files is an easy way to make space on your diskettes and disk drives. Any file that is no longer needed should be deleted. If you delete files from the hard drive, they are placed in the Trash and remain there until the Trash is emptied. You can recover files from the Trash.

WARNING: If you delete files from a disk or network drive (such as your H: drive), make sure you are deleting the correct file. You will see a confirmation dialog box, but you cannot recover the item once it is deleted from a network drive.

Deleting Files: Menu

Select the file to be deleted
From the File menu, select Move To Trash
OR
Press [control] + click the file » Move To Trash
The file is now in the Trash.

Deleting Files: Drag and Drop

Select the file to be deleted
Click and drag the file until it is directly over the Trash icon in the Dock
NOTE: The Trash icon will look like it is selected when the file icon is directly over it.
Release the mouse button
The file is now in the Trash.

Working With Trash Files

Recovering Files

Files deleted from the hard drive are put into the Trash, where they remain until the Trash is emptied, even if you turn off your computer.

WARNING: Recovering files from the Trash works only for files deleted from the hard drive, not from a network server (such as your H: drive) or disk.

The following steps outline what you must do to restore a file from the Trash. Using this procedure, you may restore files to any location on the hard drive.

On the desktop, double click the TRASH icon
The Trash window appears.
Select the file to be recovered
Drag the file to the desired location
The file is now recovered.

Emptying the Trash

Emptying the Trash frees space on the hard drive. However, once you delete files from the Trash, you cannot retrieve them again.

WARNING: Emptying the Trash deletes all the items in the Trash. Be sure to remove any files you still need from the Trash before you empty it.

From the Finder menu, select Empty Trash...
A dialog box appears asking if you want to remove the items in the Trash permanently.
To empty the Trash, click OK