The File Navigation Window is used in the program to allow you perform tasks such as selecting a Registration Key, or selecting a location to save files. In the screen shot below, it is being used to select a folder to contain online progress reports. Note that the terms Directory and Folder are often used interchangeably by users and in computer documentation. Either might be used in the discussion below.
Selecting a Folder
The Current Folder
It is important to note that just because a folder is highlighted, it is not necessarily the folder you are selecting when you click the OK button. In the picture you can see that the folder named Online Progress Reports is highlighted, but if you were to click the OK button, it would not be the selected folder because it has not been opened.
If the OK button were clicked, the folder that would be selected in the picture is the one named 2003-2004. You can see that 2003-2004 is the last in a chain of open folders, with each succeeding folder on a lower level. This is known as a Path and is illustrated by the path statement at the top of the picture: C:\Documents and Settings\Reed Suckow\My Documents\Grades\2003-2004\.
is a subfolder that exists within the folder Grades. To illustrate this, Windows displays 2003-2004 below Grades, and indented to the right, much like organizing an outline or a tree diagram.
Selecting a Subfolder
To open
for selection, you would need to double click it. Its icon would change to that of an open folder (
), and its name would be added to the path statement above, which would then read C:\Documents and Settings\Reed Suckow\My Documents\Grades\2003-2004\Online Progress Reports. That's a very long path, but fairly typical of modern operating systems and large hard drives where data is organized carefully in a hierarchy.
Subfolders
Note that the folders Database, Online Progress Reports, and Seating Charts are all on the same level, inside the folder 2003-2004. This is apparent because their icons are in vertical alignment. Online Progress Reports is not a subfolder of Database, and Seating Charts is not a subfolder of Online Progress Reports. All three are subfolders of 2003-2004.
Selecting a Folder at a Higher Level
If 2003-2004 is the current folder (as in the picture), and you wanted to make My Documents the current folder, you would double click on My Documents. 2003-2004 would disappear, and only the folders that are immediate subfolders of My Documents, such as Grades, would appear. The path statement would change to read C:\Documents and Settings\Reed Suckow\My Documents\.
Selecting the Windows Desktop Folder
Use the Desktop button to select the Windows Desktop Folder. The Windows Desktop Folder will appear just as any other folder. Athough you may be used to the special view that programs such as Windows Explorer give to the Desktop Folder, it really is just an ordinary folder for the purposes of this program. Its location varies, depending on the version of Windows you are using. If you select it, its true location will be revealed in the path statement at the top of the window.
Creating a New Folder
When you click the New Folder button, you are prompted to enter a name for your new folder. When you click the OK button to accept the name, the folder is created within the current folder (see above), then the newly created folder is automatically opened and selected so it becomes your current folder.
To illustrate, suppose your path statement reads C:\Documents and Settings\Reed Suckow\My Documents\Grades\2003-2004\ as in the picture at the top. If you click the New Folder button and create a new folder named Parent Letters, it will be created within the 2003-2004 folder. The program will select it, and the path statement will change to C:\Documents and Settings\Reed Suckow\My Documents\Grades\2003-2004\Parent Letters.
Viewing the Files Box
The contents of the Files box cannot be selected. Files listed within this box, if any, appear only as a reference as you navigate through the folders in the Directories box. To show that they are not available for selection, they are grayed-out.
Selecting a Different Drive
When you click on the down arrow, a drop-down list of all the drives on your computer is displayed. Select the one you want. The Directories box, Files box, and the path statement will be updated to reflect your new selection.