Move and Copy Files and Folders

Quick reference

• 00:04 Once we start creating files and folders in File Explorer, one of the most common
• 00:09 tasks that we're going to need to be able to do is to be able to move and
• 00:12 copy those folders.
• 00:14 So we move or copy a folder whenever we want to change its location.
• 00:18 So it might be that we create a file in a specific folder and then we decide at
• 00:22 a later date that it needs to go in an entirely different folder.
• 00:25 And the main difference between moving and copying is that when we move a file from
• 00:30 one folder to another, it actually moves location, whereas if we copy,
• 00:34 we effectively get that file in both places.
• 00:36 We're creating a copy and placing it in a different folder.
• 00:40 So which one you use is really dependent on your needs at the time.
• 00:44 So let's take a look at how we do this because there are a few different methods
• 00:48 where we can use.
• 00:49 Now you'll notice that since the last lesson, this has changed very slightly.
• 00:53 I'm still in my clients folder.
• 00:55 I have the two folders that we created, MicroWorld and TrainingTech, but
• 00:59 now I have four different documents, Training 1 to 4.
• 01:02 Two of them are Word documents, one's a PowerPoint presentation, and
• 01:06 one's an Excel file.
• 01:08 Now just as a side note here because this can also be really useful,
• 01:12 if you want to quickly create a Word document or an Excel spreadsheet or
• 01:16 something like that, you can do it from directly within File Explorer.
• 01:20 You don't necessarily have to open up the Word application, create a document,
• 01:25 and then save it into the Clients' folder.
• 01:27 What we can do is go to the New button, and
• 01:30 notice here we can create all different types of document on the fly.
• 01:35 So if I wanted to create another type of document,
• 01:38 let's just do another Excel worksheet, I can choose Microsoft Excel Worksheet.
• 01:43 It adds it to this folder and I can simply rename it.
• 01:46 So let's call this Training5 and hit Enter.
• 01:49 Now obviously these are going to be blank, but it just enables us to create it and
• 01:53 save it really quickly.
• 01:55 We can then double click to open it up, and then we can start adding our data.
• 01:59 It just means we don't have to open the application, go to File, Save As,
• 02:03 and then browse for the folder we want to save it into,
• 02:06 which in this case is the Clients folder.
• 02:09 So just a little side note there that you can create Office documents from
• 02:14 directly within File Explorer.
• 02:16 So now we have all of these files just here,
• 02:18 I need to move these to their corresponding client folder.
• 02:22 So maybe the first three are related to MicroWorld and
• 02:26 the last two are related to TrainingTech.
• 02:29 So let's do a move first of all.
• 02:31 So what I can do here is select all of the files that I want to move, so
• 02:35 I'm going to do the first three.
• 02:37 Now instead of holding down Ctrl to select, if I want to select a block, so
• 02:42 a block of three, I could hold down Shift and select the last one, and
• 02:46 it's going to select all of the files in between.
• 02:49 Now the quickest and easiest way to do this is simply to drag and drop.
• 02:54 I can grab these files and I can just drag them and
• 02:56 drop them on top of the MicroWorld folder to move them.
• 03:00 Now if I double click on the folder, there are those files.
• 03:04 Now what about if I want to move these files just back to the Clients folder?
• 03:08 Well, I can select them again.
• 03:11 And this is where it helps to have your folder list turned on because we can see
• 03:15 the Clients folder in here.
• 03:17 I can drag and drop them onto Clients over here, and
• 03:20 it's also going to move them back to that folder.
• 03:23 Another method we can use is good old cut and paste.
• 03:26 And if you're used to using the keyboard shortcuts for these in other applications
• 03:31 like Word and Excel, the good news is they're exactly the same in File Explorer.
• 03:35 So, what I could do is again, select my files, and I could press Ctrl+X to cut.
• 03:42 I can then double click on the folder, Ctrl+V, to paste those in.
• 03:47 And because we've done a cut and paste, that's going to move them.
• 03:50 Let's go back to Clients.
• 03:52 Now doing a copy is slightly different.
• 03:54 When we do a copy, it's going to leave them in the original location and
• 03:58 copy them to the folder that we specified.
• 04:00 So if I want to copy these two files, I need to select them, and
• 04:04 then instead of just dragging and dropping to the folder,
• 04:08 I need to hold down Ctrl as I drag and drop.
• 04:10 And notice as I'm doing that, it says Copy to TrainingTech.
• 04:14 When I let go, nothing looks like it's changed
• 04:17 because it's going to leave them in the original location, but
• 04:20 when I double click on TrainingTech, they're also in that folder.
• 04:25 Now I'm just going to delete these out, I'm going to select them and press Delete,
• 04:28 and go back to Clients.
• 04:30 Because the other way that we can do this is we can simply use copy and
• 04:34 paste this time.
• 04:36 So I'm going to select both Ctrl+C keyboard shortcut,
• 04:40 go to the TrainingTech folder, Ctrl+V to paste.
• 04:44 And essentially, I've created a copy.
• 04:46 It's also worth noting that we have cut and
• 04:48 copy available in the right click menu as well.
• 04:51 The first two icons here, this is the cut and this one is copy.
• 04:55 You'll also find those on that menu bar running across the top.
• 04:59 And the final thing to mention here is that if we are in a folder and
• 05:03 maybe we have a lot more files than I currently have,
• 05:06 if we want to select them all, Ctrl+A will select everything within that folder.

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