gnome-user-guide 3.4.1-1 / usr / share / help / C / gnome-help / files-browse.page

<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/"
      type="topic" style="task"
      id="files-browse">


  <info>
    <link type="guide" xref="files" group="#first"/>
    <link type="seealso" xref="files-copy"/>
    <desc>Manage and organize files with the file manager.</desc>

    <revision pkgversion="3.4.0" date="2012-02-19" status="outdated"/>
    <credit type="author">
      <name>Tiffany Antopolski</name>
      <email>tiffany.antopolski@gmail.com</email>
    </credit>
    <credit type="author">
      <name>Shaun McCance</name>
      <email>shaunm@gnome.org</email>
    </credit>
    <credit type="author">
      <name>Phil Bull</name>
      <email>philbull@gmail.com</email>
    </credit>
    <include href="legal.xml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"/>
  </info>

<title>Browse files and folders</title>

<comment>
	<p>This page is a feature overview. There should be a greater visual
	separation between features. Small illustrative figures should be used
	to display these features where appropriate, and video demonstrations of
	some of the features might be useful too. Explain how you can add things to
	the sidebar (link to a topic or explain it here).</p>
</comment>

<p>Use the <app>Files</app> file manager to browse and organize the files on
your computer. You can also use it to manage files on storage devices (like
external hard disks), on <link xref="nautilus-connect">file servers</link>, and
network shares.</p>

<p>To open the file manager, open <app>Files</app> in the <gui>Activities</gui>
overview. You can also search for files and folders through the overview in the
same way you would <link xref="shell-apps-open">search for applications</link>.
</p>

<section id="files-view-folder-contents">
  <title>Exploring the contents of folders</title>

<p>In the file manager, double-click any folder to view its contents,
and double-click any file to open it with the default application for
that file. You can also right-click a folder to open it in a new tab
or new window. In <link xref="files-sort#list-view">list view</link>,
you can also click the expander next to a folder to show its contents
in a tree.</p>

<p>When looking through the files in a folder, you can quickly <link
xref="files-preview">preview each file</link> by pressing the space bar
to be sure you have the right file before opening it, copying it, or
deleting it.</p>

<p>The <em>path bar</em> above the list of files and folders shows you which
folder you're viewing, including the parent folders of the current folder.
Click a parent folder in the path bar to go to that folder. Right-click any
folder in the path bar to open it in a new tab or window, copy or move it, or
access its properties.</p>

<p>If you want to quickly skip to a file in the folder you're viewing,
start typing its name. A search box will appear at the bottom of the window and
the first file which matches your search will be highlighted. Press the
down arrow key or <keyseq><key>Ctrl</key><key>G</key></keyseq>, or
scroll with the mouse, to skip to the next file that matches your search.</p>

<p>You can quickly access common places from the <em>sidebar</em>. If you do
not see the sidebar, click <guiseq><gui>View</gui><gui>Sidebar</gui>
<gui>Show Sidebar</gui></guiseq>. You can add bookmarks to folders that
you use often and they will appear in the sidebar. Use the
<gui>Bookmarks</gui> menu to do this, or simply drag a folder into the
sidebar.</p>

<p>If you frequently move files between nested folders, you might
find it more useful to show a <em>tree</em> in the sidebar instead. Click
<guiseq><gui>View</gui><gui>Sidebar</gui><gui>Tree</gui></guiseq>
to enable the tree sidebar. Click the expander arrow next to a folder to
show its child folders in the tree, or click a folder to open it
in the window.</p>
</section>
</page>