Search, Windows Explorer and More in Windows Vista - Windows Explorer
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\windows\explorer.exe
The default Windows interface, including the Start menu, the Desktop, the Taskbar, the Search tool, the Windows Explorer window, and all folder windows.
To open
Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Windows Explorer
Command Prompt -> explorer
Double-click any folder icon on the Desktop or in any folder window.
Windows Key-E
Usage
explorer.exe [/n] [,/root,object] [[/select],subobject]
Description
The Explorer is the default Windows shell (see Figure 4-22). When run without any command-line parameters, it opens a two-paned window (commonly referred to simply as Explorer) in which you can navigate through all of the files, folders, and other resources on your computer.
See Chapter 2 for basic navigation and file management principles, and Chapter 3 for discussions of the visual elements.
Explorer accepts the following command-line options (note the mandatory commas):
/n Forces Explorer to open a new window (even if the
specified folder is already open somewhere).
/select],subobject
Include subobject to specify the file or folder to be initially highlighted or expanded when the folder is opened. If subobject is a folder, it will be expanded in the tree. If you also include the /select parameter (not valid without subobject ), the parent of the specified folder is highlighted on the tree, no branches are initially expanded, and subobject will be highlighted in the right pane.
,/root,object
By default, Explorer opens with the Desktop as the root folder. Use ,/root,object to specify a different root. The object parameter can be a folder name or a class ID.
Figure 4-22. Windows explorer, the primary means of file and folder management in Windows Vista
For example, if you want Explorer to open to the Computer folder so that no drive branches are initially expanded (which is handy if you have several drives), type the following:
explorer.exe /n, /select, c:\
To open an Explorer window rooted at the Documents folder, type:
explorer.exe /root,c:\Documents and Settings\username\Documents
where username is the username of the owner of the Documents folder.
The Windows Explorer Toolbar
Depending on the type of folder you're viewing, the Windows Explorer Toolbar changes to offer context-sensitive buttons, although it always has the basic Organize and Views buttons. For example, when viewing the Computer folder (Figure 4-23), there are icons for viewing file and object properties, viewing system properties, uninstalling or changing a program, mapping a network drive, and opening the Control Panel.
If the folder you're viewing is filled with music, a different toolbar appears and includes buttons for playing music and burning a CD. A folder with pictures and videos, meanwhile, would include buttons for playing a slide show and burning a CD. You can customize your view of folders using the Customize tab of the Folder Options dialog box. (See "Folder and Search Options," earlier in this chapter.)
If the folder has pictures in it, you can play a slide show that displays the pictures one by one, using the Slide Show button. For details, see "Slide show," in Chapter 12.
Figure 4-23. The Windows Explorer Toolbar for the Computer folder
Windows Explorer views
The Views button on Windows Explorer pops up a menu (Figure 4-24) that lets you choose among seven different folder views:
- Extra Large Icons
- Large Icons
- Medium Icons
- Small Icons
- List
- Details
Tiles
Figure 4-24. The Views menu in Windows Explorer
The four icon views are self-explanatory. Windows Explorer folder icons are "live"--that is, they will display live thumbnails of the contents within them so that you can see thumbnails of pictures contained in the folder. The larger the icon, the easier it is to see these live thumbnails.
The List view does what it says--provides only a list of the files. The Details view lists the files and displays information about each, such as file size, date created, and so on. The information displayed about each will vary according to the folder type. The Tiles view is a combination of an icon view and a List view; it shows thumbnails of each file but also displays information about them.
To see basic information about any file, in any view, hover your mouse over it. A balloon will appear displaying the file type, file size, and other information that changes according to the type of file.
If the folder has pictures in it, you can play a slide show that displays the pictures one by one, using the Slide Show button. For details, see Slide show, in Chapter 12.
Windows Explorer panes
Windows Explorer has four main panes that you can turn on and off by choosing Organize -> Layout:
Search Pane
Displays the Search toolbar (see "Search," earlier in
this chapter, for details)
The Search Pane option appears only when you type text into the Search box. If you delete the text, the Search Pane will no longer be available as an option. However, it is available as an option from the Desktop and Computer folders.
Details Pane
Shows, at the bottom of the screen, information
about the object currently highlighted
Preview Pane
Shows, on the righthand side, a preview of the file
currently highlighted
Navigation Pane
Shows folders and objects on the lefthand side of the
screen in tree-style view for navigating
Figure 4-25 shows Windows Explorer with the panes labeled.
Stacking and sorting
Windows Vista introduces new ways to filter and display files in Windows Explorer by grouping and stacking files based on their metadata. In Windows Explorer, if you click in the right side of any property header (Name, Size, Rating, and so on), a down arrow appears, along with a drop-down list that includes buttons labeled Sort, Group, and Stack. The Sort button is the default for Windows Explorer. The Group button displays files in separate groups, according to the value of the property--for example, by rating, as shown in Figure 4-26.
You can collapse and expand any group by double-clicking the group title--for example, 3 Stars. In addition, you can display only some groups and not others. In the example in Figure 4-26, if you selected 3 Stars instead of Group, you would display only files that were rated three stars.
Figure 4-25. The Four panes in Windows Explorer
If you instead chose Stack, it would organize the files into what look like subfolders--in our example, by three stars, four stars, and five stars. To see the files in any stack, double-click the stack.
Modifying file tags and properties
Every file on your system has tags and properties associated with it, and these are displayed in several places in Windows Explorer--on the righthand side of the screen when using Details or Tiles views, when hovering a mouse over the file, and in the Details Pane. They're also shown inside many applications. And when you do a search for files, those tags and properties are searched through as well.
You often can modify tags and properties using the program that created the file, but you can also use Windows Explorer to modify them. Turn on the Details Pane, then highlight the file whose property you want to change. In the Details Pane, click the property you want to change, edit what's there or add new text, and click Save.
To add tags, type them directly into the Tags field; separate multiple tags with semicolons, as shown in Figure 4-27.
Figure 4-26. Stacking Files based on rating metadata
Figure 4-27. Adding tags to a file using the Details Pane
Certain properties that are inherent to the file itself can't be changed, such as file size and dimensions.
Windows Explorer Address Bar
The Address Bar is covered in some detail in Chapter 3, so there is no need to go into detail about it here. However, there is one unique, often overlooked aspect of Windows Explorer's Address Bar--the menu that appears when you right-click it (Figure 4-28).
Figure 4-28. The little-known Address Bar menu
You can use it to copy the address to the Clipboard. The Edit Address choice turns the Address Bar into a text menu that lets you type in text. Figure 4-29 shows you how the Address Bar changes when you edit it as text.
Figure 4-29. Using text in the Address Bar
Using ZIP archives in Windows Explorer
Using Windows Explorer, you can compress files and put them into packages using the .zip format, or simply compress individual files. In addition, Windows Explorer lets you look inside .zip archives and uncompress them.
In Windows Explorer, select the file or files that you want to compress, right-click them, and choose Send to -> Compressed (zip) folder. A ZIP file will be created in the current folder, with the name of the file or the first file in the group, and ending in the .zip extension. You can rename it to what you want.
You can view files inside .zip archives just as you can any other folder. But if you double-click a file in the folder, you'll open a read-only copy. To make changes to the file, choose File -> Save As and save it on your hard drive. You can instead extract the files from the archive, and then work with them after they've been extracted. Right-click the .zip file, select "Extract all," and then extract the files to any location.
CD burning
You can "burn" data directly to a CD or DVD using Windows Explorer. Click the Burn button and follow the directions. But keep in mind that this burns only a data disc--that is, it merely copies files from your PC to the disc. You won't be able to play it in a CD player that plays only music CDs. To burn a music CD, you need to use Windows Media Player. See "Windows Media Player," in Chapter 12, for details.
Notes
- Some folders in Windows Vista are junctions, which means that they don't actually exist and are only pointers to another folder. These junctions are used to preserve holdovers from earlier versions of Windows, and they are there so that programs written for earlier versions of Windows can continue to function properly. For example, the Documents and Settings folder is a junction, and if you try to access it in Windows Explorer, you will get the error message "Documents and Settings is not available." If you look at the Documents and Settings folder, you'll see that it's actually a shortcut; it has the shortcut icon on the folder itself. It points to the \Users folder, which has replaced it.
- If you turn on the Search Pane in a folder and use it to do a search, you will search only in that folder, not across your entire computer.
See also
"Folder Properties," "File Properties," and "Search," in this chapter, and Internet Explorer, in Chapter 5
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 This article is excerpted from chapter four of the book Windows Vista in a Nutshell, written by Preston Gralla (O'Reilly, 2006; ISBN: 0596527071). Check it out today at your favorite bookstore. Buy this book now.
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