CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE
 
Windows NT QuickSteps:

How to Locate Files in Windows NT/95/98

The purpose of this "QuickStep" training guide is to show you how to find out where your files are stored and how to find them when they're "lost".

Where Do All the Files Go?

There's a default location in each program you use where files are stored if you don't specify a different location. Open a program and take a look at the "Save As" dialog box to find out where that location is. 
  1. In the program of your choice, click File on the Menu Bar and choose Save As.
  2. Click the arrow next to the "Save in:" selection box.
  3. Look at the hierarchy of folders in the drop-down menu (see Figure 1, below).
  4. You might want to make a note of the full path to your default document location. Start with the disk drive and work through the folders to get the path, such as: c:\Winnt\Profiles\jqsmith\Personal (the path indicated by the hierarchy shown in Figure 1).

    5. To exit the "Save As" dialog box without saving anything, click the Cancel button.
 
FIGURE 1. Sample "Save In" location as shown in the Word 2000 "Save As" dialog box'Save As' dialog box showing 'Save in' location
 

How to Find a File

If you can't find a file in a program's default location and you can't remember where else you might have saved it, you can usually search for the file within the program you're using. In Office 2000 (or 97) programs (Word, Excel, etc.) you can use the "Office Assistant" (e.g., Microsoft Word Help) to find instructions. In other programs, you may have to use a different Help feature to locate instructions for finding a file. 

You can also use Microsoft Explorer to locate a file. Here's one way. 

  1. Click the Start button on the Task Bar and choose Find.
  2. Choose Files or Folders from the cascading menu.
  3. Make selections in the "Find: All Files" dialog box to help isolate the file you're looking for. See examples in Figures 2-4, below.
  4. When ready to start the search, click the Find Now button. The files found will be listed below the search criteria area of the "Find: All Files" dialog box.
Make a note of the location of the file when you find it. Then, if you want to open the file immediately: (1) click the filename to highlight it, (2) click the right/secondary mouse button, and (3) click Open on the popup menu that appears. Note that the "find: All Files" dialog box will remain on the desktop until you close it (i.e., opening the file you were looking for doesn't close the dialog box). 
  
FIGURE 2. Sample refinement in search criteria using the "Name & Location" tab 
in the "find: all Files" dialog box.Name & Location Tab in NT's Find: All Files Dialog Box
The "Name & Location" refinement in Figure 2 confines the search to files or folders beginning with the letter H in the MyFiles folder and its subfolders.
 
 
FIGURE 3. Sample refinement in search criteria using the "Date Modified" tab 
in the "find: all Files" dialog box.Date Modified tab of NT's Find: All Files dialog box
The "Date Modified" refinement in Figure 3 (further) restricts the search to files created or modified during the previous three months.
 
 
FIGURE 4. Sample refinement in search criteria using the "Advanced" tab 
in the "find: all Files" dialog box.Advanced tab in NT's Find: All Files dialog box
The "Advanced" refinement in Figure 4 (further) restricts the search to include only Microsoft Word documents containing the text "budget" in them. 
 
Revised by Gail Said Johnson, User Support Services
February 5, 2001