File Operations and Saving

File management is the part of the operating system that organises files and folders, so that you can change them, find them and open them again.

Changing files and folders

Everyday file operations change where an item is or what it is called, but not the hardware it is stored on:

• Moving takes a file or folder out of one place and puts it in another. A poster saved as poster1 can be moved into the fundraising project folder, so it sits with the rest of that project's work.
• Copying leaves the original where it is and creates a second version. Copying the poster before you edit it gives you a spare if the new version goes wrong.
• Renaming gives an item a clearer name. poster1 becomes fundraising-poster, which still tells you what it is months later.
• Deleting removes an item you no longer need, which frees up the space it was using.

None of these actions change the storage hardware itself: the item is simply reordered, duplicated, relabelled or removed from the operating system's records.

Saving and finding files again

Saving writes the file to secondary storage, which keeps its contents when the computer is switched off. The operating system also records where the file is stored and how much free space remains on the device, so the file can be found again later.

Opening and searching rely on file names, extensions and folders. You can search using part of a name — typing fixtures finds every file with that word in its name — or by file type, such as every .pptx presentation inside a folder. The extension also tells the operating system which application to open the file in, so a presentation goes straight to presentation software instead of a media player. File management therefore covers both changing files and folders and finding them again.