Finding Files

Once you’ve created a few documents or moved a few files around, sometimes it can be difficult to remember just where they are. Here are a few ways that you can try and find that elusive file.

You Know the Name (or part of it)

If you have a pretty good idea what you called the file, you can use the search feature of the File Manager. There is a magnifying glass in the top-right, which gives you a box to type in if you click on it. The File Manager then searches inside the current folder (and any sub-folders) and shows you all the files that match. Here are my search results for “assessment” in my files:

If I want to know where the files are, I can use the View buttons in the top-right to change from Icon view to List view:

This allows you to see just where these files are hiding! Right-clicking on a file will give you a number of options, including opening a new window showing the location of the file.

You Know Which Program You Used

If you know which program you used to create the file to start with, sometimes you can find your file using the Open Recent (or similar) option in the File menu. Here I’ve opened LibreOffice Writer, and gone into the Recent Documents menu. Here I can find any of the last 15 files I have created:

Many applications have a similar menu, allowing you to open recently created files without knowing exactly where they are located.

You Created It Recently

The File Manager has a Recent section, which attempts to show you all files that have been recently created or accessed. You may be able to find your file via this method, but not every file is guaranteed to appear in the Recent search.

More to come, stay tuned ....