What Are Folders & Subfolders?

Microsoft Windows is an operating system that requires a keyboard and a mouse for proper use. You move the mouse to move an on-screen cursor that can manipulate programs and documents. This graphical user interface (GUI) uses pictorial icons to represent computer components such as hard drives and files. One commonly used icon is the folder.

Description

A folder is container that can store files such as programs and documents. This GUI component is represented by the picture of an office folder. A subfolder is a folder contained in another folder. A folder can be created or deleted as needed.

Opening

Folder window showing documents and subfolders

Double-clicking on a folder opens it into a window that shows the files and subfolders it contains.

Moving

You can move files or subfolders into or out of a folder by clicking on them, holding down the mouse key and dragging them to a new position.

Naming

Folders use the same naming conventions as files; alphanumeric characters are allowed with spaces and dashes. In a file path, folder and subfolder names are separated by a slash (/). For example, My Documents/Stories/Novel.txt shows a file called Novel.txt inside the Stories subfolder, which is inside the My Documents folder.

System

Windows uses several system folders to store commonly created files. These folders include My Documents for storing all created documents by default, My Pictures for storing graphics and My Music for storing songs.

References

• Microsoft: About folders