| The standard file dialog boxes in WP7, 8, and 9 are the same since they are based on the standard Win95/98 file dialogs. Figure 1 illustrates the File Open dialog box. The major components have been labeled and most are self-explanatory. I'll first discuss the file dialog boxes from the standpoint of trying to find a file without using Quick Finder and then I'll briefly discuss the dialog boxes from the standpoint of saving a file. |
| Finding Files to Open |
| Notice in Figure 1 that a shortcut called !Favorites appears right after the folders are displayed. Since a shortcut is just a special file, it will be sorted as a file. Naming a file with a punctuation mark will move it in front of an alphabetically sorted file list. Creating shortcuts to your most often used folders and placing them within a special folder is a powerful file management technique which is the topic of a separate article. |
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| Figure 1-- WP7 standard dialog in icon view. |
| Next, notice that in the top, right corner of the dialog box are icons which can be used to view the files differently. They can be used to view files as icons (the default) or to view details. Figure 1 shows the icon view which is the default view when the standard dialog box is used. |
| This default icon view is fine if you do not have many files in your folder but if you need more information, click the icon for details view. Figure 2 shows the file save dialog in detail view. |
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| Figure 2 -- WP7 standard dialog in detail view. |
| Notice that there is now a bar along the top of the file area of the dialog box with buttons labeled Name, Size, Type, Modified, and Attributes. You can click these buttons to change the sort order of the files. |
| By default, the dialog box lists folders first and then files alphabetically. If you click the Name button, the files will be sorted in reverse order. If you need to sort files by Size, Type, Modified, or even Attributes, simply click the appropriate button. You can reverse the sort order by clicking the same button again. |
| The Modified button is very helpful if you're looking for a file and you know about when it was created. It is also useful if you're trying to look for files to archive or delete off the computer. The Type button can be helpful if you have mixed type files in the same folder (e.g., HTML and WordPerfect together) or if you use nonstandard file extensions such as ".ltr" for letter and so forth. The Size button can also be useful in determining what files to archive or delete off the computer and, occasionally, to find a file you know to be very big or small. Most users will seldom ever need to sort by Attribute. |
| The only problem with sorting files in an order other than by name is that you may not be able to see the relevant details without scrolling over. If you scroll over to the Modified column, you may not be able to see the name. Here's how to deal with that problem. |
| First, you can resize the column size for Name, Size, etc. by placing your mouse cursor just on the edge of the appropriate button. If the cursor changes shape, you've got it in the right place. Now, just click and drag to resize the column. Even better, you can change the order in which the columns appear. For example, click and drag the Modified button in front of the Size button and the dates modified appear next to the file names, making it easier to determine if this is the file you're looking for. |
| OK, now you think you've found the document you want but want to preview it to make sure. If you right click on the file name, you'll get a popup menu. One of the selections will hopefully be View, Quick View, or Quick View Plus depending upon how you installed Windows 95/98 and WordPerfect. In either event, just click one of these options and you'll be able to preview the file before opening it. |