All the programs you will run will deal with files. While each program may have a little different way of presenting you ‘boxes’ and ‘menus’ to work with, the general idea is the same. 99.999% of the programs you will ever see will have a menu ribbon that has listed as the first option on the left
 
 

By clicking on this word (or tapping the Alt key and then typing the underlined letter ‘F’) you will have a menu drop down with a list of things you can do. Some of the most common commands you will see are:
 
 

1. New
1. Open
1. Close
1. Save
1. Save As...
1. Print

Choosing New will give you a brand new ‘blank’ file to work with (i.e. a new document in notepad or Word Processor, a new picture in Paint Brush, or graphics program, etc.).
 
 

Choosing the Open option will display a box (normally) similar to the one below.

 
 

Clicking on a file in the

File Name window and then clicking on the OK button will open that file. (So will "double-clicking" the file). You may need to double click on the folders to get to the directory you want, or even click on the Drive box to choose a different drive where your file is stored.
 

Once you have made or created a file you naturally want to save it. The very first time you save a new file you will get a box to put in a name, and place to keep that file. However, what if you open a file and make some changes to it, and now you want to save it - BUT - you also want to keep a copy of the original file. If you just pick the File, Save option you will REPLACE the original file with the one that has the changes in it. Well you can save both by choosing the option File, Save As. This will bring up a box just like the one you had when you first made a file.
 

You can type in the name, change a name, or even save the file to a different directory (folder), or drive. Once you have everything where you want it .. Just click on the OK button.

file: help-07.html
created: 1995 (as help07.doc)
edited: 2002