File Management

Managing your files is really the first skill everyone must master for a class like Exploring Multimedia. Every project has its own folder and everything directly related to that project goes IN its folder. We will make an extra couple of folders for things like screenshots to upload to assignments and a place to keep temporary "scratch paper" files away from the important ones, but all the documents, pictures and Adobe program files need to be in the 240819 My Favorite Things - Project Folder we made earlier. Project folders will all "live" in the OneDrive - North East location managed by the district. It only appears when you are fully signed in to both Launchpad and OneDrive - remember, we want a "happy blue cloud". Check the cloud icon each day to see if you need get reconnected. You can drag it out of the hidden icons so it is always visible.

We use File Explorer to create folders, copy/paste/move files and examine their details. Stay away from any Quick Access folder or pre-made lists of files and always navigate to the actual folder you working in. In fact, let's turn off Quick Access altogether by opening File Explorer and:

Step 1

Select the View menu option, then click on the last thing on the "ribbon", Options. Select "Change folder and search options".

First, change where the program starts out whenever you run the File Explorer, from the dangerous "Quick Access" location to "This PC".

Second, remove the checks from the "Show recent files" and "Show frequent folders". That way, if you accidentally end up in Quick Access when navigating, you won't seen anything and be led astray.

Click OK when you are done. Close and restart File Explorer to verify there is no Quick Access.

You now use the Navigation Pane on the left to get from This PC to your project folder. Sometimes we'll go to the Downloads folder to find something we got from the internet but otherwise, keep File Explorer pointed to your current project folder.

Note: If the Navigation Pane is missing for some reason, you can always switch it back on with the first button on the ribbon. This happens by accident sometimes, but normally everything your computer has or is connected to is there on the left. Click on the little arrow to the left of a folder to expand it to see any additional folders inside it. The whole thing is known as a "directory tree". You can think of it as a map.

Step 2

SCRATCH FOLDER

There are some files we only need temporarily and don't want mixed in with our main project material. We make a folder named SCRATCH for these files - think scratch paper you use for working math problems but don't need to turn in. Use File Explorer and navigate to This PC, then go to OneDrive - North East ISD. Use the new folder icon and type SCRATCH in all capitals for the folder name. This is where we will save the screenshot of our project folder for our assignment this week.

Step 3

THE FILE EXPLORER "DETAILS" VIEW

Adding New Detailed Columns

We MUST have more information visible about the files in our project folder. Although demonstrated in class, you will need to watch this video and/or follow the steps below to get important information about the size of the images AND an extra space where we are going to store the web address of the image you found. You will be referred back to this video whenever you need to adjust your File Explorer view of your project files.

Steps to add the Comments and Dimensions columns to your Project Folder details view:

Select the View menu option and select the "Details" view
Make the Details pane visible - it will open on the right hand side
Add the columns for Dimensions and Comments
- Right-click on the text of a column name - any one of them will do (File, Date Modified, Type, Size, etc...)
- Click "More" and find "Comments" and "Dimensions"
- Re-order the columns so that Dimensions comes before Comments
Select a file (your Word document) to show its Details on the right hand side

Below is a highlighted snip of the screen you will be turning in as your second assignment. The snipping tool allows you to select a portion of the screen and save it as an image file to a folder we will name SCRATCH - this will be one of the ways you can demonstrate your progress on a project. Watch the videos at the bottom of this page to review how to take a snip, where to save it, and how to turn it in to Google Classroom.

230822 Snipping Project Folder Details.mp4

The Snipping Tool

Use the older Snipping Tool instead of Snip 'n Sketch to capture a portion of the screen and save it to your computer. Remember, we are using our "SCRATCH" folder instead of saving things like this in with our project. Easier to find and turn in!

240822 Details View - Firstname Lastname

Turning in a File

Files saved on our computer instead of in Google Drive require us to use Add, File and Browse to navigate to where the file is. If you have trouble, make sure the file is not in use when you are trying to attach and upload it to Google Classroom.

Step 4

Complete your Outline

Your Word document is your guide for this project. Do your best to make an outline the way my example shows at the bottom of Week 1, it doesn't have to have the same font and colors, but it does need to be an outline with 3 items in 3 categories, with each item numbered so you have nine items numbered 1 through 9. If you want extra categories, just add to your outline and keep numbering the "things" you are putting in those new categories 10, 11, 12, etc. DO NOT USE FANCY FORMATTING. You will be asked to select all (Ctrl-A) and change it back to a plain black font of reasonable size. Never fear - your creativity will shine forth in your Photoshop titles.

Step 5

Write About Your Favorite Things

Write at least 1 complete sentence about each of your favorite things. Do not write them in your outline - write them AFTER the outline. They do not need to be on a separate page but you can force a page break by holding down the CTRL key and pressing ENTER on your keyboard. Put some effort into the sentence - don't just write "I like...". Each sentence should be carefully written so it is both grammatically correct and truly gets your reader's interest by explaining why that thing is truly a favorite of yours. For example, if pizza is number 4 on your list:

4) I like pizza because it tastes good

is much stronger written something like...

4) Papa John's makes the best peperoni pizza!
or...

4) Better not put pineapple on mine!
or maybe...

4) I'll eat it from anywhere except Little Caesar's.

Finished all of that? Wow! Study the Week 3 written and video instructions carefully. You can practice searching for pictures and saving them if you can, but do this for sure: copy and paste the full image address into your Word or a Google Doc so you can click on them later to get the picture up on the screen. If you are doing it right, just the picture should appear when you click on the link - NOT the website the picture is on!