Using and accessing MATE/File manager

File manager description

The File Manager lets you navigate among all the files and folders stored on your computer's disk(s) and manage them. It presents your computer's storage components in a hierarchical fashion.

In this lesson, we'll introduce you to the main functions of the File Manager. Most of them will seem similar to those you've already studied in other contexts. This will be an opportunity for you to discover how to apply what you've learned to different contexts.

Introducing and launching the file manager

Among other things, the File Manager lets you search, move, copy, rename and delete files. Before looking at the various elements of the File Manager window, we suggest you carry out an initial exercise which consists in launching this application via your Personal Folder path.

First, make sure you're on the MATE desktop. Then using the arrow keys, select the Personal Folder icon and open it by pressing Enter.

You can also open the file manager by using the Places menu and selecting one of the proposed destination, or by using the Applications menu then the System Tools sub-menu and the Caja item.

We'll now explain how to launch the File Manager from the Places menu, using the workstation entry point. First, pull down the main menu using the Alt+F1 shortcut. Then, using the right arrow, move to the Places menu and select the Computer entry by using the Down arrow key an press Enter

The Computer place lets you access the contents of all your computer's storage components, such as a USB stick, the various parts of the hard disk(s) or the DVD drive. The Computer place itself is of little use, since USB sticks and DVDs inserted in your computer appear on your desktop as icons. But it can be handy for accessing certain files on the system disk.

The Home folder gives you access to all the files and folders you've created and organized.

File manager window elements

The file manager window, also known as Caja, should now be displayed on screen. If the window does not appear full-screen, you can maximize it. To do this, open the window's system menu using the Alt+Space-bar shortcut. Use the Down arrow key to select the command Maximize, and then press Enter. If this command does not appear, the window has already been maximized. To close the system menu, press Escape.

As the File Manager window is a MATE application window, it features a menu bar containing the File, Edit, View, Go, Bookmarks and Help menus. Within these menus you can find commands to create or delete a document, create a new folder or move a document to another place. These commands are common to all entries in the file manager, of which Computer is a part.

Depending on your hardware configuration the Computer window will display:

• the system partition
• potentially a separate home partition hosting the user's files
• the DVD drive, if any attached to the system
• removable devices like USB sticks whose names vary depending on how they where formatted

The system files, necessary for the operation of your computer, cannot be modified unless you enter your administrator password. You don't need to touch them at this stage, but you can access your home folder and the USB sticks from this path. In fact, if you open the File System and select the media folder, the sub-folders inside it correspond to your USB memory sticks.

Still in the File System, if you open the home folder, then the folder bearing your account name, you'll arrive in your Personal Folder. It's not the quickest way to get in there, but it's the basic path.

Your Personal Folder window displays the first level of your personal files and folders. By default, these include folders such as Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, etc.

In the File Manager window, the various items in your system can be displayed in different ways: as icons, as a list, or as a compact list. The list view displays the file title, dates and size and type. The compact view displays listed items, but without their details and potentially on several columns if they are a lot of them to display . The icon view display the icons of your files and folders spread across the screen, from left to right and top to bottom. Be aware that this view mode makes navigating your computer's files and folders a complex task for screen reader users.

Here is how to display items as a compact list. The following exercise will enable you to apply this display mode to all Computer windows, including the Recycle Bin, Home Folder, USB memory sticks, and so on.

First, pull down the Edit menu using the Alt+E shortcut. Then select Preferences using the down arrow. Press enter to open the Preferences dialog box. Now press Tab to move your cursor to the first item on the Views tab. This is a drop-down list allowing you to choose the view for all new folders. Use the up or down arrows to select list or compact view mode.

Another press on the Tab key, will move the focus on the next drop-down list which lets you define the order in which items are presented in the file manager window. You can view files and folders by name (I.E in alphabetical order), by size, by type, etc. Just pick your preferred sorting mode.

Then using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, select the Close button and press Enter to quit this dialog box.

Note that at the bottom of the window, a status bar can be displayed, showing information such as the number of items contained in a selected object, the space occupied by that item and the space available on that part of the disk. To display the status bar, use the View menu[1].

You've seen the different elements of the file manager window.

Filing system

Now that you've familiarized yourself with the different elements of the File Manager window, we'd like to suggest a few exercises to help you better understand how the filing system is organized.

The Computer window must be open. Remember that you can launch this application via the main menu. For more information, please refer to the previous lesson.

When the Computer is opened, the cursor is positioned by default in the location bar, if its view is enabled.. To explore the various items on your Computer, start by pressing the Down arrow key to select the first item in the window. Then use the Up and Down arrows to scroll through the list.

From Computer window, you can display the contents of an item by selecting it and pressing Enter. When you display the contents of a selected folder, the contents of the Caja window are updated with the list of items in this folder, and the title bar displays the name of the folder or location you are currently in[2].

In the File Manager, each window displays the contents of a folder which is actually part of a hierarchical organization. In this hierarchy, the very first level of your system is noted / (slash). It contains your computer files, the home folder, which leads to your personal folder, the media folder, which takes you to the devices connected to your computer, and many others. All these elements are on the second level of the hierarchy.

On a third level are the user folders, contained in /home, and your connected devices, contained in /media. Remember that for a quicker access to your home folder when you need to enter this item as a location, it is noted ~ (tilde).

To practice, bring up the contents of the Computer. Then use the Down arrow to select the File System entry and press Enter. Then still using the Down arrow key move to the home folder and press Enter. Now you can select your account name and press Enter. You arrives in the contents of your personal folder that you can explore using the Up and Down arrows. The same procedure applies if you access your personal folder via its desktop icon, the main menu or the Go to menu in the file manager, which are the paths you'll use most often in practice.

Now you can return to the previously displayed content by using the Alt+Left arrow shortcut. For exemple we are currently in your home folder. Use the Computer command in the Go to menu to display the top level folder of the hierarchy. Now, if you press Alt+Left arrow you will go back immediately to the previously displayed holder, that is you home folder.

If a folder is empty, the file manager window remains empty. Press backspace to return to the parent folder.

So you'll have noticed that the previous exercise took you through folders and sub-folders. Another way of exploring sub-folders is, in compact list mode, to scroll through the folders over which the cursor is positioned. To do this, press the right arrow. This allows you to scroll the hierarchy in a different way, but the disadvantage is that the window title doesn't change depending on which folder you're in. We do not recommend this method [3].

If the list of files and folders in a window is too long, you can use the page-up and page-down keys to scroll through the contents one screen at a time.

Finally, you can open an item after selecting it with the arrow keys, by pressing the enter key. In the case of a folder, its contents will appear in the window, replacing those of the parent folder, and the window title will change to the folder's name. In the case of a file, it will be opened with the corresponding application.

When you connect a USB stick, the contents window opens automatically. If you close it, you can return to it via the Places menu or the icon your computer has automatically added to your desktop bearing the name associated with your USB stick. This is also where you can inform MATE you wqant to remove your USB stick. To do this, select the stick's icon, open its context menu using the Shift+F10 shortcut, and choose Eject, or Dismount, or Safely Remove drive. Once you've launched one of these commands, the key icon will disappear after a while, and only then will you be able to disconnect it safely. It's important to always follow this procedure, otherwise you could damage your stick or its contents.

Finally, it's important to note that, depending on the item selected, some window menu commands are not available because they don't apply in that context. These commands are said to be inactive. For example, the Delete Document and Rename commands will not be available if your file system is selected.

Opening a document

In this exercise, you'll open an OpenDocument file with the Writer application. First, make sure that File Manager is open at your home folder location. Next, use the arrow keys to select the Documents folder. Press Enter to open it.

The window title should now read Documents. Using the up and down arrows, select the document bearing your surname[3], and the open it by pressing the Enter key.

As soon as you ask for the document to be opened, MATE launches the Writer application. The Writer application window then becomes the active one, appearing in front of the File Manager window. Before continuing, close the Writer window by pressing Alt+F4.

Selecting several documents

The File Manager window should be displayed on the screen, and the cursor positioned on the document bearing your surname. Within the File Manager, you can also launch several documents simultaneously. To do so, select first all the documents you wish to open and then press Enter. You will now learn how to select and open multiple items within the File Manager.

We'll start by showing you how to select several consecutive items. The procedure is similar to that used to select a string in a text. Position the cursor on the first item in the list you wish to select. Then press the shift key and, holding it down, press the up or down arrow. Once you've selected the items you wanted, release the keys. Please, select now several items using this procedure.

Several items should now be selected. You can check which items have been selected by using your technical aid to read the status bar[1]. Then deactivate this selection by pressing one navigation arrow.

To select several files that are not in sequence, use first the up and down arrows to position the cursor on the first item of your choice. Then, while holding down the Ctrl key, use the up and down arrows to position the cursor on the next file of your choice, and press the space bar to select it. As long as the Ctrl key is held down, you can use the arrow keys to move the cursor and select items one after the other.

Several non-sequential items should now be selected. You can check which items have been selected by using your technical aid to read the status bar[1]. At that point, you could open them by pressing Enter. For now, deactivate the selections by pressing one navigation arrow.

The procedures you've just learned for selecting items can also be useful for deleting, copying or moving several items at once. You'll see how to perform these operations in future lessons.

Managing files and folders

As already mentioned, the File Manager is a file organizing system, and its main storage unit is the folder. In this lesson, you'll learn how to create folders in order to organize and classify your files. Later, you'll learn how to delete, rename and obtain information concerning the properties of your files and folders.

Creating a folder

To complete the exercises in this lesson, make sure that File Manager is open at your home folder location..

Now select the Documents folder using the arrow keys and press Enter to open it.

Then, pull down the File menu by pressing the Alt+F shortcut. In this menu, select the Create folder command using the down arrow key and press Enter to open the dialog box. You can also open directly this dialog box from your main Personal Folder window by using the Ctrl+Shift+N shortcut

When you issue this command, a new folder named New Folder appears in the list of files and folders. The cursor is located in the input field representing the new folder's name. You can then type the name you want to give to this new folder and press enter.

You should now have created a new folder in which you will ne able to store items like files and folders. Check the result by scrolling through the list with the arrow keys.

Deleting a file or a folder

In the File Manager, you can delete files and folders. You're now going to delete the folder you've just created. To do so, first select it [1].

To delete your selected folder, pull down the Edit menu using the Alt+E shortcut. Select the Move to Trash command with the down arrow and press Enter. You can also use the Delete key on your keyboard without going through the menu.

A message box might appear asking whether you wish to send the selected folder to the Recycle Bin. Press Enter to confirm since your cursor is on the Delete button by default. To cancel the operation, simply press the Escape key.

You can also delete the file or folder permanently without sending it to the Recycle Bin by selecting it and then pressing the Shift+Delete shortcut. Note that as long as an item is in the Recycle Bin, you can always recover it by applying the restore procedure in the Edit menu, or by copying and pasting it into a folder of your choice. Note that the Ctrl+Z shortcut, which is use to undo the previous action, also has the effect, in the File Manager, of restoring an item you sent to the Recycle Bin.

Please note: depending on your configuration, when you delete a file from a USB stick, it might not be placed in the Recycle Bin. No matter which command you use, it will be permanently deleted after you have been notified.

Renaming a file or folder

In the File Manager, you can rename a file or folder. Here's an exercise to change the name of a file.

First, select the file named after your surname by using the arrow keys or by typing its first few characters followed by the Escape key.

Now that the file bearing your surname is selected, pull down the Edit menu by pressing the Alt+E shortcut, select the Rename command using the arrow keys and press Enter.

Once you've launched the Rename command, the focus is given to the file name input field. You can now type a new name. For this exercise, type the name Exercise. Do not change or delete the extension after the dot, because it is an indication for the system of which program to use to open the document. Then press Enter.

Note that the shortcut for the Rename command is the F2 function key. You can also rename a folder or a desktop icon in the same way.

Property information

In the File Manager, you can also obtain information on the properties of a file, folder or even a disk partition. To view properties, first select a folder of your choice. Then pull down the File menu, select the Properties command and press Enter. The Properties dialog box appears. You can also achieve this by pressing the Alt+Enter shortcut.

The Properties dialog box for the selected folder should be displayed. This box contains four tabs: Basic, Emblems, Permissions and Notes.

By default, you'll land on the Basic tab. It displays the name and type of the selected item, as well as its path, size and its contain if it is a folder. You can access all these fields s with the Tab key, or with the explorer cursor on your technical aid[4].

The Permissions tab contains three groups of options defined in drop-down lists. The first group specifies the owner of a file or folder and its associated rights. By default, the owner is your username, i.e. yourself. And, off course, you have the right to read and write this file.To change these values, place the cursor in the input field and type in a new user name. If you like it, press Tab and, using the down arrow, select the rights you wish to acquire or give up. For example, you might decide to make a given file read-only or give a folder the list only permission.

The second group of options lets you define the group to which the file or folder belongs. By default, the group also corresponds to your user name. This group may contain other persons who use this computer and to whom you may wish to give special access rights to your files. The same drop-down list allows you to give the desired rights to the other persons in that group.

The third group of options lets you define the rights assigned to the users who are neither the owner of this item, nor members of the group to which its belongs. And here also the operation is done via a simple drop-down list.

The last option of this tab allows you to define if a file is executable or not regardless of its ownership.

As usual in a dialog box, you can move from one tab to another by positioning the focus on the tab title and then use the left and right arrows. To move from one item to another within a given tab, press the Tab or Back Tab keys. To confirm your choices, press Enter.

Note that the contents of this dialog box, and in particular the general tab, vary according to the item selected in the file manager[5].

Copy or move files and folders

In the File Manager, you can copy or move files and folders to different locations. In this lesson, you'll learn how to copy and move files. Note that the procedures you'll see also apply to both files and folders. To follow this exercise, make sure the File Manager is open.

Copying a file

When writing text on the computer, it's advisable to make backup copies for security reasons. We're now going to guide you through an exercise that involves copying a file.

First, you need to select a file. To do this, select the Documents folder in your home folder and, inside it, select the file bearing your name. If necessary, refer to lesson 3 of this module.

Now that you've selected a file, you can copy it to the clipboard. To copy the file, use the Ctrl+C shortcut or the Copy command in the Edit menu.

A copy of the file is now stored in a special location of the system memory called the clipboard. You will now return to the root of your personal folder, where this copy will be stored. To do this, press the backspace key. Now that you're at the root of your personal folder, you can paste the copy of the file. To do this, use the Ctrl+V shortcut or the Paste command in the Edit menu.

You can check that the copy of the file is indeed in the contents of the personal folder.

Moving a file

In the File Manager, you can also move a file from a location to another. To do this, you will use the Cut and Paste commands rather than the previous Copy and Paste commands.

When you use the Cut command, the file is copied to the clipboard. It will only be removed from the original folder once the Paste command has been issued. The shortcut for the Cut command is Ctrl+X, for the Paste command Ctrl+V.

For example, you can cut the file named Exercises from the Documents folder and paste it into the root of your personal folder. You can check whether the file has been moved by looking at the contents of the Documents folder after returning to it.

Creating a link

Within the File Manager, you can create new kind of items called links. A link is generally used to ease the user access to an application, a folder or a file. They can be found, for example, on the desktop. Note that a a link icon points to the the real item it is associated with, but does not replace it nor is a copy of it.

Selecting the link location

In the following exercise, you will create a desktop shortcut icon for the document bearing your name. In lesson 4 of module 5, System configuration, you will learn how to create a shortcut in the main menu. Make sure the File Manager is open, otherwise launch it by opening the Personal Folder from the desktop or main menu.

In your personal folder, select the folder entitled Desktop. This folder, which you have the right to delete, contains all the customized shortcuts on your desktop. We therefore recommend that you leave it as it is. Press Enter to open it.

Selecting the target item

Now that you've selected the future link location, open a second File Manager window. To do this, pull down the File menu using the Alt+F shortcut and select New Window. A new File Manager window appears on the screen.

To make sure you're at the root of your home folder, use the Alt+Home shortcut that will always take you there.

Now select the Documents folder and open it by pressing Enter.

Finally, select the file bearing your surname.

Now pull down the Edit menu using the Alt+E shortcut. Using the Down arrow, select the Make Link command. Press enter, the menu closes and you return to the Documents window.

In the Documents window, select the item just created and named Link to your surname. This is your actual link. Move it to the desktop using the sequence Ctrl+X to cut the link, Alt+Tab to select the other File Manager window displaying the Desktop contents and finally Ctrl+V to paste the link in there.

Name of the link

The Desktop folder window should be open and selected. Place the cursor on the item named Link to your surname. To rename this item, use the Rename command in the Edit menu, as seen in lesson 4. You can, for example, give this item the same name as the original file. Remember, however, that if you later delete this link, the target file it is pointing to will be kept in its original location.

You can check whether the link icon has been created on the desktop. To do so, press the Alt+Ctrl+D shortcut and explore the desktop icons. The link you've just created should appear there.

Associate a shortcut key with an application

You can assign a keyboard shortcut to directly launch an application, or even open a document. You are now going to assign a shortcut to open the Writer application.

To achieve this, pull down the main Applications menu using the Alt+F1 shortcut. Go to the System menu using the Left arrow key, scroll down to the Preferences item, and enter its sub-menu using the right arrow. Then select the Hardware command and pull down its sub-menu. Finally, select the Keyboard Shortcuts command and press enter to open the dialog box.

We're now going to add a command to launch Writer. To do this, select the Add button with the Tab key. A new Custom Shortcut dialog box appears.

In the Name input field, enter a name to help you identify the command in question. Then press tab twice and use the Browse button to see the applications currently installed on your computer.

The Available Applications dialog box should appear. In the list, select LibreOffice Writer, and Press Enter to confirm your choice.

Note : if the command field reads libreoffice only, add to it the --writer option to launch directly the writer application

Now confirm your choices by selecting the Apply button in the Custom Shortcuts dialog box using the Tab key.

You're back in the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box. Press the Shift-Tab keys twice to return to the list of Actions. Press the End key to position the cursor on its last item, which should correspond to the one you've just created. The line is divided into two columns. On the left is the command name. To modify it, press Enter. To assign a shortcut to it you need to press the Right arrow to go to the second column which reads Disabled for the time being. To switch to input mode, press the space bar. Now enter the keys combinaison that suits you, for example Ctrl+Alt+W. This will be your shortcut to launch Writer.

To modify it, simply follow the same steps: find the action, move the cursor to the right-hand column, press the Space bar and enter the new shortcut.

Finally, press the Tab key to reach the Close button and press Enter.

Now check that this new keyboard shortcut is functioning. Press the Ctrl+Alt+W keyboard shortcut. This should launch the Writer application.

You can now close the document and its application by pressing Alt+F4. Then return to the file manager by pressing Alt+Tab.

Note that a keyboard shortcut can be used from any window. It can launch any type of command, including the opening of a document, regardless of its location, if the command opens this document with a given application.

Deleting a link

Note that you can delete a link without modifying its original target it represents. To do this, select the shortcut and simply press the Delete key. Depending on your system settings, a message box might appear, asking if you want to send this item to the recycle bin. Press enter to confirm the command.

To check whether an item is a shortcut or an original file, you can open its Properties dialog box, where the General tab informs you of the type of item.

This lesson is over. You can close the File Manager and the two windows we've just opened, using the Alt+F4 shortcut. In the next lesson, we'll look at another tool that lets you search for items stored on your computer.

Searching

With MATE, you can find files and folders stored in your system by using the search tool. In this lesson, we'll show you how to use this useful function.

Launching the search tool

Your cursor should be on the MATE desktop. To launch the search tool, use the Alt+F1 shortcut to open the Main menu. Then , using the down arrow, select the Accessories command and open its sub-menu using the Right arrow key Scroll down this sub-menu to reach the Search for file command and press Enter to launch it.

Items of the File Search window

The Search for files window should now be displayed on screen. If it doesn't appear full-screen, you can maximize it. To do this, open the window's system menu using the Alt+Space-bar shortcut. Select the Maximize command using the down arrow. If the command does not appear in this menu, this means that the application window is already displayed in full screen mode. In this case, press Escape to close the system menu.

This window is a simple dialog box. As usual, you can navigate through it's different fields and buttons using the Tab or Back-tab keys, and use the Up and Down arrows to select items within drop-down lists.

By default, when the dialog opens, the cursor is positioned in the Name contains input field. Next to this input field, a drop-down list representing your search history lets you choose an item you've previously searched for. Below, the Look in folder drop-down list lets you select also the scope of your search. Below again you have the Select more options drop-down. If you anable it by pressing the Space bar it expands and proposes to add more searching criteria.

And, at the bottom of the dialog box, you'll find the classic Help, Close and Find buttons.