Managing your files
Table of Contents
A common metaphor of graphical desktops is the use of folders to represent folders on your hard disk. Folders contain files and other folders. A KDE application called Konqueror, the K File Manager, uses this metaphor to help you manage your files.
The first time you start KDE, a window with lots of icons in it appears. This is a Konqueror window displaying the files in your home folder (the area where your personal files are stored). The pathname of the folder is displayed under the window's tool bar. If you don't see such a window now, click the icon on the panel that looks like a folder with a picture of a house.
To open a file or folder, simply click it once with the mouse button. You can also choose -> from the menu to display the folder hierarchy for more direct navigation. Or you can edit the path displayed under the toolbar to get to a specific folder quickly.
KDE comes with a set of applications to view and edit files of many common types, and when you click a file containing, say, a document or image, Konqueror will start the appropriate application to display the file. If it doesn't know what application to start to open a file you clicked, Konqueror will prompt you for the name of the application to run, and when you have chosen, Konqueror will offer to remember your choice for the next time you open a file of that type.
Konqueror uses MIME types to associate files with applications.
To copy or move a file, simply drag its icon to the desktop, to another Konqueror window, or to a folder icon. When you release the button, Konqueror displays a menu to allow you to choose to copy, move, or create a link to the file.
Note that if you choose to create a link, KDE creates a UNIX® symbolic link (not a hard link), so if you move or delete the original file, the link will be broken.
Most KDE applications also support drag and drop operations: you can drag an icon on to a window of a running application, or on to an icon of an application that is not started, to have the application open the file. Try it!
