Windows Highlighting Sequential Files
Highlighting a sequential group of files makes it easy to cut, or copy, move to a different drive and or folder and paste these files. While you can cut or copy one file at a time, and then paste one file at a time, this is very time consuming, and very inefficient. If you have your folder view set to "List" or "Details" (Alt v), you can move to the first file you want to highlight, press and hold down the Shift key, and hit the down arrow key as many times as you need to highlight the sequential group of files. Do the following activity to highlight a sequential group of files. There are headings and an audio demonstration link on this page. Use the letter h to move forward through the headings or Shift h to move backward through the headings. When you hear a heading you want to read through, use your down arrow key or "read all" key command. When you are finished move to the link at the bottom of this page titled "BACK" to go to the "Simple Windows Lessons" web page.
1. Press and hold down the Windows key and hit the letter e to open the Windows File Explorer.
2. Release the keys.
3. Press and hold down the Shift key and hit the Tab key again-and-again to move to the "Tree View." (be patient and listen to your screen reader!)
4. Up arrow to the "Libraries" area.
5. Right arrow one time to open the "Libraries" item.
6. Down arrow to the "Documents" item.
7. Hit the Enter key one time to activate the "Documents" item. You may need to right arrow one more time, down arrow to "My Documents," and hit Enter. If you do create a new folder or file on the "Documents" area it should automatically save into the "My Documents" folder.
8. Hit the Applications key one time.
9. Down arrow to or hit the letter w to move to the "New" menu item.
10. Right arrow one time to open the "New" menu sub menu and you will hear "Folder."
11. Hit the Enter key one time.
12. Type "Test One" (without the quotes).
13. Hit the Enter key one time and the "Test One" folder is created and you are directly on top of it in the "Tree View."
14. Up arrow to the "Documents" item. You may need to right arrow one more time, down arrow to "My Documents," and right arrow.
15. Hit the Enter key one time to make the "Documents" or "My Documents" item active.
16. Hit the Applications key one time.
17. Down arrow to the "New" menu item, or hit the letter w to go to the "New" menu item.
18. Right arrow one time and you will hear "Folder."
19. Hit the Enter key one time.
20. Type "Test Two" (without the quotes).
21. Hit the Enter key one time and the "Test Two" folder is created and you are directly on top of it in the "Tree View."
22. Up arrow to the "Test One Folder."
23. Hit the Enter key one time to make the "Test One" folder active.
24. Hit the Tab key again-and-again until you get to the "List View" for the "Test One" folder. (be patient and listen to your screen reader!)
25. Hit the Applications key one time.
26. Down arrow to the "New" menu item, or hit the letter w to go to the "New" menu item.
27. Right arrow one time.
28. Down arrow to "Text Document" and hit Enter one time, or hit the letter t for a new text document.
29. Type the word "One" (without the quotes).
30. Hit the Enter key one time.
31. Press the Control key and hit the Spacebar one time to unhighlight the "One" document.
32. Hit the Applications key one time.
33. Down arrow to the "New" menu item, or hit the letter w to go to the "New" menu item.
34. Right arrow one time.
35. Down arrow to the "Text Document" and hit Enter one time, or hit the letter t for a new text document.
36. Type the word "Two" (without the quotes).
37. Hit the Enter key one time.
***
38. Press the Control key and hit the Spacebar one time to unhighlight the "Two" document.
39. Hit the Applications key one time.
40. Down arrow to the "New" menu item, or hit the letter w to go to the "New" menu item.
41. Right arrow one time.
42. Down arrow to the "Text Document" and hit Enter one time, or hit the letter t for a new text document.
43. Type the word "Three" (without the quotes).
44. Hit the Enter key one time.
***
45. Press the Control key and hit the Spacebar one time to unhighlight the "Three" document.
46. Hit the Applications key one time.
47. Down arrow to the "New" menu item, or hit the letter w to go to the "New" menu item.
48. Right arrow one time.
49. Down arrow to the "Text Document" and hit Enter one time, or hit the letter t for a new text document.
50. Type the word "Four" (without the quotes).
51. Hit the Enter key one time.
***
52. Press the Control key and hit the Spacebar one time to unhighlight the "Four" document.
53. Hit the Applications key one time.
54. Down arrow to the "New" menu item, or hit the letter w to go to the "New" menu item.
55. Right arrow one time.
56. Down arrow to the "Text Document" and hit Enter one time, or hit the letter t for a new text document.
57. Type the word "Five" (without the quotes).
58. Hit the Enter key one time.
***
59. Press Control Home to move to the top of the list of your newly created files.
60. Press and hold down the Shift key and down arrow five times to highlight all five documents.
61. Release the Shift key.
62. Up arrow to the "Five" file. Notice the "Five" file is at the top of the list of files, with "Four, One, Three, Two" going down the list. This is so because Windows arranges files alphabetically, unless you tell it to arrange them differently. Also notice that when you hit up arrow the highlight was taken off all five files and placed on the file you arrowed to, which was in this case "Five."
63. Press and hold down the Control key and hit the Spacebar key one time to unhighlight the "Five" file.
64. Press and hold down the Control key and hit the End key to move to the bottom of the file list.
65. Press and hold down the Shift key and up arrow five times to highlight all five documents.
66. Hit the down arrow key one time to move to the "Four" file. Remember the highlight is taken off the five files and put directly on the "Four" file.
67. Do steps "59" through "66" above until you understand the idea of moving through and highlighting a sequential group of files. Do these steps until you are quick and accurate.
68. Press Alt F4 to close the Windows File Explorer.
Audio Demonstration for Highlighting Sequential Files in a Folder