Files


Your operating system will provide for the creation of Directories in which you can store the files created by your word processor. Take full advantage of this facility to organise your files into a logical structure; do NOT store them all in the same directory as the word processing program. (For more information, refer to your computer’s reference manual.)

DOS allows you to assign a file name of eight characters followed by an ‘extension’ of three characters. Decide what naming structure you will use. You might, for example, use the extension to indicate the type of document, e.g. ‘LET’ for letters, ‘RPT’ for reports etc. Alternatively, the extension can indicate the date: use the first character for the month, coding January to September as 1 to 9, October as A, November as B and December as C; and the remaining two digits as the day of the month — so a document created on 15 November would be saved as xxxxxxxx.B15.

You are not confined to the letters of the alphabet for file names (consult your operating system manual to see which symbols are permitted). A useful tip is to prefix the names of all temporary files, that will not be needed beyond the end of the current session, with ‘%’. The DOS command ‘DEL %*.*’ will then purge your disc of the ephemeral files that would otherwise clog it up.


BROWSE•••••ORDER PRINTED COPY