Getting Familiar with the Open File Dialog Box

When you’re ready to open a file, you will use the Open File dialog box. You will spend more time in this dialog box than in almost any other dialog box in WordPerfect, so it’s important to spend a few minutes getting familiar with it.

To display the Open File dialog box

1.	Click the Open button, or choose File, Open (Ctrl+O). The Open File dialog box appears (see Figure 3.1). Figure 3.1. Use WordPerfect’s Open File dialog box to locate and open documents.

Opening a File

When you open the Open File dialog box, WordPerfect automatically displays the contents of the default or the most recently used folder. The section “Navigating Through Drives and Folders” later in this chapter covers switching to a different drive or folder.

To open a file

1.	Click the file you want to open.
2.	Click Open. You can also double-click the file to select and open at the same time.

Customizing the View

There are several different ways to display files and folders in the Open File dialog box. It could be personal preference, or it could be that a different view makes it easier to locate a file. Whatever the reason, it’s a snap to switch to a different view with the Views button.

You can click the Views button to cycle through the different views, or you can click the drop-down arrow to the right of the View button to choose from the following options:

• Thumbnails— Displays thumbnail size images of picture files.

• Tiles— Displays the files and folders in two columns with large icons. The type and size of the document are also shown.

• Icons— Displays the folders and files with an identifying icon. Only the folder or filename is shown.

• List— Displays the names of the folders and files with small icons.

• Details— Displays the names of the folders and files with small icons. The size, type, and creation/modification date and time are also shown (see Figure 3.2).

  Figure 3.2. The Details view provides the most information about the files and folders.

  

Different types of files have different file icons. For example, a WordPerfect document has an icon of a pen on a blue background. The icon for a Word document has blue W on a white page. Application files usually have a smaller version of the icon that appears on the desktop. The icons can help you zero in on the file you want.

Rearranging the File List

The Details view has an added advantage. Since you now have columns for each item of information, you also have column headings that identify the item. Clicking these column headings allows you to sort the file list by the creation/modification date, the size, or the type.

Let’s say you are looking for a particular file that you edited yesterday. Sort the file list by the creation/modification date to group the files by date and scroll down the list to see the files that were saved on that date (see Figure 3.3).

Figure 3.3. Arranging the file list by date or by type can help you locate a specific file.

To rearrange the file list

1.	Click a column heading that you want to sort by, such as Type.
2.	Click the column heading again to arrange the list in reverse order. You will notice an arrow next to the column heading. This arrow indicates a descending or ascending sort order.