Chapter 1. Getting Started with the GNOME Desktop / 1.5. Accessing Folders and Files | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1.4. Using the Main Menu | 1.6. Opening or Creating Documents with OpenOffice.org |  | |
Chapter 1. Getting Started with the GNOME Desktop / 1.5. Accessing Folders and Files | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.4. Using the Main Menu | 1.6. Opening or Creating Documents with OpenOffice.org | | |
You can access folders and files on your computer and on a network.
Use the File Manager to create and view folders and documents, run scripts, and create CDs of your data. In addition, the File Manager provides support for Web and file viewing.
You can open the File Manager in the following ways:
Click +
Double-click your Home directory icon on the desktop.
Click ++.
You can change to the browser mode by right-clicking the folder, then clicking . This gives you a familiar view with a location window that shows the current path and buttons for common functions. This applies to the current File Manager window.
Some simple shortcuts for navigating in the File Manager include the following:
Table 1.4. File Manager Navigation Shortcuts
For more information, click + in the File Manager.
You can change the File Manager preferences by clicking +. The configurable preferences are organized on five tabs:
To configure the appearance of the File Manager, click ++, then select from the following options:
Table 1.5. File Manager Views Options
To configure the behavior of the File Manager, click ++, then select from the following options:
Table 1.6. File Manager Behavior Options
To configure the way icon captions and dates appear in the File Manager, click ++, then select from the following options:
To configure the columns that appear in the File Manager, as well as the order in which they appear, click ++.
Select the columns that you want to appear. To change the order, click or .
To configure how file previews appear in the File Manager and whether or not folders show the number of items they contain, click +, then set the following options:
Table 1.8. File Manager Preview Options
To access floppy disks, CDs, or DVDs, insert the medium into the appropriate drive. For several types of removable media, a File Manager window pops up automatically when the media is inserted or attached to the computer. If File Manager does not open, double-click the icon for that drive to view the contents.
![[Warning]](admon/warning.png) | Warning |
|---|---|
Do not simply remove disks from the drive after using them. Floppy disks, CDs, and DVDs must always be unmounted from the system first. Close all File Manager sessions still accessing the medium, then right-click the icon for the medium and select from the menu. Then safely remove the floppy disk or CD when the tray opens automatically. | |
Floppy disks can also be formatted by clicking +++. In the Floppy Formatter dialog, select the density of the floppy disk and the file system settings: Linux native (ext2), the file system for Linux, or DOS (FAT) to use the floppy with Windows systems.
To locate files on your computer, click , enter your search terms in the field, then press Enter. The results are displayed in the Desktop Search dialog box.
You can use the results lists to open a file, forward it via e-mail, or display it in the file manager. Simply right-click an item in the results list and select the option you want. The options available for an item in the results list depend on the type of file it is. Clicking a file in the list displays a preview of the file and information such as the title, path, and when the file was last modified or accessed.
Use the menu to limit your search to files in a specific location, such as your address book or Web pages, or to display only a specific type of file in your results list. The menu lets you sort the items in your results list according to name, relevance, or the date the file was last modified.
You can also access Desktop Search by clicking +++ pressing F12, or clicking
on the bottom panel.
You can use both upper and lowercase letters in search terms. Searches are not case sensitive by default.
To perform a case sensitive search, put double quotation marks (“) around the word you want to match exactly. For example, if you use “APPLE” in a search, apple would be ignored.
To search for optional terms, use OR (for example, apples OR oranges).
![[Important]](admon/important.png) | Important |
|---|---|
The OR is case-sensitive when used to indicate optional search terms. | |
To exclude search terms, use a minus sign (-) in front of the term you want to exclude (for example, apples -oranges would find results containing apples but not oranges).
To search for an exact phrase or word, put quotation marks (“) around the phrase or word.
Common words such as “a,” “the,” and “is” are ignored.
The base form of a search term is used when searching (for example, a search for “driving” will match “drive,” “drives,” and “driven”).
By default, the Beagle search tool looks for search terms in the
text of documents and in their properties. To search for a word in a
particular property, use
property_keyword:query.
For example, author:john searches for files that
have “john” listed in the Author property.
Table 1.9. Supported Property Keywords
Property searches follow the rules mentioned in Section 1.5.3.1, “Search Tips”. You can use property
searches as an exclusion query or OR query, and phrases can be used
as query. For example, the following line
will search for all PDF or HTML documents containing the word
“apple” whose author property contains “john”
and whose title does not contain the word “oranges.”
apple ext:pdf OR ext:html author:john -title:oranges
Use the Search Preferences dialog box to set search and indexing preferences. To open Search Preferences, click ++. You can also click + in the Desktop Search dialog box.
On the Search tabbed page, click to start the search daemon when you log in (this is selected by default). You can also choose the keystrokes that will display the Desktop Search window by specifying any combination of Ctrl, Alt, and a function key. F12 is the default keystroke.
On the tabbed page, you can choose to index your home directory (selected by default), to not index your home directory, and to add additional directories to index. Make sure you have rights to the directories you add. You can also specify resources that you don’t want indexed (see Section 1.5.3.4, “Preventing Files and Directories from Being Indexed” for more information).
Use the Search Preferences dialog box to specify resources that you don’t want indexed. These resources can include directories, patterns, mail folders, or types of objects.
This chapter helps you access network resources using the following tasks:
You can connect to a network with wired and wireless connections. To view your network connection status, click In the area of the main menu, The icon shows your network connection status. For example, in the following figure, the computer is connected to a wired network using an Ethernet connection.
Click on the icon to get information about your connection, such as IP address, gateway address, and similar details.
Make sure that an Ethernet cable is connected to your computer's network interface card.
Click the icon on the main panel, then click .
After a wired network connection is established, the icon changes to show your connection type.
A connection to the network is confirmed when is listed next to the menu item. You can also confirm connectivity by clicking the icon. If connected, the Connection Information window displays your IP address and other details about your connection.
Make sure that your computer contains a wireless network interface card.
Click the icon on the main menu, then click .
The Network Connections icon changes to a wireless signal strength bar, and any detected wireless networks are displayed in the menu.
If your network name is displayed, select the network name from the menu. After you are connected, the icon shows that you have a wireless connection.
If you do not see your wireless network name in the menu:
Click the icon on the main panel, then click .
In the Specify an ESSID dialog, type the wireless network name in the field.
(Conditional) If the wireless network is encrypted, click to display the field.
Type the encryption code, then click .
Your wireless network's name should now appear in the menu.
Select the wireless network's name.
Upon connection, the icon turns blue.
You can also confirm connection by clicking the icon and viewing . If connected, your IP address and other details are displayed in the Connection Information dialog.
The icon lets you monitor, manage, and configure your network connections. Clicking the icon opens a window that displays which network connection is active, if you have more than one network device in your computer.
For example, if your laptop computer is configured to use a wireless port and a port for a network cable, you will see two network connections in the list.
If you are connected to the network via a cable and need to switch to use your wireless, simply click the icon and then click . This switches your network connection and acquires a new IP address, if needed.
| Important |
|---|---|
Prior to making the change, you should save any data, because the change in services might require that certain applications or services be restarted. | |
Using the menu, you can view connection informations such as the IP address being used and your hardware address.
If you need to update or make changes to your network settings, click ++. This launches the Network Card Setup wizard, which steps you through the configuration process. Using this option requires you to provide the password for root.
Other network devices, like workstations and servers, can be set up to share some or all of their resources. Typically, files and folders are marked to let remote users access them. These are called network shares. If your system is configured to access network shares, you can use Nautilus File Manager to access them.
To access network shares, double-click +, then click . The window displays the network shares that you can access. Double-click the network resource that you want to access. You might be required to authenticate to the resource by providing a username and password.
To access NFS shares, double-click the icon. A list of UNIX shares available to you is displayed.
To access Windows shares, double-click the icon. The Windows shares available to you are displayed.
You can make directories on your computer available to other users on your network.
Use YaST to enable sharing on your computer. In order to enable sharing, you must have root privileges and be a member of a workgroup or domain.
If directory sharing is enabled on your computer, use the following steps to configure a directory to be shared.
Open the File Manager and browse to the directory you want to share.
Right-click the folder for the directory you want to share, then click .
Select the check box, then type the name you want to use for this share.
If you want other users to be able to copy files to your shared directory, select the check box.
(Optional) Type a comment, if desired.
Click .
