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Files, Folders, and Drives

What is a file?

A file is a program or document. Everything on your computer is stored as a file.

  • A program file contains instructions for tasks. For example, a program file may tell your computer how to create a spreadsheet.
  • A data file is a document you can create on your machine, such as a letter or resume.

Your computer usually comes with some program files that already have file names. When you create a new file, you give it a file name. Windows allows you to call files by many names up to 255 characters.

Each file has a three-letter file name extension that identifies the file type. For example, a document created using WordPad might have the file name letter to John.doc. The extension may sometimes identify the program that created the file.

Some common file name extensions are:

  • doc: Word or WordPad document
  • txt: Notepad text file
  • eml: Email
  • xls: Excel spreadsheet
  • htm: HTML file (webpage)
  • ppt: PowerPoint presentation
  • mdb: Access database
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