Nautilus File Manager

You can access file browser windows in the following ways:

Figure I.7-1 shows a sample file browser window that displays the contents of the Home folder.

Figure I.7-1 Contents of a Folder in a File Browser Window

Table I.7-1 describes the components of file browser windows.

You can access files and folders from a file browser window in the following ways:

You can also open a popup menu from file manager windows. To open this popup menu right-click in a file manager window. The items in this menu depend on where you right-click. For example, when you right-click on a file or folder, you can choose items related to the file or folder. When you right-click on the background of a view pane, you can choose items related to the display of items in the view pane.

The view pane can display the contents of the following:

File browser windows contain viewer components that enable you to display particular types of file in the view pane. For example, you can use a text viewer to display text files in the view pane.

Displaying a file in the view pane provides the following benefits:

However, you cannot edit a file in the view pane.

File browser windows also include views that enable you to display the contents of your folders in different ways. For example, you can display the contents of a folder in the following types of view:

Use the View menu to choose how to display a folder. For more information on views, see Section I.7.4.6 ― Using Views to Display Your Files and Folders.

To display the side pane, choose View ▸ Side Pane. You can choose what information you want to view in the side pane. You can choose to display one of the following:

To close the side pane, click on the X button at the top right of the side pane.

You can show and hide file browser window components as follows:

To display your home location, perform one of the following actions from file browser windows:

The file browser window displays the contents of your home location. To reload the display, click on the Reload button.

You can display the contents of a folder in any of the following ways:

To change to the folder that is one level above the current folder, choose Go ▸ Up. Alternatively, click on the Up toolbar button.

To reload the display, click on the Reload button.

If you cannot find the folder that you want to display, you can use Search Tool. To start Search Tool, choose Actions ▸ Search for Files.

The Tree displays a hierarchical representation of your file system. The Tree provides a convenient way to browse and to navigate your file system. To display the Tree in the side pane, choose Tree from the drop-down list at the top of the side pane.

In the Tree, folders are represented as follows:

Table I.7-2 describes the tasks that you can perform with the Tree, and how to perform the tasks.

You can set your preferences so that the Tree does not display files. For more information, see Section I.7.6.1.1 ― To Set Views Preferences.

The file browser window maintains a history list of files, folders, FTP sites, and URI locations. You can use the history list to navigate to files, folders, FTP sites, and URI locations that you have recently visited. Your history list contains the last ten items that you viewed. The following sections describe how to navigate your history list.

To clear your history list choose Go ▸ Clear History.

The file manager contains viewer components that enable you to display particular types of file in a file browser window. For example, you can display the following types of files in a file browser window:

To reload the contents of a file browser window, choose View ▸ Reload. To stop loading an item, choose View ▸ Stop.

When you display a file in a file browser window, the viewer component might add menu items to the file manager menus. The menu items relate to the file type that is displayed. For example, when you display a PNG file, the Edit menu contains flip and rotate menu items.

Also, when you display some types of file in a file browser window, you can use the file manager zoom buttons to change the size of the item.

To access an item in your bookmarks, choose the item from the Bookmarks menu. You can add your favorite locations to your Bookmarks menu. You can add bookmarks to files and folders in your file system, to FTP sites, or to URI locations.

You can add notes to files or folders. You can add notes to files or folders in the following ways:

To access a file object window, double-click on any of the default desktop objects.

Figure I.7-2 shows a sample file object window that displays the contents of the Computer folder.

Figure I.7-2 Contents of a Folder in a File Object Window

To display your home location, perform one of the following actions:

The file object window displays the contents of your home location. To reload the display, choose View ▸ Reload.

You can display the contents of a folder in a file object window in any of the following ways:

A parent folder is a top level folder that depicts a hierarchical representation of your file system. To display the contents of a parent folder, perform the following steps:

To display the contents of a folder in a file browser window, perform the following steps:

The Start Here location enables you to access the following functions:

You can access the Start Here location in the following ways:

In icon view, the file manager displays your files and folders as icons. You can add emblems to your file icons and folder icons. An emblem is a small icon that you can add to an item to visually mark the item. For example, to mark a file as important, you can add an Important emblem to the file icon to create the following visual effect:

For more information on how to add an emblem to an icon, see Section I.7.4.2 ― To Add an Emblem to a File or Folder.

The following table describes the structure of the file icon:

Component	Description
	Emblem. This emblem is the Important emblem.
	Icon that represents the file. This icon might contain a preview of the contents of the file.
	Icon caption. You can modify what items of information are displayed in the icon caption.

The file manager includes default emblems for the following types of item:

The following table shows the default emblems:

Default Emblem	Description
	Symbolic link
	Read permission only
	No read permission and no write permission

To add an emblem to an item perform the following steps:

To add a new emblem, perform the following steps:

To change the icon that represents an individual file or folder, perform the following steps:

To restore an icon from a custom icon to the default icon specified in the File Types and Programs preference tool, right-click on the icon then choose Remove Custom Icon. Alternatively, click on the Remove Custom Icon button on the Properties dialog.

To change the icon that represents a file type, use the File Types and Programs preference tool.

You can change the size of items in a view. You can change the size if the view displays a file or a folder. You can change the size of items in a view in the following ways:

You can also use the zoom buttons on the location bar to change the size of items in a view. Table I.7-3 describes how to use the zoom buttons.

Table I.7-3 Zoom Buttons

Button	Button Name	Description
	Zoom Out button	Click on this button to reduce the size of items in a view.
	Normal Size button	Click on this button to return items in a view to normal size.
	Zoom In button	Click on this button to enlarge the size of items in a view.

The file manager remembers the size of items in a particular folder. The next time that you display the folder, the items are displayed in the size that you selected. In other words, when you change the size of items in a folder, you customize the folder to display the items at that size. To return the size of the items to the default size specified in your preferences, choose View ▸ Reset View to Defaults.

The file manager provides several ways to display the contents of your files. The file manager includes viewer components that enable you to display particular types of file in the view pane. For example, you can use a web page viewer to display HTML files in the view pane. You can use a text viewer to view plain text files in the view pane.

You can also use the file manager to open a file in an appropriate application. For more information, see Section I.7.7 ― Opening Files.

The file manager includes views that enable you to show the contents of your folders in different ways. For example, you can show the contents of a folder in the following types of view:

Use the View menu to choose how to display a file or folder. You can also use the View as drop-down list to choose how to display a file or folder. When you display a folder, you can specify how you want to arrange or sort items in the folder. You can modify the size of the items in the view pane. The following sections describe how to work with icon view, list view, and views of files.

You can modify the actions associated with a file or file type. You can do the following:

To modify the actions associated with a file or file type, perform the following steps:

Use the File Management Preferences dialog to set preferences for the file manager. To display the File Management Preferences dialog, choose Edit ▸ Preferences.

You can set preferences in the following categories:

The file manager includes backgrounds that you can use to change the look-and-feel of the following screen components:

To change the background of a screen component perform the following steps:

To reset the background of the view pane or side pane to the default background, right-click on the background of the pane, then choose Use Default Background.

To execute the default action for a file, double-click on the file. For example, if the default action for plain text documents is to display the file in a text viewer. In this case, you can double-click on the file to display the file in a text viewer.

You can set your file manager preferences so that you click once on a file to execute the default action. For more information, see Section I.7.6.1.2 ― To Set Behavior Preferences.

To execute actions other than the default action for a file, perform the following steps:

When you display a file in the view pane, the side pane might contain buttons.

The buttons represent any actions that are defined in the File Types and Programs preference tool. The actions are defined in the Default action drop-down list in the Edit file type dialog in the File Types and Programs preference tool. Click on a button to execute an action. For example, if an action defined for plain text documents is to open the file in the gedit text editor. If this action is defined, an Open with gedit button is displayed in the side pane. To open the file in the gedit application, click on the Open with gedit button.

You can use the file manager to access FTP sites. To access an FTP site, choose File ▸ Connect to Server. Enter the URL in the Connect to Server dialog, then click on theConnect button. The contents of the site are displayed.

To copy a file from the FTP site, drag the file to the new location.

To access an FTP site that requires a username and password, you can enter the URL in the following form:

ftp://username:password@hostname.domain

To reload the FTP site, choose View ▸ Reload. To stop loading the FTP site, choose View ▸ Stop.

If your system is configured to access places on a network, you can use the file manager to access the network places.

To access network places, open the file manager and choose Places ▸ Computer . Alternatively, double-click on the Computer object on the Desktop. Double-click on the Network object. A file manager window is displayed. The window displays the network places that you can access. Double-click on the network that you want to access.

To access UNIX shares, double-click on the Unix Network (NFS) object. A list of the UNIX shares available to you is displayed in the file manager window.

To access Windows shares, double-click on the Windows Network (SMB) object. A list of the Windows shares available to you is displayed in the file manager window.

If your GNOME desktop environment is configured to access servers on a network, you can use the Applications menu to access the network servers.

To access network servers, choose Applications ▸ Network Servers. A file object window is displayed. The window displays the network servers that you can access. Double-click on the network server that you want to access.

The GNOME Desktop contains special URI locations that enable you to access particular functions from the file manager. For example, to access the preference tools, you can access the preferences:/// URI in a file manager window. Table I.7-7 lists the special URI locations that you can use with the file manager.

You can use drag-and-drop to perform several tasks in the file manager. When you drag-and-drop, the mouse pointer provides feedback about the task that you perform. Table I.7-8 describes the tasks that you can perform with drag-and-drop. The table also shows the mouse pointers that appear when you drag-and-drop.

Table I.7-8 Drag-and-Drop in the File Manager

Task	Action	Mouse Pointer
Move an item	Drag the item to the new location.
Copy an item	Grab the item, then press-and-hold Ctrl. Drag the item to the new location.
Create a symbolic link to an item	Grab the item, then press-and-hold Ctrl+Shift. Drag the item to the location where you want the symbolic link to reside.
Ask what to do with the item you drag	Grab the item, then press-and-hold Alt. Drag the item to the location where you want the item to reside. Release the mouse button. A popup menu appears. Choose one of the following items from the popup menu: Move here Moves the item to the location. Copy here Copies the item to the location. Link here Creates a symbolic link to the item at the location. Set as Background If the item is an image, sets the image to be the desktop background. You can use this command to set the desktop background and the view pane background. Cancel Cancels the drag-and-drop operation.

You can select files and folders in several ways in the file manager. Table I.7-9 describes how to select items in file manager windows and on the desktop.

To perform the default action on an item, double-click on the item. You can set your file manager preferences so that you click once on a file to execute the default action. For more information, see Section I.7.6.1.2 ― To Set Behavior Preferences.

The following sections describe the ways that you can move a file or folder.

The following sections describe the ways that you can copy a file or folder.

To create a copy of a file or folder in the current folder, perform the following steps:

To create a folder, perform the following steps:

You can create templates from documents that you frequently create. For example, if you often create invoices, you can create an empty invoice document and save the document as invoice.doc in the $HOME/Templates folder.

You can also access the templates folder from a file browser window. Choose Go ▸ Templates.

The template name is displayed as a submenu item in the Create Document menu.

You can also create subfolders in the template folder. Subfolders display as submenus in the menu.

You can also share templates. Create a symbolic link from the template folder to the folder containing the shared templates.

To rename a file or folder perform the following steps:

To move a file or folder to Trash perform the following steps:

Alternatively, you can drag the file or folder to the Trash object on the desktop.

When you delete a file or folder, the file or folder is not moved to Trash, but is deleted from your file system immediately. The Delete menu item is only available if you select the Include a Delete command that bypasses Trash option in the File Management Preferences dialog.

To delete a file or folder perform the following steps:

A symbolic link is a special type of file that points to another file or folder. When you perform an action on a symbolic link, the action is performed on the file or folder to which the symbolic link points. However, when you delete a symbolic link, you delete the link file, not the file to which the symbolic link points.

To create a symbolic link to a file or folder, select the file or folder to which you want to create a link. Choose Edit ▸ Make Link. A link to the file or folder is added to the current folder.

Alternatively, grab the item to which you want to create a link, then press-and-hold Ctrl+Shift. Drag the item to the location where you want to place the link.

By default, the file manager adds an emblem to symbolic links.

To view the properties of a file or folder, perform the following steps:

Permissions are settings assigned to each file and folder that determine what type of access users can have to the file or folder. The following table lists the permissions that you can set for files and folders, and the effect of the permission on files and folders:

You can set permissions for different types of user. The following table lists the types of user that you can set for which you can set permissions:

To change the permissions on a file or folder perform the following steps:

You can move the following items to Trash:

If you need to retrieve a file from Trash, you can display Trash and move the file out of Trash. When you empty Trash, you delete the contents of Trash permanently.

To mount media is to make the file system of the media available for access. When you mount media, the file system of the media is attached as a subdirectory to your file system.

To mount media, insert the media in the appropriate device. An object that represents the media is added to the desktop. The object is added only if your system is configured to mount the device automatically when media is detected.

If your system is not configured to mount the device automatically, you must mount the device manually. Double-click on the Computer icon from the desktop. A Computer dialog is displayed. Double-click on the object that represents the media. For example, to mount a floppy diskette, double-click on the Floppy object. An object that represents the media is added to the desktop.

You can display media contents in any of the following ways:

A file manager window displays the contents of the media. To reload the display, click on the Reload button.

To display the properties of removable media, right-click on the object that represents the media on the desktop, then choose Properties. A dialog displays the properties of the media.

To close the properties dialog, click Close.

To format media is to prepare the media for use with a particular file system. You can use the file manager to format floppy diskettes.

To format a floppy diskette, perform the following steps:

To eject media, right-click on the media object on the desktop, then choose Eject. If the drive for the media is a motorized drive, the media is ejected from the drive. If the drive for the media is not motorized, wait until the desktop object for the media disappears, then eject the media manually.

You cannot eject media from a motorized drive when the media is mounted. To eject media, first unmount the media. To remove a floppy diskette from the drive, perform the following steps: