Win File Open

There is a File menu in every application which is located at the top left side of the application. The File menu is used to open, print and close documents. You select Open to retrieve an existing document or New to create a new one. Some applications start up with a blank document without your having to explicitly state File/New.

After you select File/Open, you are presented with a dialog box that enables you to select the files you want to retrieve. See also Win File Open multiple files and Win Open With.

A File Open Dialog Box

This Open dialog box in the Micrografx Designer drawing program shows a thumbnail preview (bottom left) of the selected drawing so you can decide if it's the one you want. All Open dialogs display the contents of the folder you last opened. To look in another folder, you can back up the folder hierarchy to your C: drive by clicking the "Back a Level" button (red pointer). If the folder you are in was nested two levels down, you would click the button twice to go back up.

Going Directly to the Top

You can go directly to the top of the folder hierarchy, which displays all the drives in your computer by clicking into the "Look in" box. From there, you can double click on any drive and go down the hierarchy. In this example, you would double click on the C: icon, and all the folders in the C: drive would be displayed.