Managing Folders and Files with Nautilus

Use the Nautilus File Manager to create (or 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:

Figure 2.2. File Manager

File Manager

The elements of the Nautilus window include the following:

Menu.  Lets you perform most tasks in the file manager. You can also open a context sensitive pop-up menu from a file manager window by right-clicking inside it. The items in this menu depend on where you right-click. For example, if you right-click a file or folder, you can select items related to the file or folder. If you right-click the background of a view pane, you can select items related to the display of items in the view pane.

Toolbar.  Lets you quickly navigate among files and folders, and provides access to them.The toolbar contains Back, Forward, Up, Stop, Reload, Home, Computer, and Search buttons.

Location Bar.  Lets you locate files, folders, and URI sites. The location bar supports two different views: the traditional text-based view (where you can enter or edit a path) and the button view (where each folder is displayed as a button). Navigate to a location by pressing a button.

Side Pane.  Lets you navigate or display information about the selected file or folder. Use the drop-down list to customize what is shown in the pane. The list includes ways to view information about files, perform actions on files, add emblems to files, view a history of recently visited sites and display your files in the Tree system. To close the side pane, click the X at the top right of the side pane. To display the side pane, click View+Side Pane or press F9.

View Pane.  Displays folders and files. Use the options in the View menu to zoom the content or choose from different sorting options. You can also display items as a detailed list, a compact list or as icons.

Status Bar.  Displays the number of items in a folder and gives the available free space. When a file is selected, the status bar displays the filename and size.

File Manager Navigation Shortcuts

Some simple shortcuts for navigating in the File Manager include the following:

Table 2.2. File Manager Navigation Shortcuts

Shortcut

Description

<— or Alt+

Opens the parent folder.

Arrow key

Selects an item.

Alt+ or Enter

Opens an item.

Shift+Alt+

Opens an item and closes the current folder.

Shift+Alt+

Opens the parent folder and closes the current folder.

Shift+Ctrl+W

Closes all parent folders.

Ctrl+L

Toggles the location bar view from the button view to the text-based view.

Alt+Home

Opens your home directory.


For more information, click Help+Contents in the File Manager.

Archiving Folders

If you have files you would like to archive, you can compress the files into tape archive format (TAR).

  1. In the Nautilus view pane, right-click the folder you want to archive, then click Create Archive.

  2. Accept the default archive filename or provide a new one.

  3. Select a file extension from the drop-down list (use tar.gz for the most common archive form or .zip to ensure compatibility with Windows).

  4. Specify a location for the archive file, then click Create.

To extract an archived file, right-click the file, then select Extract Here.

Creating a CD/DVD

If your system has a CD or DVD read/write drive, you can use the Nautilus file manager to burn CDs and DVDs.

  1. Click Computer+More Applications+System+CD/DVD Creator, or insert a blank disc and click Make Data CD/DVD or Make Audio CD/DVD.

  2. Drag and drop the files you want to put on the disc into the Nautilus CD/DVD Creator window.

  3. Click Write to Disc.

  4. Modify the information in the Write to Disc dialog box or accept the defaults, then click Write.

    The files are burned to the disc. This could take a few minutes, depending on the amount of data being burned and the speed of your burner.

To burn an iso image, right-click on the iso image file in Nautilus and choose Write to Disc. Modify the information in the Write to Disc dialog box or accept the defaults, then click Write.

You can also use the burning application Brasero to burn CDs or DVDs. See Chapter Burning CDs and DVDs With Brasero (↑Application Guide) for more information.

Using Bookmarks

Use the Nautilus Bookmarks feature to mark your favorite folders.

  1. Select the folder or item for which you want to create a bookmark.

  2. Click Bookmarks+Add Bookmark. The bookmark is added to the list, with the folder name as the bookmark name. When you bookmark a file, it is the folder that is actually bookmarked.

  3. To select an item from your Bookmarks list, click Bookmarks, then click the desired bookmark in the list.

You can also organize your Bookmarks list by clicking Bookmarks+Edit Bookmarks and making your selections in the dialog box.

To change the order of your bookmarks, click a bookmark and drag it to the desired location.

File Manager Preferences

You can change the File Manager preferences by clicking Edit+Preferences. For more information, see Section 3.3.7, “Configuring File Management Preferences”.

Accessing Remote Files

You can utilize Nautilus to access files on remote servers. For more information see Chapter 5, Accessing Network Resources.