The K Desktop Environment

6.3. Retrieving a Saved Document

The "Open" command can be invoked 4 ways:

Any of these methods results in the same action by KWord.

When trying to open a file, a dialog appears.

Lets look at this dialog more closely:

This dialog shows my current directory is "/home/mmcbride". You can see this by the textbox at the top of the dialog

The large box below that shows I currently have 13 folders in this directory. One of the folders is "/home/mike/Desktop", another is "/home/mike/Mail".

In the upper left corner, is a blue arrow pointed up. This arrow will take you up one level in the directory structure.

The next two buttons are backwards and forward buttons. These buttons work just like a browser, where you can use the back button to travel to the previous directory, and the forward button to advance into a directory you just came from.

Next to the arrow buttons, is a button that looks like a house. Clicking this will take you to your home directory.

Next to the home button, is a reload button. Clicking this button, causes KWord to reload the current directory in the event things have changed.

Next to the reload button, is a button with a purple ribbon on it. This button allows you to set and navigate through bookmarks. This is a quick way to jump to commonly accessed directories. By clicking this button, a submenu appears which allows you to add bookmarks or jump to a new bookmark.

Next to the bookmark button, is a new folder button. If you want to create a new folder, simply click the button. KWord will ask for a name for the folder. Then the folder will be created and you will automatically be placed in the new folder.

Note

There is one folder labled "..". This is a special folder that exists in all directories on your computer. It tells the computer that if I select this folder, to move up one level in the directory heirarchy. (If a directory heirarchy is a foriegn concept to you, I would recommend reading a chapter in a good Unix book, which describes the directory filesystem).

We can also see I have previously saved a file called "tempfile". (All KWord documents end in .kwd).

The text box labled "File Name" is blank, which indicates that there is no currently selected file. After you have selected a file (before you hit the OK button), the file name is listed here.

The text box labled "File Type" shows we intend to save this as a KWord file. Using KWord, you can save the file as other formats. For information on this, see the section on Filters.

When you are in the correct folder, you can type a name into the "File Name" box. There is no need to put a .kwd at the end of your filename, KWord will do this for you.

The text box labled "File Type" shows we intend to load a KWord file. Using KWord, you can load files from other formats. For information on this, see the section on Filters.

Another function of the "File Type" box, is to act as a file mask. A file mask hides all the files that KWord believes are unimportant to your current task. When the KWord filetype is set to KWord file, the dialog box only shows Folders, and files ending in ".kwd". If you file does not end in .kwd, you need to change the file type box to read "All files". Now all files will be displayed.

There is a "Cancel" button, if you click this button, the load will be aborted.

There is a "Open" button, which will be used when we have selected the correct location, correct format and correct filename.

Using this dialog, you can move through the directory tree to find a location to load your document from.

To enter a folder, you double click on that folder. To exit that folder, you double click the ".." folder, or click the blue up arrow button.

Once you have located your file, you can open it by double clicking on the filename, left clicking on the filename and then clicking on "Open", or by typing the filename in the text box labled "File Name" and clicking "Open".