Reassembling folders in the bin




When I drag a folder to the Recycle Bin, any files in it don't stay in that folder. All I see in the Recycle Bin is a clutter of different files. This prevents me from dragging a specific folder and all its contents out of the Recycle Bin. Is there any way to have files remain in their folder in the Recycle Bin?
- John Donaldson


The Recycle Bin window never displays folders, but you can see the name of each file's originating folder and, by sorting in that view, restore that folder along with its files from the Recycle Bin.
To see the name of a file's original folder, double-click on the Recycle Bin and choose View--Details. The Original Location column shows the path including all the original folders. To restore a folder and all its contents from the Recycle Bin, click on the Original Location column to sort files by their original folders. Then select a folder's files by dragging a box around all its file names. With the files selected, choose File--Restore (or right-click on one of the selected files and choose Restore from the pop-up menu). This restores the files to their original location and reconstructs all the folders, even the deeply nested ones. To restore just the folder, you must select at least one file in the Recycle Bin and restore it to make Windows reconstruct its original folder.
Bonus tip: you can save a click by using the right mouse button to drag a selection box around the files you want to restore; when you release the mouse button, the pop-up menu for restoring appears without any additional clicks. One more click and you're done.


Category: Win95
Issue: Feb 1997
Pages: 169

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