What is a File?

Drives, Files & Folders

What is a File?

A file is a program or document. Everything on your computer is stored as a file.

• A program file contains instructions for tasks. For example, a program file may tell your computer how to create a spreadsheet.

• A data file is a document you can create on your machine, such as a letter or resume

Your computer usually comes with some program files that already have file names. When you create a new file, you give it a file name. Windows allows you to call files by many names up to 255 characters.

Each file has a three-letter file name extension that identifies the file type. For example, a document created using WordPad might have the file name, letter to ravish.doc. The extension may sometimes identify the program that created the file.

Some common file name extensions are:

• doc -   Word or WordPad document

• txt -    Text file

• eml -   Email

• xls -    Excel spreadsheet

• htm -   HTML file (web page)

• ppt -    PowerPoint presentation

• mdb -  Access database

• .php, .html – WebDocument

• rtf -    Rich Text Format