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If you have ever saved something on your computer and then had no idea where it went, this lesson is for you. Two videos, taught slowly, with no jargon and nothing assumed. Written notes for both.
In this first video we go right back to the beginning:
Watch it more than once. There is no prize for getting through it quickly. Most people find the second watch is when it settles, because they are no longer worried about keeping up.
Some people learn better by reading, and some like having the words next to the video so they can check a step. Here is the same material written out.
These notes follow the video, but in one or two places they go a little further — where something is worth having written down even though I did not cover it on screen. Anything marked Not in the video is extra, so you are not hunting through the recording for it.
A file is one item: a letter you typed, a photo, a bank statement you downloaded, a spreadsheet. A folder holds files, and it can hold other folders too. That is the whole idea. Everything else is detail.
The reason it feels complicated is that the computer keeps files in places you did not choose and cannot see. Once you can see them, the fear goes.
A file called Electricity bill.pdf has a name you chose and a type the computer added. The bit after the dot tells the computer which program should open it — .pdf for a document you read, .docx for Word, .xlsx for Excel, .jpg for a photo.
You do not need to type that part yourself, and it is best not to change it. If a file will not open, the type is usually the first thing worth looking at.
If you remember nothing else: when a file disappears, open Downloads first.
Save updates the file you already have. Save As makes a second copy with a new name or in a new place, and leaves the original alone.
This matters when you are filling in a form or reusing last month's letter. Use Save As first, then type, and your original stays untouched.
Document1 and Scan_0043 tell you nothing later. Something like 2026-08 Electricity bill tells you what it is and when it is from, and it sorts itself neatly when you put the year first.
Nothing is really lost. Open File Explorer, click This PC, and type part of the name into the search box at the top right. If you cannot remember the name, sort by date instead — click the Date modified heading and the newest files come to the top.
Opening a folder, scrolling through it and closing it again changes nothing. The only actions that change anything are moving, renaming and deleting — and deleted files sit in the Recycle Bin until you empty it, so even that is not final. Look around. It is safe.
Part 1 was about understanding what is already on your computer. Part 2 is about putting it in order. It runs 17 minutes and picks up exactly where Part 1 stops.
In this second video:
Do it alongside the video. This part is easier to learn with your own files in front of you than by watching first and trying later. Pause whenever you need to catch up — nothing here can be broken.
The video is recorded on Windows. The ideas are identical on a Mac — Finder does the job that File Explorer does — but the buttons look different.
No. Everything in the lesson uses what is already on your computer.
Possibly, because it goes slower than most tutorials and explains why things happen rather than only which button to press. If it still does not stick, that is usually a sign you would do better with someone alongside you than with a video.
Please do. Send them this page rather than the video link, so they get the written notes and Part 2 as well.
Videos are a good start, but they cannot answer the question you have at the exact moment you get stuck. If you would rather learn with someone patient watching your screen, that is what I do — one-on-one over Zoom, at your pace, with no rushing and no judgement.
There is also Her Money, Her Future, if money confidence is the part you would like to work on next.