explorer

Explorers

In Windows, the Explorer windows are the main tools for finding, viewing, and managing information and resources: documents, photos, programs, devices, and Internet content. The new Windows Vista Explorers empower you to manage your information with greater ease, speed, and flexibility. They also happen to look super cool.

In the new Explorers, the menus, toolbars, Navigation Pane, Task Pane, and Preview Pane have all merged into a single intuitive interface that's consistent across all of Windows Vista.

• Instant Search, which is always available and finds files rapidly.
• Navigation Pane, which contains quick links to the places your documents, pictures, and Search Folders are stored.
• Command Bar, which displays tasks appropriate for the files being displayed.
• Live Icons, which display a thumbnail image of the actual contents of each file.
• Details Pane, which provides rich information (metadata) about files so you can easily add or edit their metadata.
• Preview Pane, which you can use to browse through a preview of a file's contents in programs that have this feature.
• Enhanced title bars, borders, and Address Bar.

In Windows XP, the Explorer menus, toolbars, Navigation Pane, and Task Pane are distinct. In Windows Vista Explorers, all are merged into a single, streamlined interface.

Explorers are powerful, intuitive, and flexible.

Instant Search

Every Explorer window in Windows Vista contains an integrated Instant Search field in which you can enter part of a word, a word, or a phrase—even a date. Instant Search rapidly searches file names, file properties (metadata), and text within each file and returns results in just moments. For example, as shown in the illustration, entering the name Claudia in the Instant Search field results in a list of files related to Claudia—files for which Claudia is the author and files in which Claudia is mentioned in either the contents or the file name.

Get instant results when you search.

Navigation Pane and Search Folders

The Navigation Pane in each Explorer has been redesigned to make it simpler to navigate across your PC and quickly find what you're looking for. The default view is a series of quick links to your documents, pictures, and music. Additionally, clicking a Searches link displays all of the Search Folders on your PC.

A traditional folder and its contents have specific addresses on the hard disk drive. In contrast, a Search Folder is really a saved search that executes the moment you click it. Search Folders can automatically organize your files logically, without moving the files themselves. This makes it easy for you to view your files in many different ways without having to worry about where your files are actually stored. If you prefer the traditional, folder-based or tree-based view in the Navigation Pane, just select the folder control at the bottom of the pane.

Command Bar

In each Explorer, the new Command Bar displays tasks that are appropriate to the files being shown. For example, the Documents Explorer contains Command Bar tasks that you might need for documents, while the Pictures Explorer contains tasks appropriate to digital images. Unlike the Explorers in Windows XP and earlier, the Command Bar and the Navigation Pane in Windows Vista are available simultaneously, so tasks on the Command Bar are always available—you don't need to toggle between the Navigation Pane and the Command Bar to take action on your files.

Relevant tasks are always available in command bars.

Live Icons

Scalable "live" icons in Windows Vista greatly improve upon the generic system icons in other operating systems. For applications that have this feature, Live Icons provide thumbnail-sized previews of the actual content of a file, rather than merely a generic image representing the program associated with that file. You can see rich previews of your files—including the first pages of your documents, your digital photos, and even album art for your music—without actually opening the files. This helps you work more efficiently and more productively.

Scale icon sizes for each window.

Details Pane

With the Details Pane, you no longer have to right-click a file to open the Properties dialog box. Instead, a rich set of file properties (or metadata) is always visible in the Preview Pane. You can add and edit properties easily—for one file at a time or for many files simultaneously—right in the Details Pane.

Preview Pane

For an even richer way to preview the contents of documents and media without opening individual files, Explorers such as the Documents Explorer, Music Explorer, and Pictures Explorer provide an optional Preview Pane. In programs that have this feature you can browse readable views of various documents or, with media files, preview a few seconds of content. (This is similar to previewing messages in the Preview Pane of Microsoft Office Outlook.)

Preview files without having to open them.

Address Bar, title bars, and borders

The enhanced Address Bar features drop-down menus along the current navigation path, enabling you to easily backtrack or navigate forward anywhere along an address location. The enhanced Address Bar is particularly useful on Tablet PCs, which now offer precise navigation with just a few taps of the stylus. Window title bars and borders are wider in Windows Vista, making it easier to grab a border to resize or move a window.

Enhanced menus simplify navigation.

Some product features are only available in certain editions of Windows Vista and may require advanced or additional hardware.