MY CARTHow to Select Files in File Explorer in Windows 11: Video Lesson
This video lesson, titled “How to Select Files within File Explorer in Windows 11: A Windows 11 Training Tutorial,” shows you different ways to select files in File Explorer in Windows 11. This video lesson is from our complete Windows tutorial, titled “Mastering Windows Online Made Easy.”
Overview:
How to Select a File in File Explorer:
You must learn how to select files within File Explorer in Windows 11 to perform file management activities. To select a single file in File Explorer, click it once. It is then highlighted. The highlight means the file is selected. When a file is selected, it has the focus of the Windows application and any commands you subsequently perform apply only to the selected file.
How to Deselect Files in File Explorer:
To deselect selected items in File Explorer, click into the blank or empty area in the right pane in File Explorer. Alternatively, to deselect selected items in File Explorer in Windows 11, click the “See more” button in the Ribbon, which looks like an ellipsis mark, and then choose the “Select none” command from the drop-down menu that appears.
How to Simultaneously Select Multiple Files in File Explorer:
How to Select Multiple Non-adjacent Files:
You can also simultaneously select multiple files in File Explorer. How you do this depends on how the files are arranged within the right pane of the File Explorer window. If the files are non-adjacent, meaning not next to each other, then click to select the first file within the window, as usual. Then press and hold down the “Ctrl” key on your keyboard while you click any other files to also select. Doing this selects them and retains the selection of the initially selected file. Then release the “Ctrl” key after selecting all the necessary files.
How to Select Multiple Adjacent Files:
If the files are adjacent, meaning located next to each other, then you can instead click the first file to select it. Then press and hold down the “Shift” key on your keyboard. Then click the last file to select. All the files including and between the first and last files you clicked are then selected. You can then release the “Shift” key.
How to Select Files in File Explorer Using a Selection Marquee:
Alternatively, to select adjacent files in File Explorer by using a selection marquee, click and drag with your mouse starting in the blank area adjacent to the file or files to select. As you click and drag the mouse pointer onscreen, a light blue selection marquee appears. Continue to click and drag the selection marquee over the files to select. Any file touched by the selection marquee is then selected in the window. Release the mouse button after selecting the files you want.
How to Select Files in File Explorer Using Checkboxes:
Alternatively, to enable item check boxes in File Explorer in Windows 11 that you can check or uncheck to select files and folders, click the “View” drop-down button in the Ribbon at the top of the File Explorer window. Then roll over the “Show” command in the drop-down menu. Then select the “Item check boxes” command in the side menu that appears to enable them in File Explorer. When you then hover your mouse pointer over an item in the File Explorer window, a checkbox appears to its left. Check the checkbox to select the item or uncheck it to deselect the item. To turn off the checkboxes, select the same “Item check boxes” command from the “View” drop-down button’s menu again.
How to Select All Items within a Folder in File Explorer:
The “See more” button in the Ribbon of the File Explorer window in Windows 11 also contains commands that help you make file and folder selections. To select all items in the File Explorer window in Windows 11, click the “See more” button in the Ribbon. Then click the “Select all” command to select all items shown in the right pane of the File Explorer window. Alternatively, press the keyboard shortcut of “Ctrl” + “A” on your keyboard to select all the items in the File Explorer window.
How to Invert the Selected Items in File Explorer:
To invert the selected items in File Explorer in Windows 11, which selects all unselected items and deselects all selected items, click the “See more” button in the Ribbon. Then click the “Invert selection” command to invert the current selection in the File Explorer window.
