Quickly get to the file or folder in a cluttered window

Today I helped a client organize his photos for a project he was working on. I moved all of the photos for the project into a folder in My Pictures. He had dozens of folders in his My Pictures folder all full of pictures from other projects.

He called me about an hour later to tell me that the folder I had created had suddenly disappeared.

"What have you done since I left," I asked. I wasn't accusing him of anything, but if he had done anything it would help me figure out what had happened to the folder.

"Nothing," he explained, "I took a break after you left and when I came back the folder was gone."

I began to walk him through where I had put the pictures by going into My Documents - My Pictures...

The folder started with the letter L.

"It's in alphabetical order," I explained, "look for it in the Ls."

"I am. It's not there."

"OK, press the letter L on the keyboard."

"Hey! There it is, you found it! How did you do that?"

I didn't do anything magic. As it turns out, the folder was there all along. There were just so many folders that he didn't take time to read the name of each folder.

By pressing the L key his selection jumped straight to folders or files that started with the letter L.

So, here is today's handy tip. When you have a window open that you know contains the file you are looking for, press the letter on your keyboard that the file name starts with. It will jump you directly to the files or folders that begin with that letter.

To move to the next file or folder that starts with that letter, simply press the letter key again. This is especially useful if your files and folders are in some order other than alphabetical.

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