Lesson 5

Using Favorites with Explorer
Adding Favorites with Explorer

When you press the FAVORITES button, Explorer breaks into two frames again (just like it did when you pressed SEARCH. The favorites will be in the left frame and your current web page will be in the right frame. Explorer comes with folders full of suggested favorites from Microsoft. Explore them and get acquainted with the variety of information available on the web.

What are folders?

Folders on computers are just like folders in real life. They provide a way for storing, sorting, and organizing things. A computer folder can store any kind of computer file. The folders in favorites contain links to web pages. Other folders on your computer can contain word processing documents, pictures, spreadsheets, databases, and more.

How to do it

Click the FAVORITES Button
Click a folder that looks interesting (Optional. Some links may be stored directly in the favorites listing. Others will be stored in folders)
Click a link that looks interesting
When done with favorites, click the close button to make the left frame disappear.

Adding Favorites with Explorer

When you first start using Explorer, all the favorites will be Microsoft's favorites. These may or may not be your favorites. Over time, you will want to add your own links to the list.

How to do it

Make sure that you are currently viewing a page that you want to save.
Click the FAVORITES button (Skip this step if the favorites frame is already visible in your browser.)
Click the ADD button
Type a new name for your favorite (Optional)
Click OK

What Does the Other Stuff in the Add Favorite Box Do?

Create in>>

This button will give you the option of storing your favorites in a folder. It's strictly optional, but if you have lots of favorites, it's a good way to keep track of them. Click on one of the folders before you hit OK. If you want, you can even create and name your own folders.

Make available offline

It's possible to view web pages when you are offline. That's beyond the scope of this lesson. However, if you want to view pages offline, you can have the browser go online, visit a variety of pages, and then make those pages available for you to read later.

There is a second way to use favorites with Explorer. Across the top of the browser is a gray row with black text. This is called a Menu Bar, and there is a FAVORITES option on the menu bar. If you click on FAVORITES, you have the option of opening folders, clicking on links, or even adding a favorite. This is a nice way to use favorites if you don't want to use up your screen space by keeping the left frame open.