(1) Files and Folders

On this page, we’ll talk about files and folders, and get you set up with a basic folder structure and some files you’ll need.

Jungeun Seo made some video walkthroughs for tutorials 1 - 3. You can find them in Tutorial Videos folder on the Google Drive. You’re not required to watch them, but you may find them helpful in combination with the written instructions.

Quick Summary

You’re not required to have prior experience in working with files and folders on a computer. We’ll talk about everything step by step on this page. But for this tutorial only, I’ve also provided a quick summary below. If you know what the following means, you can just do it and then skip to tutorial 2. But if you have any doubt, please read the full instructions below.

1. Download & Extract: EECS_183.zip to your local Documents folder.
   • Mac users note: MacOS might never actually show you the .zip file, instead automatically extracting it. That’s fine.
   • Windows users must note: You need to use the local Documents folder, not the OneDrive version that Windows often defaults to. To be certain, open the File Explorer and paste C:\Users\%username%\Documents into the address bar to get to the correct Documents folder, or read the details below.
   • Windows users must note: Do you know the difference between extracting a zip file and just looking inside of it? If not, read the details below.
2. Visibility: Turn on “File name extensions” in your View settings. See the Windows instructions or the Mac instructions for details if needed.
3. Shortcut: Create a Desktop shortcut/alias to the EECS_183 folder. Put the shortcut / alias on your desktop. See the Windows instructions or the Mac instructions for details if needed.

Did it work?

• You should now have an EECS_183 folder inside your Documents folder.
• When in your Documents folder, look at the icon for the EECS_183 folder. There should be no zipper image on the icon of your EECS_183 folder.
• You should see, for example, the file requirements.txt inside your EECS_183 folder, with the .txt extension visible. (Not just requirements.)

If you’re 100% certain you’ve completed the steps above, you can now skip to the next tutorial. If you have any doubts, no problem! Please read the details below.

Vocabulary

First, some vocabulary:

• A file is a basic unit of storage on a computing device, holding related data. For example, you might have a file representing some PowerPoint slides you downloaded for a class lecture, or a PDF file of instructions for an assignment.
• A folder, also known as a directory, is a container that can hold files, as well as additional folders. We use folders to organize our files so we can easily find them later, and keep related files together and unrelated files separate.

I’ve split this document into Windows and Mac sections. You only need to follow the steps corresponding to your computer.

Working with Files in Windows

Opening the File Explorer

If you look at the taskbar at the bottom of your screen, you should see an icon like this: . Click it to open the File Explorer.

Can't find the File Explorer icon? (Click for details)

If you don’t see the icon, then first click the Windows menu (start menu) icon () either at the bottom middle or bottom left of your screen. Type “file explorer” and click the File Explorer option that pops up, as shown below.

Upon opening the File Explorer, I see a window as shown below. Your File Explorer may show some different contents, and that’s ok.

Getting the Setup Files

A zip file is a special type of file that contains one or more files bundled together in a compressed format. This makes it easier to download and share multiple files at once. We’ll be using a zip file to provide you with some setup files for this course.

Download EECS_183.zip by clicking this link.

Once your browser has finished downloading the EECS_183.zip file, it should be in your Downloads folder. We’ll find it in the next section.

Finding the Downloads Folder

• With the File Explorer window open, click in the address bar at the top middle of the window.
  • This looks similar to where you’d type a website address in a web browser.
  • It probably says “This PC” or “Quick Access” or “Home”.
  • In the image below, it’s the part that says C:\Users\%username%\Downloads.
  • I am not talking about the search box to the right of the address bar, in the upper-right corner.

• Click in that address bar, delete anything that’s there, and paste the following:

  C:\Users\%username%\Downloads
  

Windows: How to copy and paste text (Click for details)

In Windows, to copy text you must first highlight it by pressing and holding your mouse button while dragging along the text. Then press ctrl+C to copy the highlighted text. To paste text, click where you want to paste it, and then press ctrl+V.

• That is, it should look like this before you hit enter…

  

• … and like this after you hit enter:

  

Moving a Zip File from Downloads to Documents

You should now see the file in your Downloads folder. The File Explorer should look something like this:

Do we want EECS_183.zip to stay in your Downloads folder? No! That would be like getting a package delivered to your doorstep and then keeping the item on your doorstep forever. We need to “bring it inside” and put it in its right place. Let’s move the EECS_183.zip file from your Downloads folder to your Documents folder:

• Click once (not a double-click) on the EECS_183.zip file in the File Explorer window to make sure that window is the active window.
• Press ctrl+N to open a new (second) File Explorer window.

• In the new window, navigate to your Documents folder by clicking in the address bar, deleting anything that’s there, and pasting the following:

  C:\Users\%username%\Documents
  

• Hit enter after pasting the text above, and you should then see this:

  

• Now go back to the first File Explorer window – the one showing your Downloads folder.

• Right-click on the EECS_183.zip file, and choose Cut:

  

  Windows: How to right-click on a laptop touchpad (Click for details)

  
  In Windows, to “right click” with a touchpad, click the touchpad with two fingers instead of just one.

• Now go to the second File Explorer window (the one showing your Documents folder).

• Right-click in an empty area of that window, and choose Paste:

  

  Is there no Paste option? (Click for details)

  
  First, make sure you’re clicking in a blank area of your explorer window, not on top of a file or folder.

  If you still don’t see a paste option, you may not have successfully cut the file in the previous step. Go back to the Downloads window, right-click on the EECS_183.zip file again, and choose Cut. Then return to the Documents window and right-click in a blank area to see if the Paste option appears.

  Another step that might help is to close the File Explorer window showing your Documents folder and open it again, again putting C:\Users\%username%\Documents in the address bar (not the search box).

You should now see the EECS_183.zip file in your Documents folder!

Unzipping a Zip File

We need to unzip (extract) the contents of the EECS_183.zip file. To do this:

• Right-click on the EECS_183.zip file in your Documents folder.

• After right clicking on the EECS_183.zip file, in the pop-up menu, choose Extract All...:

  

• A window will pop up:

  

• You don’t need to change any options. Just hit the Extract button at the bottom.

• Yet another File Explorer window should open up, showing you the contents of the unzipped folder:

  

You now have access to the contents of the zip file! In particular, you have an EECS_183 folder inside your Documents folder. It has several folders in side to help you organize your files for this course. I’ve also included some “configuration” files that we’ll need soon.

Setting Up a Shortcut to Your EECS_183 Folder

Let’s make it super easy for you to access your EECS_183 folder in the future. We’ll make a shortcut to it on your desktop.

• In File Explorer, go to the Documents folder again. Recall that you can do this by pasting the following in the File Explorer address bar:

  C:\Users\%username%\Documents
  

• Right-click on your EECS_183 folder (not an empty space, and not the zip file).

• In the pop-up menu, choose Show more options at the bottom:

  

• Then choose Send to, and then Desktop (create shortcut):

  

• You should now see a new shortcut created on your desktop:

  

You can double-click on this shortcut anytime to open your EECS_183 folder.

Configuring the File Explorer View Options

We also need to tell Windows that we want to see more file information than is shown by default. Open up File Explorer again if you don’t already have it open. Maximize the window by hitting the square icon in the top-right corner of the window, if it’s not already maximized. (Ignore the pop-ups that appear when you hover over the square icon – just click on the square icon itself.) Click on the View drop-down menu in the upper-middle area, choose Show, and make sure you have a check mark next to File name extensions and Hidden items:

If you don’t have a checkbox by those options, you can enable them by clicking on each one. (You’ll have to go through the menu twice, once for each option you check.)

Windows
As a Windows user, you should skip the Mac section below and jump to the next tutorial, Setting Up Python.

Working with Files on Mac Computers

Opening the Finder in the Documents Folder

Look at the collection of icons on the bottom of your screen. Locate the one for the Finder: Click it, and you should see something similar to this, though you likely have a lot that will show up under “Recents”:

Click Documents on the left to go to that folder. You should see Documents at the top now:

You may have many items in your Documents folder as well. That’s fine.

Getting the Setup Files

A zip file is a special type of file that contains one or more files bundled together in a compressed format. This makes it easier to download and share multiple files at once. We’ll be using a zip file to provide you with some setup files for this course.

Download EECS_183.zip by clicking this link.

Once your browser has finished downloading the EECS_183.zip file, it should be in your Downloads folder. Here’s how to find it:

Finding the Downloads Folder

• Open the Finder.
• In the Favorites section on the left, click on Downloads.
• You should see a new EECS_183 folder in your Downloads folder – with no zipper image on the icon, and no mention of .zip.

Instead of an EECS_183 folder, do you see EECS_183.zip, with a little zipper on the folder icon? (Click for details)

If you see EECS_183.zip instead of a folder, that’s perfectly fine. MacOS sometimes automatically extracts zip files, but apparently it hasn’t for you. Here’s how to make it happen:

• Double-click on the EECS_183.zip file in your Downloads folder.
• A program called Archive Utility should automatically unzip the file.
• A new folder (called EECS_183) will appear in the same folder as the zip file.
• Double-click on the new folder to view its contents.

The EECS_183 folder inside your Downloads folder has several folders inside to help you organize your files for this course. I’ve also included some “configuration” files that we’ll need soon.

Moving a Folder from Downloads to Documents

Do we want your EECS_183 folder to stay in your Downloads folder? No! That would be like getting a package delivered to your doorstep and then keeping the item on your doorstep forever. We need to “bring it inside” and put it in its right place. Let’s move the the EECS_183 folder from your Downloads folder to your Documents folder:

• Open two Finder windows: Open the first one as usual. Then click File > New Finder Window to open a second.
• In one Finder window, navigate to your Downloads folder.
• In the other, navigate to your Documents folder.
• In the Downloads window, click on the EECS_183 folder.
• Make a copy of the folder by pressing ⌘+C.
• Click on the other Finder window (the one with your Documents folder open).
• We want to paste the folder here and also delete the original. We can do this with a single key combination: ⌘+⌥+V.

You should now see the EECS_183 folder in your Documents folder!

Making an Alias to Your EECS_183 Folder

Let’s make an alias (shortcut) to your EECS_183 folder so you can access it easily from your desktop. Control-click on the EECS_183 folder and choose Make Alias or Create Alias:

It should make a new item named EECS_183 alias. Drag the alias onto your desktop.

From now on, you can double-click on that alias anytime to open your EECS_183 folder.

Changing the File Listing Style in Finder

Since we’ll be working with a lot of files, I strongly recommend that you change the style in which they are listed. In the Finder, in your EECS_183 folder, click on this icon, located in the top-middle of the Finder window: . In addition, with the Finder open, go to Finder, Settings (or maybe Preferences), then click Advanced. Select Show all filename extensions. These options will show your files in a list, along with information about their type, which will be useful for us.

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Copyright and Academic Integrity

© 2026 Steven Bogaerts.

Materials for this assignment were developed with assistance from course staff, including Jungeun Seo.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

All materials provided for this course, including but not limited to labs, projects, notes, and starter code, are the copyrighted intellectual property of the author(s) listed in the copyright notice above. While these materials are licensed for public non-commercial use, this license does not grant you permission to post or republish your solutions to these assignments.

It is strictly prohibited to post, share, or otherwise distribute solution code (in part or in full) in any manner or on any platform, public or private, where it may be accessed by anyone other than the course staff. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Public-facing websites (like a personal blog or public GitHub repo).
• Solution-sharing websites (like Chegg or Course Hero).
• Private collections, archives, or repositories (such as student group “test banks,” club wikis, or shared Google Drives).
• Group messaging platforms (like Discord or Slack).

To do so is a violation of the university’s academic integrity policy and will be treated as such.

Asking questions by posting small code snippets to our private course discussion forum is not a violation of this policy.