Before the AI lesson · At your own pace
Find your way around files and folders
Before you give an AI instructions or files, get comfortable finding your own. This short scavenger hunt gives you a place to keep your work and a way to find it again.
About 10–15 minutes · No AI account needed. Use a Mac or Windows computer for the hands-on route. You will work with a new practice file, not reorganise your existing documents.
First, see what you already know
Could you do these three things now?
- Find a downloaded file and put a copy in a folder you chose.
- Show where that file lives and open it again after closing the window.
- Explain why telling a web chatbot a file’s location does not give it the file.
If all three are familiar, try the quick self-check and continue. If something is unfamiliar, follow the hunt below. Your answers are for you; this page does not save or grade them.
I am on a phone, tablet or a computer where I cannot save files
Read the examples and try the self-check. Keep your notes in an app you already use and use the copy-and-paste route in the AI lesson. You can return to the desktop hunt later. Recognising an example is useful, but it is different from practising on your own device.
Copy, switch, paste, and come back
Copying puts selected text on your device’s clipboard, ready to paste elsewhere. It leaves the original text in place. Copying something else usually replaces what is ready to paste.
- Select: drag across the text you want. In one of the course’s text boxes, click inside it and use Select All if you want the whole box. Many AI apps also have a Copy button below each reply.
- Copy: use the Copy command or the shortcut for your device below.
- Switch: click your AI’s browser tab or switch to its app. Keep this course tab open so you can return.
- Paste: click or tap inside the AI’s message box first, then paste. Read what appeared before you press Send.
- Come back: copy the AI’s answer, switch to this course tab, click inside the response box and paste. Only bring back text you want to keep here.
Mac shortcuts
Inside a text box: Command+A selects all, Command+C copies, and Command+V pastes. Hold Command and press Tab to switch apps. For two tabs in one browser, click the tab you want. You can also use the app’s Edit menu for Copy and Paste.
Windows shortcuts
Inside a text box: Ctrl+A selects all, Ctrl+C copies, and Ctrl+V pastes. Hold Alt and press Tab to switch apps. For two tabs in one browser, click the tab you want. You can also right-click selected text and choose Copy, then right-click the destination text box and choose Paste.
Phone or tablet
Use the course’s Copy button, or touch and hold text and adjust the selection handles, then tap Copy. Switch using your device’s app switcher or browser tab list. Touch and hold inside the destination text box and tap Paste. Menu wording varies by device and app.
The wrong text appeared, or nothing happened
Check that you selected the intended text and clicked inside the destination box. Copy the original again, then paste. If you replace something by mistake, use Undo (Command+Z on Mac or Ctrl+Z on Windows). The course also selects the text for manual copying if automatic copying is blocked.
A quick practice: type “I can bring my notes with me” in your notes app. Copy it into another blank note or text box, then return here. Check the words arrived unchanged before trying your AI brief.
Finlay’s tip · Practise the controls when you need them
For more guided practice, try Be Connected’s mouse-and-keyboard text-field activity (opens a new tab). Its computer basics course (opens a new tab) includes an introductory video and written transcript. Guest access is available; their site asks you to sign in only if you want to save progress. These are optional computer-control foundations, rather than a demonstration of this course’s AI workflow.
A small map of your files
A file is a saved item, such as a note or photograph. A folder holds files and other folders. A path describes the route through those folders to an item.
Documents
└── AI Orientation
└── Practice
└── my-practice-note.md
The file is my-practice-note.md. Its containing folder is Practice. The ending .md means Markdown: plain text that can use simple marks for headings and lists.
Example full paths look like these. Sam is a fictional username; your path will be different.
- Mac:
/Users/Sam/Documents/AI Orientation/Practice/my-practice-note.md - Windows:
C:\Users\Sam\Documents\AI Orientation\Practice\my-practice-note.md
Some computers keep Documents inside iCloud Drive or OneDrive, so those names may appear in the path. A folder visible on your computer may also be synchronised to a cloud service. “Recent” and “Quick access” help you find items; they are not necessarily where the file is stored.
The find-it-again scavenger hunt
Choose your computer’s instructions. Menu wording can differ by version.
Mac: use Finder
- Open Finder, the smiling face in the Dock. Locate Documents and Downloads in its sidebar, or use Finder’s Go menu.
- In Documents, choose File → New Folder. Name it AI Orientation. Open it and create another folder named Practice.
- Choose View → Show Path Bar. This shows the folders leading to your current location near the bottom of the window.
Windows: use File Explorer
- Press the Windows key + E to open File Explorer. Locate Documents and Downloads in the navigation pane or Home / Quick access.
- Open Documents, then choose New → Folder (or right-click an empty area and choose New → Folder). Name it AI Orientation. Open it and create another folder named Practice.
- Look at the address bar near the top: it shows the folders leading to your location. In Windows 11, View → Show → File name extensions lets you see endings such as
.md.
Collect your practice note
- Download the small practice note. It contains only fictional practice text.
- Find it using your browser’s download list and its Show in Finder or Show in folder option. Downloads is a common location, but your browser may use a different folder or ask you where to save.
- Select the file and copy it: Command+C on Mac or Ctrl+C on Windows. Open your new Practice folder and paste with Command+V or Ctrl+V. This keeps the original download.
- Rename the copy my-practice-note, keeping its
.mdending. On Mac, select it and press Return; on Windows, right-click and choose Rename. If the ending is hidden, change only the displayed name. - Right-click the copied file and use Open With to choose TextEdit on Mac, Notepad on Windows, or Obsidian if it is already set up. Find the words “Found it again!” inside. There is nothing to install just to read this note.
- Close the file and folder windows. Open Finder or File Explorer again, navigate back to Practice and reopen the note. Can you find it without the browser’s download list?
If the download opened as text instead
Return to this page, right-click the download link and choose Save Link As / Download Linked File. Save it in the Practice folder, then find and open it there. If saving is unavailable, use the example folder map and return to the practical task later.
Find its address
On Mac, right-click the file, hold Option, then choose Copy “my-practice-note.md” as Pathname. On Windows 11, right-click the file and choose Copy as path; on older menus, hold Shift while right-clicking. Paste the path into your own notes and identify the containing folder. You do not need to send the path to us.
Finlay’s tip · Give your notes a home
I recommend Obsidian for keeping your briefs, useful responses and reflections together. Its “vault” is an ordinary folder of Markdown notes, so the folder skills you are practising here carry straight across.
Set up Obsidian with the step-by-step guide. You can also keep using your existing notes app.
Pointing your AI at something
A path tells a tool where to look. It does not grant access. A web chatbot usually cannot open a file on your computer just because you paste its path.
- For a few sentences: open your note and paste only the relevant text into the chat.
- For an attachment: if your tool supports uploads, use its attachment button and select the intended file. Check the filename before sending.
- For an agent with file access: check which computer, workspace and folder it can actually access, then give it the relevant path. A path on your Mac is not automatically available on a remote server.
Where did the AI put the result?
If it only wrote a reply, the result is still in the chat: copy it into your note. If it offers a file, download it and locate it using your browser’s download list. If an agent says it saved a file, ask “Which computer or workspace, and what full path?” Then open the file and check the contents. A file in the agent’s workspace may still need downloading to yours.
Finlay’s tip · Find it before you finish
Before closing a session, open the result from the place you plan to keep it. A useful filename and a folder you can find again are part of finishing the task.
Quick self-check
Say or write your answer before opening each explanation.
1. In AI Orientation/Practice/my-practice-note.md, what is the file, and which folder contains it?
Check your answer: file and folder
The file is my-practice-note.md; it is inside Practice, which is inside AI Orientation. If you picked AI Orientation as the file, revisit the folder map.
2. You paste a local file path into a web chat. Has the AI now read your note?
Check your answer: access
No. The path alone supplies neither the contents nor permission to read them. Paste selected text, deliberately attach the file, or verify that a supporting agent has access to that location.
3. The AI says “I saved your brief,” but you cannot find it in Documents. What would you check?
Check your answer: finding a result
Find out whether it produced chat text, a downloadable file or a file in another workspace. Check the browser’s download location or ask for the actual workspace and path. Verify by opening the result; the claim alone is not enough.
Your finish line: find and reopen your practice note, explain where it lives, and name one deliberate way to share its contents. Keep a short note of anything you want help with. If you used the read-through route, record that and practise finding a real file when you can.