This is an adventure story called Pathname
If you already know how to access your pathname of any file and how to use it in your computer, then you need not read further. I say this up front since my explanation to those of you who are in a similar situation as I am can continue reading this three and a half page message or not. I am rather long winded on this matter. So delete this message now, if you already know how to get or make the pathname work for you without difficulty.
I hope you have heeded my advice, since now I know you really want to know the sure fire way of knowing and using your pathname. I don’t know if it will vary depending on the type of system you have or not, but you need to know that I am using a Gateway computer with 200 Megahertz speed, 64 megabytes of RAM with Internet Explorer 4.01 and Outlook Express in a Windows 95 system. I say all the preceding information, because part of it is important to point out later.
I have been thinking on this problem for quite some time, since I promised a fellow lister that I would help her with the pathname, which she seemed not to be able to comprehend. I too had a problem in understanding why she did not comprehend my simple instructions, but this was revealed to me when I upgraded from IE3.05 to IE4.01 and added OE to my system,which she was using. I found it made a difference in a small respect as to which browser program was being used. Now that I have the same browser Outlook Express as she does, I think I understand what the problem was and is.
No matter what browser you are using, there is a sure-fire way of knowing and using the pathname through the use of the MyComputer program in a Windows system. Presented here is step by step instructions in story form on how to access your pathname and be aware of some of the pitfalls of doing so. So, here I go.
As an example I will use a file called pink in my Microsoft Word word processing program. It has the file extension of .doc, which is a signature of sorts to let any one know that a file with this extension is most probably a MS Word document. I use this file since I definitely know I have such a file on my computer. It is probably not on your computer, so you should pick a file that you definitely know is there.
On my computer the file pink has the full path name as follows:
C:\windows\personal\pink.doc
Yes, I know it is a long one, but that is the way it is. Let’s suppose I wanted to send this file to you using the insert menu on your browser program. When you have completed your message in a browser or email program for instance OE (Outlook Express) go to your insert menu by alt+I, choose the file attachment choice press enter, and now type in the file you want to send. In my case I would type in the file name of pink. Did it work? Probably not, since you did not type in the correct pathname of the file. A message dialog will usually pop up asking "Are you sure you are using the correct pathname?". Of course I do not know the pathname, but I want to send this file pink, so I type it in again, and low and behold the same message pops up on my screen. Then it dawns on me that it will not send this file as a file attachment unless I give it the correct file pathname. That should be simple to understand, right!, wrong!
If I had typed in the correct pathname of the file, I am automatically placed back into the body of my message, where I can now edit it further or use the send command alt+s to place the message in my out box folder. Voila! Success at last. This is what we all want to accomplish when sending a file to another person. So you may ask the question, "How do I find the pathname of the file I wish to send as a file attachment?". Usually, when it comes to computers, there are at least two ways or methods of how to do something in it. I consider myself as being simple minded, since I just want to find the pathname of the file pink. So I go to the start menu control+escape or windows key and go to the f or find files or folder menu choice. When it pops up a dialog box asking me what I want to find, I type in pink and get the following:
Pink c:\windows\p...19kb MicrosoftWord.doc 9/1
It tells me that one file was foun and showed me what I wrote above. Great! I have the file pathname, Right! Wrong again!
Since it showed me all those little dot dot dots, I don’t really know the full pathname of the file pink, but I can at least copy this address to my clipboard and paste it into the insert file attachment choice insert+I at the end of my message, I thought. Well, I thought wrongly. It simply will not allow it to be copied to the clipboard and pasted any where. So, now I am stuck. The only way I can insert this file pathname is to memorize it. Right! Right! So I did, and when I typed it into the insert dialogue box for the file attachment, it didn’t work again. Well, I said to myself, what in the heck is going on here. I will try something else.
I won’t tell you what all those things were, because a long story about all those failures of mine are not the important issue here. I did happen to stumble into the right answer, though, and here it is.
Go to your desktop with insert+F6 or windows key+m. Open your MyComputer program by going to your desktop and pressing m until you get to MyComputer, then press enter. Now arrow down until you hear c:\ or (c:J then press enter. You are now in your hard drive in your computer, where all the files, folders, programs, etc. are kept in your computer. Remember the file name I got when I looked in the find file or folder program.
Pink c:\windows\p...19kb MicrosoftWord.doc 9/1
To know the actual pathname of any file or folder I see things as a box in a box as one way of describing a pathname. For instance the great big box which holds all the files is called c:\, and the next box or path part is called windows\. Are you with me so far?
If not, remember to open c:\, then press the letter w, repeatedly if necessary, until you hear the word, windows, then press enter. You are now in the windows box.
Here is where it gets a little bit tricky. You wanted to go to your MSWord program didn’t you?
Depending on the manufacturer of your computer and the layout he used to install various programs on it, the pathname on your computer is probably different from mine. In a lot of cases the box you are looking for is called MyDocuments\, which can confuse you if you are looking for the MS Word program, where the file pink is found. You may be able to go directly from c:\ to mydocuments\ by pressing the m key until you hear mydocuments and bypass windows altogether, I don’t know for sure about your set up, but it will not work on mine. Guess what? You are now in your MS Word program, maybe. In my case the answer is no, but in your case the answer is probably yes, if the first two parts of your pathname read as follows:
C:\mydocuments\
Congratulations!, you are now in your MS Word program. What do you mean my MS Word program? My MS Word program is called MSWord, not mydocuments. Now I am really confused. And I say with good reason.
The name of the MS Word program has been changed, in your case to mydocuments, but that is not all that has been changed for some, especially if you are using a Gateway computer. It took me three weeks of searching around in my computer before I discovered this fact. I could never find a MSWord choice on the c:\ drive, no matter how often I pressed the m key. So I began to wonder and figured out that on my computer at least my MSWord program must be in another box, other than one called MSWord. Good thinking, Harry, it was in a box called windows\, remember the pathname of pink
C:\windows\p...
When I entered the c: box, I used the w key repeatedly until I heard windows, then pressed enter. Now I want to go to the MS Word program, so I press repeatedly the letterm, and I cannot find the MS Word program in this box. It must have another name, but what?
Here is where it gets really interesting.
I am in the windows\box looking for MS Word. Pray tellis there a clue as to what I should be looking for. Yes, there is and here it is.
Remember the file name I found when I used the find program on the start menu?
Pink c:\windows\p...19kb MicrosoftWord.doc 9/1
Well, now I know about the first two boxes the c:\ and the windows\, but what is this p... thing.
Maybe this is my file called pink. Right! Wrong!
After I have used the w key to get to windows and pressed enter, I then press the p key repeatedly, which takes me to all kinds of things, but not to pink. So I open every p box and look in it for pink by pressing enter on every program or file I have in windows starting with a p. Low and behold I found a great discovery. When I opened a file called personal by pressing the enter key and then pressing p repeatedly until I heard pink, Sha zam! There it was.
I finally found the file, pink. Hey!, but wait a minute. Didn’t you say that you wrote a file in your MS Word program called pink. Yes, I did.
Pink is not in MSWord. It’s in personal. This is when I finally figured out that the MS Word program in my computer is named or renamed by the manufacturer Gateway as personal. In your case the MSWord has been probably named mydocuments. In fact the only way I can go to a file named msword as such is only located in my computer as a file or program in MSOffice, which is on my computer as its own little box in the windows\ box.
Depending upon what mail program I am using, I have at last found the pathname of the file, pink. It is located in a box called personal\, which is located in a box called windows\, which is located in a box called c:\. Simple, isn’t it?
When I was using IE 3.05, before I updated every thing on my computer, I could send a file by selecting the insert menu insert+I, file attachment, while in a message and typing in the whole pathname of the file, pink.
C:\windows\personal\pink.doc
In my computer using IE3.05 I had to include the file extension .doc in order for the attachment command to work properly. So, I had to enter the entire file pathname. Otherwise I would get that same old message or dialog "Are you sure you used the correct file pathname?".
Since my update and use of IE4.01 and OE, it will work alright if I leave off the .doc extension and just type inb
C:\windows\personal\pink
However I am still in the habit of adding the .doc extension, which also works.
So there. You have it! All you have to do is memorize the order of the boxes from front to back and you got it.
C:\windows\personal\pink.doc
I know another way to find the pathname of a file in MS Word, but it only works the first time the MS Word program is opened by going to the start menu, pressing the letter n for new office document, press enter wait a short pause of about two or three seconds and press enter again, and listen through all the jabber until you hear Microsoft Word document one edit. Invoke the file menu with alt+f and arrow up through the last four files listed there. It only happens once. You should see the complete file pathname of the MSWord documents listed. If you don’t see the full pathname of these last four files, it may be because this is not the very first thing you did when opening Microsoft document one. On my computer after opening Microsoft Word and using the keys on the keyboard to type and then invoking the file menu alt+f and arrowing up through the menu choices, the file pathnames are no longer presented.
I like to keep all the files I have written in my MS Word program named personal in my computer. That way, I know for sure that a file I have created, named and saved is in that box called personal. Since I always put my files in the personal box, I know where they are and can be found. In your case it may be called mydocuments or something else.
No matter how you find the pathname of a file, you will just simply have to memorize it, so you can type it in the insert text file attachment dialogue box when it asks you for the file name, edit.
This concludes the story of a blind man who plays with boxes.
I hope it has been helpful to you.
The pathname is in MyComputer!
Voila!
Harry
The Trust Walker
