Make a New Folder on a Computer

Do you want to bring some much-needed organization to your collection of files and documents? Folders are essential for storing data on a computer, and creating a good file structure for your personal documents and photos can make finding what you need a whole lot easier. Read on after the jump to learn how to create folders in Windows, OS X, and Linux.

Steps

Windows

  1. Open the location that you want to create the folder. Using Windows File Explorer, navigate to the location that you want your new folder to reside. You can create a folder at any location on your hard drive, even on your desktop.
    • To open Windows File Explorer, press Ctrl+E or open your Documents folder.
  2. Right-click on a blank space in the folder or on your desktop. Once you've found the location you want to create your folder in, right-click on blank space. Right-clicking on an existing icon will bring up the wrong menu.
    • In many versions of Windows, you can click the "New Folder" button in the menu bar at the top of the window to create a new folder in the current location.
  3. Select "New" from the right-click menu. A submenu will appear, showing all of the options for creating a new object. Select "Folder" from the top of the list. A new folder will appear at your current location.
  4. Give the folder a name. When you create the folder, the name will be automatically highlighted. You can type in whatever name you'd like, and then press ↵ Enter to save it. The name cannot contain any of the following characters:[1]
    • ~
    • #
    • %
    • &
    • *
    • {}
    • \
    • :
    • <>
    • +
    • |
    • "
  5. Create a folder in the Command Prompt. If you'd rather use the command prompt, you can easily create folders with a quick command. First, navigate to the location that you want to create your folder in.
    • Type the command mkdir and press ↵ Enter. For example, if you wanted to create a folder called "Photos", you would type mkdir Photos.
    • You can create nested directories by using the -p flag. For example, typing mkdir -p test1\test2\test3 will create a folder at your current location called "test1". Inside that folder will be the folder called "test2", and inside that folder will be the folder "test3".

Mac OS X

  1. Navigate to the location you want for your new folder. This can be your desktop or any other folder or subfolder on your hard drive. You can navigate your folders by opening up "Mac HD" or "Finder".
  2. Right-click on any empty space. This will bring up your folder menu. Make sure to right-click on a blank space, as right-clicking on an object will load the wrong menu. Select "New Folder" from the top of the menu that appears.
    • Alternatively, you can click File in the Menu bar and select "New Folder".
  3. Name your new folder. When the folder is created, the name will be automatically highlighted. You can start typing in the new name and save it by pressing ↵ Enter. The only characters not allowed for creating OS X folders are : and ?.[2]
  4. Create a folder using Terminal. Open the Terminal (found in your Utilities folder) and navigate to the location that you want to create your folder in. Use the mkdir command to create a folder. For example, typing mkdir Photos will create a folder called "Photos" in your current location.[3]
    • You can create multiple nested directories by using the -p flag. For example, typing mkdir -p test1/test2/test3 will create a folder at your current location called "test1". Inside that folder will be the folder called "test2", and inside that folder will be the folder "test3".
    • You can take this one step further and create nested directories within your multi-directory command. For example, typing mkdir -p test1/test2/{sub1,sub2,sub3} will create a folder in your current location called "test1". Inside "test1" you will find the folder "test2", and inside "test2" will be three directories ("sub1", "sub2", and "sub3").

Linux

  1. Open your file manager. Accessing the file manager varies from distribution to distribution, but opening any folder on your computer will open it. Navigate to the location that you want to create a new folder.
  2. Right-click on a blank spot. A menu will appear when you right-click. If you right-click on an icon, the wrong menu will appear.
  3. Click "New Folder". A new folder will appear in your current location. Name your folder by typing the name and pressing ↵ Enter.
  4. Create a folder using the Terminal. Like just about anything else in Linux, you can create folders using only commands in the Terminal. Navigate to the location that you want to create the new folder in. You can open the Terminal in most Linux distributions by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T[4]
    • Create a directory by typing mkdir . For example, to create a folder called "Photos", you would type mkdir Photos.
    • Create two or more directories in one location by putting a space between the names. For example, to create folders called "Photos" and "Videos" in the same location, you would type mkdir Photos Videos.
    • Create nested directories by using the -p. For example, typing mkdir -p test1/test2/test3 will create a folder at your current location called "test1". Inside that folder will be the folder called "test2", and inside that folder will be the folder "test3".



Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/905231
  2. ↑ http://www.portfoliofaq.com/pfaq/FAQ00352.htm
  3. ↑ http://lifehacker.com/create-new-directories-and-subdirectories-with-one-term-508906709
  4. ↑ http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-make-directory-command/
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