Managing your files
A common metaphor of graphical desktops is the use of folders to represent directories on your hard disk. Folders contain files and other folders. A application called , the K File Manager, uses this metaphor to help you manage your files.

Using
The first time you start , a window with lots of icons in it appears. This is a window displaying the files in your home directory (the area where your personal files are stored). The pathname of the folder is displayed under the window's tool bar. If you don't see such a window now, click the icon on the panel that looks like a folder with a picture of a house.
To open a file or folder, simply click it once with the . You can also choose Window Show Sidebar from the menu to display the folder hierarchy for more direct navigation. Or you can edit the path displayed under the toolbar to get to a specific directory quickly.

Opening Files
comes with a set of applications to view and edit files of many common types, and when you click a file containing, say, a document or image, will start the appropriate application to display the file. If it doesn't know what application to start to open a file you clicked, will prompt you for the name of the application to run, and when you have chosen, will offer to remember your choice for the next time you open a file of that type.
uses MIME types to associate files with applications.

Dragging and Dropping Icons
To copy or move a file, simply drag its icon to the desktop, to another window, or to a folder icon. When you release the button, displays a menu to allow you to choose to copy, move, or create a link to the file.
Note that if you choose to create a link, creates a symbolic link (not a hard link), so if you move or delete the original file, the link will be broken.
Most applications also support drag and drop operations: you can drag an icon on to a window of a running application, or on to an icon of an application that is not started, to have the application open the file. Try it!

Setting File Properties
To change file properties, such as its name and permissions, click the icon and choose Properties from the menu.

Working with Archives and Networks
In the recent past, you needed special software to access files on the Internet. Not any more!
supports a technology called Network Transparent Access (NTA) which allows you to work with files on the other side of the world as easily as those on your local hard disk.
For example, to access files on an server, just choose Location Open Location from a menu, and enter the URL of an server. You can drag and drop files to and from the folders on the server just as if they were on your local disk. You'll even be able to open files on the server without having to copy them to your local disk ( does it for you when necessary).
Note that uses anonymous access, which may restrict your access to files on the server. If you have an account on the server, you can supply your user ID as part of the URL, like this: ftp:// userid@server/directory
will prompt you for your password, and if the login succeeds, you will have full access to your files on the server.
If you are used to the WinZip utility on , then you will be happy to hear that can look into tar archives, too. It treats such archives just like a normal folder, and you can browse into the archive, open files, In general, accessing files on the Internet and in archives should look and feel just like accessing files on your local disk, except for delays imposed by the network and extracting the archive.

Using Templates to access Applications and Devices
In it's easy to put icons on the panel or the desktop to access your applications. It's just as easy to add icons to access other items of interest. has templates for shortcuts to:
Applications
Printers
Mountable Devices (⪚ floppy drives)
Internet resources (⪚ WWW documents, directories)
Documents for some of 's applications.
You can add any of these items to the desktop by clicking where you want the icon, and choosing Create New and selecting the item you want to link to.
Nearly every item in the , on the desktop, and on the panel refers to a .desktop file on disk. The .desktop file specifies what icon to display, as well as specific information about what the icon represents (an application, device, or URL). You can drag any .desktop file to the panel to create a quick-launch button.

Mounting devices
provides access to storage devices other than the primary hard disk through a process called mounting. uses .desktop files to allow you to easily mount, unmount, and access files on secondary storage devices such as floppy drives and drives.
As an example, here are the steps needed to create an icon to access files on a floppy disk:
Many systems require you to be logged in as root to mount and unmount devices.
Right click on the desktop and choose Create New Floppy Device....
On the General tab of the resulting dialog, change the name to whatever you like, in the text box at the top.
On the Device tab, enter /dev/fd0 (or the path to the floppy device as it is named on your system) as the Device.
You can add a Mount Point here too. This should be an existing directory, but empty. Common mount points are /mnt/floppy or /floppy, but you can just as easily have floppy disks mounted on ~/mydisk if you want.
Click the Unmounted Icon and select the picture of a floppy disk without the green light.
Once you're happy with your choices, choose OK and you are finished!
Now, place a properly formatted floppy in the drive and click the Floppy icon to have mount the floppy drive and display the files on the disk. Before removing the disk from the drive, click the Floppy icon and choose Unmount from the menu.