Computer Folders Borrowed a Whole Office
A folder holds documents. The computer desktop took its entire vocabulary from the physical office it replaced.
A folder is a cover for holding loose papers. The graphical computer interface borrowed the whole office: desktop, folder, file, document, trash, clipboard and cut-and-paste all name physical objects and actions. The metaphor was deliberate, designed at Xerox PARC in the 1970s so that office workers would already know how to use it.
- A paper cover. *A cardboard folder.*
- A computer directory. *Create a folder.*
- A leaflet. *A promotional folder.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | folder | A blue folder. |
| Plural | folders | Nested folders. |
| Verb | fold | Fold the paper. |
| Related | directory | The root directory. |
| Related | file | A text file. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Save it in the project folder.Computing.
- Folder and directory mean the same thing.One is the metaphor, the other the technical term.
- He filed it in a cardboard folder.The physical object.
Office metaphors in computing
- Desktop — the working surface
- Folder — a container for files
- File — a document, from the spike papers were filed on
- Clipboard — a temporary holding place
- Trash or recycle bin — deleted items
From *fold*, Old English *fealdan*. The computing sense arrived with graphical interfaces in the 1970s and 1980s.
Folder or directory?
They refer to the same thing. Directory is the older technical term; folder is the desktop metaphor.
Why is a document called a file?
From the Latin *filum*, a thread. Papers were once stored by threading them onto a wire or string.