Why do some filename's appear blue instead of black?

[Guest]

Here's probably a very simple question for a lot of you, but has left me
curious because someone in my office asked me this question (some of his
excel filename's appeared blue), and I didn't have a clue.

Please somebody explain to me why a filename (any MS Office filetype) is
sometimes displayed in a blue format instead of the usual black?

How useful is this characteristic other than making the file stand out
easily in a long list of similar files that have the black filename format?

Answers appreciated, thanks!

 

[harpscardiff]

Anything in blue are files which you haven't used in a while, the
"Black" files are your most recent files.

hope this helps.

 

[Dave Peterson]

You can tell windows to compress files to save space.

Open Windows explorer
Locate your file
rightclick on it and choose properties|general tab
click the advanced button

and you'll see how to toggle it on/off.

There may be an option to do this to at a drive level--I don't recall.

And Gord Dibben added...

If the colors annoy you......

Open My Computer or any Folder

Tools>Folder Options>View

Scroll down to Files and Folders and uncheck

"show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color"

 

[Don MI]

Here's probably a very simple question for a lot of you, but has left me
curious because someone in my office asked me this question (some of his
excel filename's appeared blue), and I didn't have a clue.

Please somebody explain to me why a filename (any MS Office filetype) is
sometimes displayed in a blue format instead of the usual black?

How useful is this characteristic other than making the file stand out
easily in a long list of similar files that have the black filename
format?

Answers appreciated, thanks!

Also, there is an option in Windows XP Disk Cleanup to compress old files.
If the person seeing blue {meaning compress} file names is running Disk
Cleanup and has the Compress Old Files box check, the files not used
frequently will be compressed. The compressed files can still be used as
Windows XP will just un-compress the file to use it. There is a slight
delay to un-compress the file, but in newer computers you are unlikely to
notice the delay.

Don

 

[Gord Dibben]

CRW

Blue file names indicate these have been Compressed.

Green file names indicate they are Encrypted.

If the colors annoy you......

Open My Computer or any Folder

Tools>Folder Options>View

Scroll down to Files and Folders and uncheck

"show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color"


Gord Dibben Excel MVP