Why don't students know how files and folders work?
Growing up using phones and web browsers means many students have never had to organize files or understand local versus cloud storage. Without knowing where documents actually live on a device, people get stuck trying to find saved work or share files across different applications.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Conducting day-one lectures and onboarding walkthroughs to teach basic computer operations
- 2Handing out inventory sheets and mandatory training for security policies
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“A lot of them grew up in a Chrome/Google Docs environment where they've never had to manage this stuff before”source ↗
“I know several college age Gen Zs who don't understand what a file is.”source ↗
“Like not know the difference between saving things locally and in the cloud and even just sub folders”source ↗
“I've got users that legitimately don't understand that when they go to sheets.google.com, that spreadsheet is saved somewhere and exists outside of sheets.google.com.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 2How to open old Microsoft Publisher .pub files
- 3Locked out of new network switches because the consultant left
- 2Why does accounting software force logins for every company file?
- 12Why is enterprise work software so frustrating to use?