How do I copy my Notepad files?
QI’ve just bought a new Windows 11 desktop PC. My old computer runs Windows 10, and I have a number of Notepad documents on it that I’d like to transfer to the new computer. I’m not sure how to do this, but I have a USB memory stick. Can you explain how I go about copying my Notepad documents to the memory stick, then transferring them to my new PC?
AThis may seem like a very straightforward process, but what’s simple for some can be a complete mystery to others. Whether you’re a digital expert or a total novice, we’re happy to help.
To begin, plug your USB stick into the PC, then press Windows key+e to launch Windows 10’s file-management tool, which is called File Explorer. Next, on the left, click the heading This PC. You’ll see that Windows has given your USB stick a drive letter (such as D: or E:). Make a note of this for later.
Next, on the left, click Documents. By default, Notepad saves your documents to this Documents folder on your PC. A list of the folder’s contents should appear in the right-hand pane. If you’ve only ever used Notepad to create documents, you’ll see a collection of text files, with a .txt file extension. You can select them all by clicking in the right-hand pane and pressing the Control key (Ctrl)+a. If you only want to select particular files, hold down Ctrl and select each in turn by clicking it with the left mouse button.
To copy your selected files, left-click any one of them and, with the mouse button held down, drag the selection to your USB stick (identified by its drive letter) in the left-hand pane (see screenshot below). Release the mouse button to ‘drop’ them on to the stick. If there are lots of them, you may see a progress bar, but text files tend to be very small, so the process is likely to be quick.
Having copied the files to your
USB stick, you can transfer them to your new computer. This process is much the same but in reverse. Open File Explorer in Windows 11, then click your USB stick to view its contents, press Ctrl+a to select all the files, then drag and drop them into the Documents folder on your new computer.