data/sessions/explorer-delete-file-2/memory.md

Memory: explorer-delete-file-2

Overview

Delete a file using the keyboard: select it and press the delete key. Use this when a file has to be removed and a recoverable deletion is wanted — the file goes to the recycle area and stays restorable until that is emptied. The recorded trace removes report.pdf from the working folder.

Prerequisites

• A desktop environment with a file manager, or a shell.
• A file that exists and can be identified at run time by name.
• Write access to the folder holding it. Deletion changes the folder, not the file, so the folder's permissions are what govern.
• Certainty that the file is the right one and is genuinely no longer wanted. Neither route asks for confirmation.
• An understanding of which of the two end states is wanted. The file-manager route moves the file to a recoverable holding area; the shell route unlinks it immediately with nothing to restore from. The folder ends up in the same state either way, but only one of them is reversible.
• A backup, if the contents matter. Nothing in this task creates one.

Steps

Step 1 — Move-cursor at (250, 386)

The task is to send a file to the Recycle Bin using the keyboard only, so the file has to be selected first. Move the cursor onto the report.pdf row ahead of the click, so the click that follows lands reliably.

Step 2 — Left-click at (250, 386)

Move the cursor and Left-click to select report.pdf. Deleting acts on whatever is selected, so getting the selection right is the whole of the preparation.

Step 3 — Press: Fwd Delete

Press Delete to remove the selected file. Windows sends it to the Recycle Bin rather than erasing it, so the action is recoverable — which is the difference between this route and the terminal twin, where the equivalent command deletes outright.

Notes & Edge Cases

1. The click is the whole of the selection and the key acts on it at once, with no prompt. Read what is highlighted before pressing, because this is the step where a wrong selection becomes destructive rather than merely wrong.
2. The plain key is recoverable — the file goes to the recycle bin. The modified form is permanent and gives no different feedback, so the two are told apart only by what was held down.
3. The key acts on the selection in whatever window has focus. With focus elsewhere the same key does something else entirely, and nothing indicates the keystroke went astray.
4. The recycle bin can be turned off per drive, in which case this same key deletes permanently with nothing on screen looking any different. Do not assume recoverability from the route alone.
5. Emptying the recycle bin is a separate task and is not part of this one.
6. Verify the file's contents, not just its name, before deleting it.
7. Nothing is reported when this works. Confirm from the folder's contents rather than from the keystroke having been accepted.