Browse

Updated: 12/31/2022 by Computer Hope

Browse may refer to any of the following:

Woman browsing the Internet

1. In general, browse refers to reading and scanning through data. Browsing describes when a user reads through web pages on the Internet and is also often called surfing. For example, you're browsing the Internet with an Internet browser now if you're reading this page on your computer. If you have visited more than one page on Computer Hope, you are browsing our website.

Tip

If you are interested in browsing a website, the two best places to visit are the homepage and the site map.

How do I browse Computer Hope?

See our introduction to Computer Hope for an overview of Computer Hope's services and how to use our website.

How do I browse other web pages?

See our web page term for further information about web pages, including an overview of each of the major elements that make up a web page. Learning the basics about a web page helps you with browsing the Internet.

2. When describing files on a computer, browsing is looking through drives, shares, and folders on a computer for a file. For example, when you want to open a file in a program, you'll often have to browse your computer to locate it. On Microsoft Windows computers, you can browse a computer using the File Explorer.

Tip

When browsing files, you may can browse files of a certain type. For example, Microsoft Word may default to only browsing for Microsoft Word documents (*.doc, *.docx, etc.). If the file you're trying to open does not match the file types, it's not shown when browsing until you change what file types to show.

3. With a database, browse is a mode for viewing the fields and records.

4. In computer programming, browse is examining data structures.

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