bulging, bulky (BrE), thick
box (BrE), card, lever-arch (BrE), Manila, paper
six box files bulging with notes

official
confidential, personal, secret
detailed
case
The work involves preparing case files and attending court.

information
client, customer, personnel
court, newspaper, office, police, security
medical

box, stack
A stack of files awaited me on my desk.

have, keep, maintain
The company keeps secret files on all its employees.
Personnel files are kept in secure storage.

keep sth on
Your application will be kept on file (= kept for possible future use).

collate, compile, prepare
He had compiled a file of largely circumstantial evidence.

enter sth into (esp. BrE)
The details of the incident will be entered into the file.

open
The police have opened a file on the case.

close
The file on the murder was closed five years ago.
She closed the file and put it aside.

reopen
Police have reopened the file on the missing girl.

review
update
It is important to update customer files.

pull, pull out, remove, take out
She went to the filing cabinet and took out a file.

check, examine, go through, look at, read, scan
I'll check the files for any information on the case.

burn, destroy

contain sth

cabinet, drawer (both AmE) (filing cabinet in BrE)
folder
clerk (AmE)

in a/the file
the information contained in the police files

on file
All the details of the transaction are on file.

file on
The police already have a thick file on that family.

large
computer, digital, electronic
data, database, document, spreadsheet, text
executable, program
system
audio, music, sound
graphics, image
multimedia
video
master
backup
to make/take a backup file

log
HTML, PDF, etc.
compressed, ZIP
infected
help

directory, list, set

create
download, upload
hold sth in, store sth in
the information held in this file

close, open
save
load
install
access, read, view
You need a special password to access this file.

back up, copy
edit, modify
delete, erase
delete sth from
Data has been deleted from this file.

name, rename
recover, retrieve
how to recover deleted files

hold, store
The files are stored in Mac format.

compress
send, transfer
Files are transferred between workstations.

export, import
share
attach
overwrite
encrypt

contain sth

name
format, size
server
sharing
system
transfer
extension
manager

in a/the file
The names and addresses are all kept in computer files.

alphabetically
electronically
mentally
She mentally filed the name away for later.

away
These notes should be carefully filed away for future reference.

under
The card is filed alphabetically under the name of the editor.

formally, officially
He has now formally filed a complaint against the police.

jointly

for
to file for bankruptcy/divorce

with
A copy of the notice must be filed with the court.

silently
out, past
The long line of mourners filed silently past.

in, into, out of, past, through

File is used with these nouns as the subject:
attorney

File is used with these nouns as the object:
action, appeal, application, challenge, charge, claim, complaint, document, grievance, indictment, injunction, litigation, nail, notice, objection, paper, paperwork, patent, petition, plan, record, registration, report, statement, story, suit, writ