problem creating prefabs

Ok....maybe i'm just a fool...but how do you create prefabs?? I searched and didn't find any tutorials explicitly on creating prefabs. It would seem that all you need to do is select the objects you want to create a prefab out of, go to the tools menu, and hit create prefab. Then, according to the sdk user's guide... it should appear in the new objects menu ready to use. Every time I try, it never shows up. What's the deal? anyone have this same problem?

Select the guff you want to make into a prefab. hold down ctrl and R. Fill in the boxes as required.

To insert prefabs into your level:
Click the brush creation tooly thing. At the right of the screen there is a
box with two drop down lists - categories and objects and a "create
prefab" button.

In the categories list select prefabs

In the objects list select your prefab

Hit the brush creation button again and another button should appear
above the "create prefab" button called "Insert Prefab". Click, and the
prefab is inserted.

To access the Prefab Factory

Its in the tools menu - but only when you don't have a map loaded.

the problem is that when i save the prefab, select the brush tool, and go to get the prefab from the drop down box, it just isn't there. for some reason it doesn't recognize that I created the prefab at all

Lol, that's an old bug. You see, prefabs are recognized as ".vmf"
files, and when you save the prefab, (no matter what file type
selected), it will be saved without an extention.

The best you can do is to go to that folder and rename the files so
they get that ".vmf" extention. Hammer should recognize your prefab
after that.

Maybe ther're being saved to the wrong place, look in your directories to find out where yours is, and where the other ones are.

Just a suggestion I really have no ideas, I don't use prefabs.