Folder Options In Vista

[morocco31477]

Is there any way to prevent Vista from automatically alphabetize files as you add them to folders? I really do not like that feature, at all.

Also, in XP you can open a folder, set it's view (like list view with status bar) and you can go to folder options and "apply to all folders" and it will change every folder's view. I cannot for the life of me get this to work in Vista. Can someone please tell me what to do to fix this?

[MagicAndre1981]

in Vista the option "apply to all folders" applies your selection to the currently selcted folder type. Vista uses 5 different types of folders where you can select different views and Vista displays that different views depending on which files you have store inside the currently opened folder. If you have documents, you are interested in the author, title, key words and for videos/musik you are interested in the bitrate, author. So Vista allows you to set different views for different kind of files inside your folders.

[morocco31477]

OK well let's say for example I have \Music\... where there are 1000 folders under \Music. I want every folder under \Music to have the list view. How do I change that?

[MagicAndre1981]

Why do you want to do this? if you put them under Music that means they are folders with music. If want other views put them somewhere else.

Create 5 empty folders, select 1 of the 5 types for 1 folder and customize it as you want it and select for all 5 types and folders "apply to all folders of this type" like you did in XP. Now Vista detects the content of the folder and changes the view to the view which matches best to the files you have inside the folder.

[morocco31477]

You're throwing me off about asking me why I want to do this. I want list view for every single file in the computer, except for pictures where I want icons (thumbnails). I DO NOT want the default detail view. Now I have not tried any solutions yet, nor have I ever really even used Vista for a long period of time. This is on my friend's computer that she just bought.

Here is a solution that I found online:

Open the Registry Editor and go to the following keys:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMRU]

Right-click on the Bags key in the left pane and select Delete, then do the same thing for BagMRU. This will remove most existing customizations for things like window sizes, positions and views. While still in the same place in the Registry Editor, you will need to manually recreate one of these keys with a new setting. Right-click on the following key in the left pane:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell]

Create a new key called Bags to replace the one you just deleted. Right-click on Bags, select New>Key and name this new key AllFolders. Right-click on AllFolders, select New>Key and name this new key Shell. The end result should look like this:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]

Now left-click on the last Shell key and in the right pane right-click in an empty area and select New>String Value. Name this new string FolderType and once created, double-click on it and in the Value Data box you can set the default view which all folders will initially take (unless otherwise specified) by entering one of the following values:

NotSpecified, Contacts, Documents, Music, Pictures

For example if you enter Documents in the FolderType Value Data box (which I recommend), then all folders for which you do not manually set a view will default to the standard Documents folder view as you set it.

Now in Windows Explorer go to your \Users\[username]\ directory and for each of the main folder types under there (Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos), make sure that you set the view you wish, including things like choosing which columns to show and how wide they each are, the size of any icons/thumbnails, the way in which they are sorted, etc. As you make the changes, for each folder click the Organize button at the top of Windows Explorer, select 'Folder and Search Options', go to the View tab and click the 'Apply to Folders' button. This will set this view for all folders of that same type, and this method also means that should you copy files of any other type into a folder, it will not alter that folder's view settings - from now on the settings should remain exactly as you leave them.

There's one more step which can help ensure these settings remain fixed. Go to the following key:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell]

Left-click on the Shell key and in the right pane, if you can see BagMRU Size then there is no need to undertake this step. If it isn't there however, right-click and select New>DWORD 32-bit Value and name it BagMRU Size. Set this value to 10000 in Decimal (or 2710 in Hexadecimal).

[morocco31477]

Just to let everyone know, the above instructions did exactly what I wanted them to do, which was to keep list view (or whatever view) in all folders without the folders/subfolders going back to those big clunky medium sized icons/thumbnails.

[MagicAndre1981]

now you have the old behavior which is not usefull. But for all XP Users who don't want to learn new things this maybe ok. I like the new one. For pictures, videos, documents I need different views.

[Guest]

now you have the old behavior which is not usefull. But for all XP Users who don't want to learn new things this maybe ok. I like the new one. For pictures, videos, documents I need different views.

Not useful to who? We are all different creatures and have personal preferences its not about "who don't want to learn new things". What is there to learn?

I prefer details on everything but pictures. I don't need to see bitrate on mp3s or the author as I have another method that takes care of author.