Windows 7: W7 File Explore file selection lost

Is it by design of Windows 7 File Manager (File explorer) that selection is removed when clicking to Explorer right side Window column header, in order to sort by name.

For example:
1. I sort by type, clicking to type column name
2. select all jpeg files
3. I sort by name, clicking to column name and all selection is lost.

In Windows XP I used this kind of sorting for testing visually that all jpeg files have accordingly named raw file pair and after that as final step, I deleted all jpeg files.

I'm not sure, if it's an user selectable option in Windows 7 File Manager or just incompetent file management solution.



Thanks!

It's one more thing that is broken in Win 7 Windows Explorer. Add it to a long list.

Some of the Windows Explorer replacements still work this way. PowerDesk for sure, I just tried it. Q-Dir may, don't have it installed any more.

Just checked Windows Classic Shell Explorer - looks like it doesn't bring back this select and sort function.
Can't we just run old 64 bit Windows XP File manager on Windows 7 x64?
Power Desk is not free and as such application tend to have their own limitation, the usage often isn't very long lasting ...
most often there is like a Moore's law - just twice the trial period :-(

Try this, right click in an empty spot in the folder and pick one of the "sort by" option to see if that does what you need

when clicking empty space for sort menu, instantly unselects all previously selected files. When I keep ctrl key down there is no sort menu at all :-(

Did you do this? No Ctrl key is needed. This will keep the items in a folder sorted in the same way all the time. You cannot select a few items in a folder and then sort only those items unless you move/copy them to a new folder. It has been this way since at least Windows 95.

Does it works differently on your PC?
When I select 2-3 files and after that click to empty space to see sort menu, a previous selection is lost and no files is selected. That doesn't make a sense to me as I need to select twice consequently as I did in Windows XP.
First sorting by type jpeg and then by name, to confirm that all raw files had a pair with jpg, followed by deletion.

Nope, it works the same. IF after making a selection(s) in a folder you click ANYwhere in that window, the selection focus will be lost. That's why I suggested to cut/copy/paste your selection to a new folder or sub-folder, then sort from the new one. That, I think may work albeit not a solution, but a work-around.

My previous idea was to change the default sort-by. It will sort all files, .xxx, together, and all .yyy, together. If sort by TYPE and Group by TYPE are both selected, is that what you want?

PowerDesk is not free, true, but I've been using it for at least 10 years, upgrading as I upgraded my OS.
Q-Dir is free though. Might be worth giving it a try, see if it does what you need.

I'm puzzled about your "problem" description, which requires a second sort. Maybe it's just semantics, and I'm not getting what you're describing.

The initial display of names in a folder by Explorer is, by default, sorted alphabetically by name. Unless you've previously clicked on a different column heading than "Name", to sort the list by the values in that column (and which "persists", i.e. the sort sequence of that folder by Explorer gets retained across Explorer window close and re-open), presentation alphabetically by name is what happens.

So, the initial presentation is as if you'd clicked on the "Name" column heading, wherein the up-arrow appears in the column heading indicating "ascending sequence using the values in this column" as the controlling sort for display.

Ok. If you then click on the "Type" column heading you cause a re-sort of the list (into ascending sequence) on the values in the "Type" column, but within each value shown in each type sub-set the individual rows of that subset is still in alphabetical order by name.

So... why would you now need to select only, say, the JPG types, and then re-sort alphabetically by "name"? They're already sorted alphabetically by name?


Based on the description of what you typically used this for in WinXP that no longer works in Windows 7, are you actually wanting to select TWO types from within that large folder that contains multiple types... namely JPG and RAW... and then wanting to re-sort that subset of MULTIPLE TYPES... to re-collect both RAW and JPG together, so that you can verify that you have pairs, which then lets you delete all of the JPG files?

Or am I just not understanding why you need this ability to retain a current selection from a pre-sorted list, so that you can then select a subset and click on a different column to now re-sort the subset?

What would you do with the remaining non-selected subset, even if you could re-sort the subset using the different column heading click??? Would they remain as originally presented?


Finally, if you have both RAW and JPG in one large folder, and their filenames are the same except for extension, doesn't the original "Name" arrangement already show you the pairs (if present in pairs), first JPG and then RAW? Can't you already visually scroll through the list and see any "orphans"?

I'm just not clear on why what currently exists is insufficient to meet your "twins/orphans" needs?