Windows 7: Make folders default to "general items" optimization

It seems like every folder I don't change to be optimized for "general items" defaults to "pictures." This, of course, leads to massive thumbnails. It seems like, if even one file in a folder is a picture, or has a picture available for the thumbnail (such as a PDF with a cover image), the folder will switch to "picture" optimization. I've been manually changing folders to be "general items" for months now, but I guess I've had enough and want a fix.

I still want folders which are mostly pictures to behave as picture-optimized folders with thumbnail icons.




So, any ideas?

Try setting the parent folder to General Items. So, if all these folders are inside your Documents folder, set the Documents folder to General Items.

That's all I can think of for now...

Hello Dondon,

You could use the tutorial below to set all folders to have the "General Items" folder view at once if you like.

Folder View - Set a Default for All Folders

Hope this helps,
Shawn

I think that's done the trick. Very nice tutorial.


Encountered a weird "bug" of sorts. I have a folder (call it A) containing several subfolders of pictures (call these B1, B2, etc.). I want the subfolders to have the picture template, but the folder of subfolders to have the general items template. If I set folder A to "pictures" template with "apply to subfolders" checked, obviously B1, B2, etc. show up as thumbnails within A (bad), but all the files in B1, B2, etc. show up as thumbnails as well (good). I thought I was being clever and saving time, and would now set A to the general items template without "apply to subfolders" checked. What actually happens, though, is the general item template IS applied to subfolders, and all the files in B1, B2, etc. are now displayed in the "details" view. For some reason, changes applied to a parent directory are applied to its subdirectories as well, despite me unchecking the box for that option. Oh well.:/

Also, selecting multiple folders at once and trying to apply a new template with the customize tab in properties does not work. If you use the "organize" menu to access properties, only the top folder in the list is altered. If you right click a random folder and click properties, only the folder you clicked on is affected.

Dondon,

That's great news.

It sounds like you are in a library. If so, this is normal. All included folders in a library share the same folder views.

You can only change the folder template for one folder at a time, or use the Apply to folders option to apply it to all folder that have the same template.

Folder View - Apply to Folders

It's not in a library. It's not a big deal since I can just change the template for the folders individually; I just found the behavior of the checkbox odd. I'm just happy that I don't have to waste time changing every new folder I create to not be for pictures.

I'm happy to hear that this will work for you.