possible to change list item height/spacing?

OK thanks Tweaker

It turns out ther *is* a registry hack that affects line spacing. I was trying to get rid of another annoying "feature" regarding inability to turn off autoarrange and found this item: How to Disable Auto Arrange in Folders in Windows 7? - The Winhelponline Blog When I tried this I notice that the details and list views have spacing just like XP. Wonderful! It doesn't apply to all folder types, though. The FFlags setting is applied to a subset of folders and some extensive experimentation (or having someone tell me) is needed to figure out what folder type applies to what. There's a whole bunch of them.

I tried the RH approach but in the command window I couldn't copy the new file into c:\Windows\System32. I get a message which says "The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process."

How do I get around this?

Thank you everyone for your research efforts that led to the changes to ExplorerFrame.dll to correct the Windows 7 detail view line spacing problem.

The changes worked perfectly and encouraged me to stay with Windows 7 rather than revert back to Vista and Windows XP. Work has to get done.

It is hard to understand why MS can be so self destructuve. Such a small problem but with such severe productivity implications. These view display parameters should be externalized and not require customer OS modification.

Here is a diff patch. Not sure if it works with other windows versions.

Needs:
ExplorerFrame.dll
Origin: German Win7 32Bit
Filesize: 1.495.040 Bytes
CRC32: C6D1CE23

Download

I succesfully did the item space changes, but in January 2010 (windowsUpdate?) my Windows7 changed back to 'Godzilla' heigth.
So I had to do the changes again. And this time I made a link for everybody to download :) I use Windows7 32bit. Here is the link: http://www.xs4all.nl/~syntecno/tmp/ExplorerFrame.dll
You still have to take permission of the old file in the system32 folder though:
Properties, Advanced, Tab-page 'Owner', Edit, Select your user, OK, now simply change to full control.

No Applaus needed, I know I know, I'm just marvelous.... haha

peterm6389 said:

It turns out ther *is* a registry hack that affects line spacing. I was trying to get rid of another annoying "feature" regarding inability to turn off autoarrange and found this item: How to Disable Auto Arrange in Folders in Windows 7? - The Winhelponline Blog When I tried this I notice that the details and list views have spacing just like XP. Wonderful! It doesn't apply to all folder types, though. The FFlags setting is applied to a subset of folders and some extensive experimentation (or having someone tell me) is needed to figure out what folder type applies to what. There's a whole bunch of them.

I can confirm that!!! I just decided to give it a try before messing up with the DLL.
The registry hack described in the above article really affects the line spacing in Explorer! Although it is fixing another issue in Explorer, obviously there are some values that are fixing the line spacing problem too.
Below are the contents of the disableautoarrange.reg file downloaded from "How to Disable Auto Arrange in Folders in Windows 7? - The Winhelponline Blog":

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

;Brings Back Auto Arrange Menu Option in Windows 7
;Created by Ramesh Srinivasan
;http://www.winhelponline.com/Blog
;Created on  19 Feb 2010
;Modified on 04 Sep 2010

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

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"FullRowSelect"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
"KnownFolderDerivedFolderType"="{57807898-8C4F-4462-BB63-71042380B109}"
"SniffedFolderType"="Generic"
"FolderType"="NotSpecified"

;Generic - Folder Template

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell\{5C4F28B5-F869-4E84-8E60-F11DB97C5CC7}]
"Rev"=dword:00000000
"FFlags"=dword:43000000
"Vid"="{0057D0E0-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}"
"Mode"=dword:00000001
"LogicalViewMode"=dword:00000001
"IconSize"=dword:00000010
"GroupView"=dword:00000000
"GroupByKey:FMTID"="{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}"
"GroupByKey:PID"=dword:00000000
"GroupByDirection"=dword:00000001


;Documents - Folder Template

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell\{7d49d726-3c21-4f05-99aa-fdc2c9474656}]
"Rev"=dword:00000000
"Vid"="{0057D0E0-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}"
"Mode"=dword:00000001
"LogicalViewMode"=dword:00000001
"IconSize"=dword:00000010
"GroupView"=dword:00000000
"GroupByKey:FMTID"="{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}"
"GroupByKey:PID"=dword:00000000
"GroupByDirection"=dword:00000001
"FFlags"=dword:43000000

;Music - Folder Template

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell\{94d6ddcc-4a68-4175-a374-bd584a510b78}]
"Rev"=dword:00000000
"Vid"="{0057D0E0-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}"
"Mode"=dword:00000001
"LogicalViewMode"=dword:00000001
"IconSize"=dword:00000010
"GroupView"=dword:00000000
"GroupByKey:FMTID"="{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}"
"GroupByKey:PID"=dword:00000000
"GroupByDirection"=dword:00000001
"FFlags"=dword:43000000


;Pictures - Folder Template

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell\{b3690e58-e961-423b-b687-386ebfd83239}]
"Rev"=dword:00000000
"Vid"="{0057D0E0-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}"
"Mode"=dword:00000001
"LogicalViewMode"=dword:00000001
"IconSize"=dword:00000010
"GroupView"=dword:00000000
"GroupByKey:FMTID"="{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}"
"GroupByKey:PID"=dword:00000000
"GroupByDirection"=dword:00000001
"FFlags"=dword:43000000

;Videos - Folder Template

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell\{5fa96407-7e77-483c-ac93-691d05850de8}]
"Rev"=dword:00000000
"Vid"="{0057D0E0-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}"
"Mode"=dword:00000001
"LogicalViewMode"=dword:00000001
"IconSize"=dword:00000010
"GroupView"=dword:00000000
"GroupByKey:FMTID"="{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}"
"GroupByKey:PID"=dword:00000000
"GroupByDirection"=dword:00000001
"FFlags"=dword:43000000

Maybe someone more familiar with the Windows registry can determine which of these values are the right ones...

Thank you peterm6389 !!!

tweaker said:

also to get rid of the oversized left window margin you can

search for: <UICollection resid="collection.details"
following that there will be a
padding="rect(14rp,0,0,0)"
which is changed to
padding="rect(0,0,0,0)

can this 14rp be changed to any value (safely)? (I have no idea what sort of things cause problems, so I don't really want to pick random perhaps meaningless numbers, but I would like that 19 pixel gap to be maybe half the size.

peterm6389 said:

I tried the RH approach but in the command window I couldn't copy the new file into c:\Windows\System32. I get a message which says "The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process."

How do I get around this?

someone helped me get around that. this is what worked for me:


the first thing to do is just a precaution:
- create a folder, call it whatever you want, something obvious and short--'tempbackup', for example.
- copy the current ExplorerFrame.dll from system32 into this folder
-on a piece of paper, write down this instruction (with the appropriate address)
copy D:\tempbackup\ExplorerFrame.dll C:\Windows\system32
This instruction is there only for safety reasons--you shouldn't need it. so maybe write down "BACKUP" next to this command, so you don't confuse it with the one you do want to use.

now,
-put your edited version of the dll in some simple and short location (for example, make a folder 'editeddll' in C:
-on your piece of paper, write down the copy-paste instruction for this file
copy D:\editeddll\ExplorerFrame.dll C:\Windows\system32
(whatever the address you've chosen is)

now,
-restart the computer, and push the F8 key until you're presented with the Safe Mode options.
-I chose 'start Safe Mode with DOS prompt' (because the prompt is what you're going to use)
when it loads, all you'll have to work with is CMD (the DOS prompt).
-write this:
copy D:\editeddll\ExplorerFrame.dll C:\Windows\system32
(whatever you wrote down for the tweaked dll)
It will reply about 'overwriting' the .dll already in system32, asking Yes/No.--type "y" and hit enter
it should tell you '1 file copied'.
now you can just close the DOS prompt, hit ctrl+alt+delete -- it will bring up a Windows screen, and in the bottom right corner choose to restart.
-------------------
if anything was to go wrong, if Windows didn't restart or display properly after doing this, you could restart again, enter Safe Mode again, and this time enter your BACKUP command:
copy D:\tempbackup\ExplorerFrame.dll C:\Windows\system32
(whatever location you backed up the original)
and when you restart after that, things will be back to normal.

Tweaker, I've made the four changes you listed, but, weirdly, the line spacing returns

when I enter a folder with so many items that it takes a few seconds to display them all, I can start to highlight files, and I see the old-school no line-spacing look, but as soon as the folder has displayed everything, the display suddenly adjusts to introduce the 1-pixel spacing between items.

weirder, still -- there are a few exceptions: folders where there is never any line-spacing.

It seems to be the case that the no-spacing to spacing change has to do with folder customization being a delayed setting--I changed a folder from 'customized for music' to 'general items' and the spacing vanished.

so, it appears that the changes offered only work on folders customized for "general items" (which _FRUSTRATINGLY_ is not all of them, because apparently Windows intuitively changes folders to suit the contents I put in them EVEN THOUGH I DO NOT WANT THAT. ...if it's not one thing, it's another, eh.)

update:
when customized to "General Items", result of the tweaks is 20-pixel item height with no line-spacing
when customized to "documents" or "music" or "pictures", result is 17-pixel item heights, with 1-pixel line-spacing. (presenting me with a 20% reduction in wasted space)