Library Question, Is this possible

Hi Pdog,

I'm looking into this, but haven't come across a workaround yet. It is a bit annoying - what seems to be happening is that you can arrange the main library to show a particular view and all child folders in that library automatically adopt that view. This is OK for when you create a new child folder. However, changing the view arrangement of either a child folder or its parent library causes all child folders and the parent library to adopt the latest arrangement.

Here you go. I am using the Sample Music folder for this example.

This image shows the Music Library with the view set to Large Icons and Arrange by set to Folders.


Here I have opened the Sample Music folder and have changed it to show a different view, as illustrated by the view icon. However, I did not change the view there. Instead, I changed it by setting Arrange by to Songs.

Indeed it does. Providing the option Arrange by is not set to Folder, then the view arrangement of that folder remains as you set it. In fact, it is possible to have different child folders showing different views if you so wish.

Is there a way to achieve the following:

In my "Pictures" library, I would prefer to have the main parent and it's immediate subfolders be set to the "details" view. But then the folders on the third level beneath the "Pictures" folder, I would prefer to have using large icons because they contain actual photos that I would like to view displayed as thumbnails. So far, the only way I've been able to see the photos in the third sublevel folders as thumbnails is to have the parent folders also set to large icons, which is a mild annoyance, but I can live with it if I have to, as I find the library feature very useful.

There is a way around this, although it is probably not ideal. It is the best that I can come up with. I am using the Sample Pictures folder for this example.

This image shows the Pictures Library with the view set to Details and Arrange by set to Folders.


Here I have opened the Sample Pictures folder and have changed it to show a different view, as illustrated by the view icon. However, I did not change the view there. Instead, I changed it by setting Arrange by to Rating.

I've actually found that the Libraries feature works best for me, and I've had no issues with it displaying my files in the way I want. Case in point, with the Music library.

The following screenshot shows my Music library arranged by Album:

The Album Art thumbnails are displayed in Music Library Album view

I then open a particular album, and change the view to "Details", and Arrange By to "Song", as shown in this screenshot:

Organize your Music Library AS Music, NOT as Filenames!

When viewing the details of an album, I customized the columns to the following arrangement:

1. # (Track Number)
2. Title
3. Contributing Artists
4. Length
5. Album
6. Rating
7. Album Artist
8. Name (Filename)

That arrangement is used with the entire Music library. If I open Windows Explorer, and go to the Music Library and then change the Album view to Artist, I can open any particular Artist to see a collection of his/her Albums, and then drill down deeper into an Album to see the particular tracks of that album.

It almost makes the Windows Media Player Library obsolete, since I now only use WMP for Playback and not file management. I find it so much easier to manage my music in Windows Explorer as such, instead of a collection of filenames.

Note that I only had to configure my Music library view preferences once for each desired view, and then my configurations automaticaly propogated to the entire Music Library...

I only wish there was an easy way to quickly edit the Metadata for AVI/DivX/xVid video files...

You're welcome, Pdog. I'm glad that you have got it sorted. It's just a matter sometimes of experimenting with the various combinations until you find one that does what you want without upsetting everything else.