Solved Favorites: how to move sub-folders mixed with primary folders

[nottaclue9]

I have somehow made a disastrous mess of my favorites. I looked online for answers to this problem, and all I can find for a solution is cut and paste. This makes no sense to me for this particular issue because there's no way to "un-indent" a sub-folder and move it back in line with the primary folders.

I hope this is making sense to someone. I don't know how to explain it. Here's one example of the many I have screwed up: I have a "Daily reader" folder and a "Dog stuff" folder. The latter has a lot in it. Dog stuff is now mixed in with Daily reader. How do I make it a separate folder again?

 

[Brink]

Favorites in Internet Explorer are located in the "C:\Users\(user-name)\Favorites" folder. You could open it, and create new folders or move items around as you like.

 

[nottaclue9]

Thanks, Brink. Just plain ol' drop and drag?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I found out that I can move primary folders, but not the sub-folders.

 

[Brink]

You should be able to cut and paste to move them.

 

[nottaclue9]

Well, I first must confess that when I try to enter the "C\..." using 'administrator' as the username, I get the clanging red "X" window saying that Windows can't find it. So I just entered "favorites," and it pulled up my favorites in a list that I could, indeed, move around. BUT, I could not extricate "dog stuff" from "daily reader." So the problem remains. I have four other folders that are messed up like that. It happened when FF imported my stuff from IE.

 

[nottaclue9]

Still can't get this done. Anyone want to walk me through it? I used to be able to access a list of favorites that were "moveable," but I don't know how to find that place again. I have to memorize where the misplaced favorites are, and my memory isn't what it used to be.

I have main favorites stuck in other favorites folders; these are not subfolders, but actual folders that should be indented and alphabetized. See the "dog stuff" and "daily reader" example in the first post. I could not make Brink's suggestion work. Is there another way for us less-skilled people?

 

[UsernameIssues]

...It happened when FF imported my stuff from IE.

Which browser are you using?
Firefox with Bookmarks
or
IE with Favorites?

Here is what Firefox 39.0 looks like:

 

[nottaclue9]

I use both browsers for different things. IE won't play videos, so I use FF for that. Cannot even begin to understand FF Favorites & do not like the unsorted bookmarks, so I use IE for my favorites & photos. I need to figure out how to sort the IE favorites.

 

[Brink]

When you have Favorites open in IE, you can drag and drop them in any order you like.

 

[nottaclue9]

Right. But I can't pull a "snatched" folder out of a main folder. It won't get in line, so to speak. It stays indented under another folder where it doesn't belong.

 

[Brink]

You'll only be able to drag and drop them from within a folder.

Otherwise, you'll need to open your "C:\Users\(user-name)\Favorites" folder to move them to the folder you want them in first.

 

[nottaclue9]

OK, Brink. Thank you. I'll try that again. I always get the clanging red "X," so maybe I don't even know my own user name! Wouldn't surprise me...

 

[Brink]

If you don't get it to work, then post a screenshot showing what you see instead.

 

[UsernameIssues]

Right. But I can't pull a "snatched" folder out of a main folder. It won't get in line, so to speak. It stays indented under another folder where it doesn't belong.

You just gotta drop it in the right place

You'll only be able to drag and drop them from within a folder....

Perhaps I'm not understanding you. You should be able to drag any folder up to the root of Favorites. But watch the video - the tool tip is not always right or I held the mouse too long in the wrong place.







If the folder named Websites for United States got moved down a level, click and drag it until you see the tiny black line. The tool tip should also tell you that the folder will be placed in Favorites.

Otherwise, you'll need to open your "C:\Users\(user-name)\Favorites" folder to move them to the folder you want them in first.

That would be too easy

 

[nottaclue9]

Under "Menus" is "Message Boards." It is a separate folder, not a subfolder. It doesn't belong there. I can drop and drag for as many hours as I want, and the indented folder will not stay put in order; it will not "un-indent" and fall in line with the rest of the folders.

I used the list of Favorites to try to edit as shown in UserNameIssues' post, not the ones that open on the left by clicking on the star.

 

[UsernameIssues]

~~~
...not the ones that open on the left by clicking on the star.

Why not try it the way that I show in my post?
Were you able to watch the video?

If you cannot get it to work as I shows in my post, then we will move on to using Windows (file) Explorer.

 

[nottaclue9]

Sorry, UsernameIssues. I couldn't get the video to work. I even switched to Firefox which will usually allow videos, unlike IE. I'd like to see it if it's not a big hassle.

 

[UsernameIssues]

Does it work for you if you visit youtube via this link?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoHUKWonPkQ

 

[Brink]

Under "Menus" is "Message Boards." It is a separate folder, not a subfolder. It doesn't belong there. I can drop and drag for as many hours as I want, and the indented folder will not stay put in order; it will not "un-indent" and fall in line with the rest of the folders.

I used the list of Favorites to try to edit as shown in UserNameIssues' post, not the ones that open on the left by clicking on the star.

I'm afraid that only the URL links can be arranged within the Favorites menu bar in IE.

The folders cannot be rearranged in Favorites menu bar. They are arranged alphabetically together with any other folders, and the only way to change their order is to rename them.

In the Favorites Center like in UsernameIssues's screenshots, you can move folders into other folders though.

 

[UsernameIssues]

~~~
I'm afraid that only the URL links can be arranged within the Favorites menu bar in IE.

The folders cannot be rearranged in Favorites menu bar. They are arranged alphabetically together with any other folders, and the only way to change their order is to rename them.

In the Favorites Center like in UsernameIssues's screenshots, you can move folders into other folders though.

This does not seem to be the case for IE8 and IE11 (the only two that I tested).

The folders can be rearranged and the order survives restarting IE as shown in the video below.
The rearranged sort order also survives rebooting the computer (not shown).

I seem to recall that renaming folders to sort them was a work around for older versions of IE, but that does not seem to be needed in IE8 or IE11.

From the Favorites menu bar, you cannot move a sub-folder to another level.
This, of course, is the issue at hand.



As a side bar: This post details a flaw that started with IE11. Putting a text file in the Favorites bar folder is just an example. As far as I can tell, shortcut files with extensions other than ".URL" are not sorted correctly on that bar. This includes shortcuts with the ".WEBSITE" file extension. A user might drag/drop a URL to the desktop* and later decide to cut that shortcut and place it into the Favorites bar folder. That user will probably never be able to drag/drop/sort the Favorites bar shortcuts as desired. All non-URL shortcuts will be shoved to the right of all URL shortcuts after IE is closed.

*which creates a shortcut file with the ".WEBSITE" file extension when using IE9 or above.