Can Save to Desktop But Can't see it

[raceman3]

The other day I downloaded a PDF and saved it to my desktop, to my surpirse I did not see it on the desktop. I downloaded it again thinking I fat fingered something and tried to save it to my desktop but now it says the file already exist. Iv'e done the right click deal to desplay icons and refreshed the screen but I still can't see the file. I am logged in as an administrator as well. I checked some of the threads out here but most of them are related to disappearing icons, in my case they never show up in the first place. I'm pretty new to Windows 7 so it may be some setting I'm missing, any help would be appreciated

 

[Brink]

Hello Raceman, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You might double check using the tutorial below to make sure that you have Show Desktop Icons checked.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3659-desktop-items-hide-show.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Dwarf]

Which desktop did you save it to? Each user has his/her own desktop which contains shortcuts to programs/applications/files that they place there. They are not visible to any other user. In addition, there is the Public desktop, and any shortcuts placed there are visible to all users, together with any shortcuts on the individual's own personal desktop (in effect, for display purposes, the 2 desktops are superimposed on top of each other and the icons arranged so that they are not overlapping).

Regardless of which desktop you saved the file to, you will not be able to see it unless you have Show Desktop Icons enabled, as mentioned by Shawn above.

 

[raceman3]

I've checked and " show destop Icons' is enabled

 

[dsperber]

Have you tried to "search" for the file name, and then see exactly what folder it was placed in (assuming it is found by search, which presumably it must be)?

 

[MacGyvr]

Do you have Show Hidden Files and Folders turned on?

 

[Imperfect1]

Three things come to mind:

1. Temporarily reduce your screen resolution to see if you can see the icon and drag it toward the center of the screen. Then you can set your resolution back to what it was.

2. If your Desktop is filled with too many icons you may not be able to add any more. If this is the case, try deleting one and see if a new one that you hadn't seen, appears somewhere on the Desktop. (This happened to me when I used to fill my Desktop with tons of icons.)

3. Here's a work-around: Save the PDF file to your Documents. Then, go into Windows Explorer and manually move (Cut and Paste) the file from your Documents to your Desktop.

 

[dsperber]

1. Temporarily reduce your screen resolution to see if you can see the icon and drag it toward the center of the screen. Then you can set your resolution back to what it was.

Good thought, but I think the resolution needs to be numerically INCREASED rather than decreased, in order to hunt for icons which for some reason may currently be "off-screen".

In other words, if 4:3 resolution is currently 1024x768, increase it to 1152x864 or 1280x960 to enlarge the desktop real estate presented on your screen, and sure enough you may now see what previously were "off-screen" icons.

Same idea with rectangular 16:9 or 16:10 LCD screens, again increasing the numeric resolution to make more visible on that screen.

Maybe this is just semantics... and you were suggesting "making things smaller" by increasing the desktop size in pixels, which means we're both saying the same thing.


But I still think a "search" would at least locate the file location using Explorer. Then we could determine if it really did go into the "Desktop" folder (of what user?), or somewhere else.

 

[raceman3]

Yes I have "Show Hidden Files" turned on but this should not be a hidden file since I saved it to my desktop. I'll try the screen resolution tonight when I get home. I would think if I do a search on my C: drive I should be able to find the file in my desktop directory, I'll try that tonight and post the results

 

[Shadowjk]

Have you tried to log odd and log on again?

Also have you tried to Refresh your Desktop (Rightclick and then click Refresh)

Is the file seen in your User Desktop - C:\Users\*user name*\Desktop

   Note

The above is where C:\ is your Windows Installation

Josh

 

[Imperfect1]

1. Temporarily reduce your screen resolution to see if you can see the icon and drag it toward the center of the screen. Then you can set your resolution back to what it was.

Good thought, but I think the resolution needs to be numerically INCREASED rather than decreased, in order to hunt for icons which for some reason may currently be "off-screen".

In other words, if 4:3 resolution is currently 1024x768, increase it to 1152x864 or 1280x960 to enlarge the desktop real estate presented on your screen, and sure enough you may now see what previously were "off-screen" icons.

Same idea with rectangular 16:9 or 16:10 LCD screens, again increasing the numeric resolution to make more visible on that screen.

Maybe this is just semantics... and you were suggesting "making things smaller" by increasing the desktop size in pixels, which means we're both saying the same thing.

Hmmmm, thanks dsperber. Clearly math was not my forte! But I'm glad you did, at least, understand what I was trying to accomplish. Let's hope this helped the OP.

 

[raceman3]

Yes I have logged out and back in, I have rebooted, I have tried to change the screen resolution, none of them made a difference. This afternoon I searched the whole C: drive for pdf's after not finding them in the desktcop directory. That turned up nothingbut if I go out on the net and download the same pdf and try to save it to my desktop it says the file already exists. I've been in the IT business for 20 years i'll be it mostly on the network side but this is driving me nuts. I'd rather have XP at this point

 

[jeepmann4x4]

Have you tried looking in .. Start orb>YOUR NAME>Desktop.... to see if its showing there? You can also put a "new folder" onto the desktop, name it and download the pdf to it. Then drag the pdf out of the folder onto the desktop to see if it will show up and replace the one you can not see.

Or go to your pdf reader open it, after it opens click on open file and browse to desktop to see if it shows there.

EDIT: What pdf reader do you use? I see you have an HP, did it come with or do you use "pdf complete" if so check here ... HP Support Forum

 

[raceman3]

Logged out, logged in, rebooted same deal.

 

[porkr]

I suspect you have the same issue I have which is the desktop NOT auto refreshing.

I have been unable to find a permanent resolution to this problem.

Is there a permanent fix anyone knows about ?

p.s. Registry "fix" to turn auto refresh on is not working.

 

[Britton30]

this has been said but make sure you are saving to the correct Desktop folder, there are at least two. See snip below.

 

[porkr]

this has been said but make sure you are saving to the correct Desktop folder, there are at least two. See snip below.
View attachment 164536

I tried this as well w/o success ---- the desktop is not automatically refreshing.

I am using a product called Fences and I am wondering if this might be the issue. I will be uninstalling the product and will report findings..

UPDATE : Removing FENCES seems to have fixed the problem for now ( its a shame cause I like this product's ability to manage desktop icons )

 

[Britton30]

Well I'm glad you figured that out porkr.
There are many programs which do Windows jobs "better" but end up causing conflicts too. Have you checked to see if Fences has an updated version compatible with Win7?

 

[Imperfect1]

Many people use Fences without any conflicts or problems concerning saving items to the Desktop. Perhaps you just got a corrupted download of Fences. Why don't you try uninstalling it (and be sure you get all of the little remnants that are sometimes left behind!), and then reinstalling it? If you get a clean, uncorrupted installation, you might still be able to use the app without any problem with saving items to the Desktop. If you like Fences so much, it might be worth a try. If it still causes problems you can always delete it again.

 

[jeepmann4x4]

I have and use Fences without any issues on 64bit Ultimate. Great program, if you liked it should do as "Imperfect1" has said and try again. Stardock Fences