customized folder icons disappear

[tamas7]

Keeping my folders organized in windows 7 is a nightmare.

I'm a graphic artist, and have a myriad of folders & subfolders containing my work. These are categorized by date, project, client, etc, but often the easiest way to locate a particular item is by visual identification.

I keep these folders set to large or extra-large icons (depending on the number) and customize the icons via the following process:

right-click, properties>customize>choose file>open
then: change icon>restore defaults>ok

...in order to "paste" a representative image on the folder's "cover" (ex: a picture of a ship for a folder containing nautical images). This is a clunky, not-so-elegant process, but it works ... for a while.

After a few days (or sometimes weeks) the folder icon will have reverted to its original appearance (multiple images spilling out of a manila folder). Some take longer than others, but it happens over and over again.

Also, I've noticed that the viewing option for files & folders will arbitrarily change (ex: from large icons to small, or to list- or details-mode). Could this be related?

I've seen many queries from people with the same problem, but have yet to find a satisfactory solution. I never had this problem in xp, and hopefully microsoft has given folder customization a little more thought in windows 8. Am I missing something? Has a patch been released to address this issue? In the meantime, I feel like a blind man trying to organize his sock drawer.

 

[tman69]

do a bit of research!

read this section-it should help you solve part of your problem:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11738-thumbnail-previews-enable-disable.html?filter[2]=File%20Folder%20Settings

especially the section about registry edits and Group Policy edits.

IF you do it correctly it WILL stay as you set it.

 

[tamas7]

Thank you tman69 for your prompt response. However, my problem is not that I can't view thumbnails of the images within a folder, but that whenever I assign one to the folder-icon (see illus.), it stays there for an arbitrary period of time & then reverts back to its original appearance. I will try your suggestion in the meantime; perhaps it has some relevance.

In the bit of research I have done on the matter, I read that (in Windows Vista, at least) the number of folders which can be configured this way is capped by default at 400, and that this number can be changed with some tinkering in the registry. Windows 7 is my OS, but maybe there's something similar at the root of my problem?

Thanks again for your insight,
T.

 

[Bongo]

One thing you could try to do is whatever image you want the folder to show name that image "folder.jpg"(I think it must be a .jpg image for it to work) without the quotes marks and place it in the folder and no matter what you put in the folder that will be the only thing that will show as a thumbnail.

Jerry