File Explorer - Details Column Drop Down Arrow Filter Menus

[miketurn1234]

Hello Everyone,

I don't exactly know the proper name for them, but I am looking for a way to TURN OFF / REMOVE the arrow drop down menus located to the right of each column when in the "details" view. When you click on the arrows they display a drop down menu giving you the option of filtering A-H, I- P, Q-Z which I am sure tons of people have a need for? I don't think so!

I am using the Windows 7 Basic Theme in Windows 7 Pro and as I said I am using the "Details" View.

I know many will brush off finding a fix to this, saying just ignore them, but they really are annoying, every time you go to change the size of a column (which I do quite a bit) when you go to select the line you get a little hiccup where it loads up this arrow menu icon. I compare this to buying a car and having the manufacturer designing the gas and the brake pedal to be butting up against each other, so that every time you go to hit one you are constantly hitting the other.

Others will say, "just pick a 3rd party file explorer", which after testing over 30 (don't get me started on file explorers ),
I have picked one and the best one that I have found that suits my own personal needs so far is QDir. It is a great file explorer and I am so grateful to the developer for creating it, (if you haven't tried it out, give it a shot) the only thing is I believe it uses the identical light blue columns from Windows 7 File Explorer because it has the same exact column pull down arrows. I figure if I can eliminate them in the Windows 7 File Explorer then that will transfer over to QDir and they will be gone forever. If I am wrong and they are not the same columns then I would have to ask the developer of QDir to try and remove them and I don't know if someone will change their product just for me?

All Microsoft had to do was to put simple on/off settings for all these little annoying upgrades.
Overall I am very pleased with Windows 7 but I have a huge list of all the problems that I have come across with the File Explorer. The thing that baffles me are all these things worked fine in file explorer in XP, so the programming was already on some level done, wouldn't it have been more work to change everything.

Anyways, can someone PLEASE help me come up with a solution for this.
I have seen some amazing things done/created by other users that I never would have thought could be changed in Windows 7, hopefully someone has the magical skills of making these arrows disappear.

Thank You To All Who Have Taken The Time To Read This

 

[Brink]

Hello Mike,

I'm not sure that those can be removed.

If you like, you might see if Option Two in the tutorial below may be another way that may work for you to resize the columns.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/103062-windows-explorer-columns-change-width.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[andrew129260]

Unfortunately I do not see any way to turn that off. Sorry. I don't understand how you accidently hit/click it though. Maybe use another view like list instead of the details view?

Brink has listed a good suggestion above, maybe you could even make the pixels size so small that its like it isn't there...

 

[miketurn1234]

Oh man out of all the people to reply not you Brink, because if you say it can't be done that means it probably cannot be done. Believe it or not you were one of the main people I was referring to when I said I have seen some people do some amazing things. More often then not most questions I have about Windows 7 that I have searched for answers for seem to be answered by you. It is getting to the point where I am now starting to believe that that is not just a mere profile pic, but in fact that really is a picture of you, and that you are an actual alien who has been sent here to help us humans with our feature lacking operating system troubles.
Thank you for all the help and service you are providing.
If your response was not bad news enough, to top it off, backing up your claim that this cannot be done is an actual Windows 7 Guru.

Well thank you guys for your responses. To clarify, it's not that I actually hit the arrow itself, but I think it is more that when you go to change the column width the column bar highlights and the arrow appears, just an unnecessary distraction, and it is for something that I will never use, I have no need to just see files A - J.
I was aware of the fit to column option, it is okay but I most often use a couple of instances of Windows Explorer so when the sizes of the windows change, I have to adjust them to see all the info. It seems like it may be built into the highlight when you drag the mouse pointer over the column, is there any way to maybe turn off the highlight feature of the columns?

Well if anyone else has any ideas let me know, thanks again guys.
This is just one of many questions that I have about Windows 7 and its quarks, which all seem to be based around Windows Explorer.

 

[andrew129260]

Brink has listed a good suggestion above, maybe you could even make the pixels size so small that its like it isn't there...

Did you try this? Might work....

Never mind, realized it would not work. Minimum pixel size is 80. And I am guessing list mode is not suitable?

I was aware of the fit to column option, it is okay but I most often use a couple of instances of Windows Explorer so when the sizes of the windows change, I have to adjust them to see all the info. It seems like it may be built into the highlight when you drag the mouse pointer over the column, is there any way to maybe turn off the highlight feature of the columns?

Well if anyone else has any ideas let me know, thanks again guys.

Could you show a screenshot of what you mean with the highlighting? I think I know what you mean but want to make sure... Might help me understand better.