Folder navigation in Windows 7

[jiayi]

Hi all,

I find one unpleasant design of folder expansion/navigation in Windows 7.
In Wins XP, when we click on the folder's name in folder navigation pane, the sub-folder directories will be displayed automatically. But now in Windows 7, we need to manually click on the folder expansion sign (the "+" icon on the left of the folder) then only the sub-folder directories will get displayed. I have turn on the "Expand to current folder" setting but this brings no effect.... This is not a user intuitive design.

Is there a setting in Windows 7 which enable us to do the same like in Wins XP?

Thanks,
Jiayi

 

[Night Hawk]

Hello jiay Welcome to SF!

Simply open up any WE window and simply go to menu bar>Tools>Folder options and tick the single click to open an item. Here I use a programmable mouse with one button set to double click

 

[jiayi]

Hi Night Hawk,

Thanks for your quick reply. I tried the settings you suggested but it doesn't work on the folder navigation pane. To better explained my problem, I have attached the screenshot as follow for your kind reference.

As you can see, I clicked on the folder named "Music", the sub-folders "iTune", "Playlist" and "Sample Music" will not be displayed on the folder navigation pane - this means that the parent folder will not get auto expanded though clicking on the folder name... But in Wins XP, this works well when I clicked on the folder name... In Windows 7, we need to click on the + sign (on the left most of the folder) in order to expand the folder "Music"...

Small note: I have turn on the "Expand to current folder" setting but this brings no effect...

Thanks,
Jiayi

 

[Ztruker]

You could give Classic Shell a try, see if it works the way you want. May be more that you want though I think you can select which changes are active or not.

 

[Dzomlija]

Hi Night Hawk,

Thanks for your quick reply. I tried the settings you suggested but it doesn't work on the folder navigation pane. To better explained my problem, I have attached the screenshot as follow for your kind reference.

As you can see, I clicked on the folder named "Music", the sub-folders "iTune", "Playlist" and "Sample Music" will not be displayed on the folder navigation pane - this means that the parent folder will not get auto expanded though clicking on the folder name... But in Wins XP, this works well when I clicked on the folder name... In Windows 7, we need to click on the + sign (on the left most of the folder) in order to expand the folder "Music"...

Small note: I have turn on the "Expand to current folder" setting but this brings no effect...

Thanks,
Jiayi

While I do understand your concerns, I must point out that your example is not accurate, because of the fact that you are NOT clicking on a folder. "Music" is not a folder, but is a library and therefore operates differently than folders.

I library is a collection of folders from various locations on your hard drive, designed to help consolidate different classes of files into on place.

If you where to navigate to your C:, and then go to folders from there, you'll notice that the tree pane at the left will expand as expected with your current settings.

 

[Night Hawk]

That's a substitute for the original Classic Start menu seen from 95 through Vista not having anything to do with WE as far as opening navigation items. In the previous versions a drive would have a link under it where you made one simple left click.

In 7 however you need to double click on the highlighted item like your main drive in order to see it expand in the navigation pane. I know where jiay is coming from on that. There is a solution however namely using the custom settings under Organize>Layout>navigation pane.

1.In an open window, click Organize, and then click Folder and search options.

2.In the Folder Options dialog box, click the General tab, and then do one or both of the following:

•To show all the folders on your computer in the navigation pane, including your personal folder, select the Show all folders check box, and then click OK.

•To automatically expand the navigation pane to the folder that's selected in the folder window, select the Automatically expand to current folder check box, and then click OK.

The MS page for this is seen at Working with the navigation pane

That was about the closest answer without a registry edit of some value. A similar answer is seen at http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/...ion-pane-tree-to-current-folder-in-windows-7/