Solved How to make explorer remember my folder layout preferences

[Swiftkidd]

Hi,

I've recently upgraded from Windows XP so I'm still not yet fully aware of all the differences that have been made from XP to Vista to Windows 7.

In XP I use to have 'My Music' and 'My Video' folders displayed in thumbnail view and inside those sub folders my tracks/video would be displayed in thumbnail view arranged by name and manually arranged in descending order. In Windows 7 I hear they rely on folder libraries but I downloaded 'Folder Options X' to re-enable icon reordering and also have been converting my folder images to .ico extensions so I can change the folder from the skewed look to flat XP thumbnail look but my folders do not remember my layout preferences.


Edit: Ok I think the below has solved my problems, so far this is really great as it saves me hours and hours of senseless customizing but I also have a custom folder labelled 'Fruit Machines' which are emulated gamblers and have them set up in thumbnail view similar to My Music and My Video. How would I customize that folder separately without it affecting other folders display view ?

STEP BY STEP
You can do these two processes in any order but I like to do it as presented because I can then most easily see the changes. For the example below I'm going to make them Music folders and I'm going to apply the Details view template.
Process A: Make Subfolders use Same View Template
Right Click on the Parent folder that contains all the Subfolders > Properties > Customize tab > check Also apply...subfolders > select *Music* (for this example) > Apply then Okay
Process 1: Customize and Apply the Music view template layout
Find or create a folder of the view template you want to use.
Select the *Details* view (or List, Large Icons, etc.) and then customize the layout the way you want it. Add new desired columns and reorder them as you like.
Organize menu > Folder and search options > View tab > Apply to folders. THIS MAY BE THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THIS PROCESS because otherwise it doesn't know you want ALL the *Music* folders to be like this one.

 

[lehnerus2000]

You could use a different Folder Template for that folder (e.g. Documents or General).

I set up my General template first and applied it to everything.
Later I created Documents, Music, Picture and Video templates and applied them to the appropriate folders.

Remember to:

1. Choose your columns using Details view
2. Change the view to what you desire (e.g. Large Icons)
3. Set your desired Folder Template.

If you do that you can "Sort by" the details you have set, even if the view is Large Icons (i.e. you don't need to be in Details view to use the columns you have chosen).

For example, I have my "Picture" folder template set to show "Large Icons" (in the Windows Explorer Main pane), but I can still group/sort by the columns I have selected (see picture above).

 

[Swiftkidd]

You could use a different Folder Template for that folder (e.g. Documents or General).

I set up my General template first and applied it to everything.
Later I created Documents, Music, Picture and Video templates and applied them to the appropriate folders.

Remember to:

1. Choose your columns using Details view
2. Change the view to what you desire (e.g. Large Icons)
3. Set your desired Folder Template.

If you do that you can "Sort by" the details you have set, even if the view is Large Icons (i.e. you don't need to be in Details view to use the columns you have chosen).

For example, I have my "Picture" folder template set to show "Large Icons" (in the Windows Explorer Main pane), but I can still group/sort by the columns I have selected (see picture above).

Thanks for your reply.

I think some folders are set automatically. Most seem to be preset to General Items with the exception of My Music, My Pictures and My Video which are preset to their respective content. I think that only leaves me with Documents spared ?

I noticed another thing, after successfully setting up My Music folders I noticed some of them are defaulting back to General Items. I'm not sure if it's because I'm in the process of converting the folder jpeg image into icons to provide full flat XP look in W7.

Do you think that is the cause or doe's Windows 7 have issues remembering folder types etc ? I had those issues in XP and increased the BagMRU size from 400 to 20,000 which seemed to work for aprox 7,000 folders before defaulting but I'm not sure BagMRU works in W7 ?

Edit: I think the problem folders are the ones with many subfolders and contain multiple extensions Jpeg, Icon, and MP3 even though on the parent directory of My Music folder I tick the 'Also apply this template to all subfolders' I think it's windows trying to auto set my preference by file type how do I stop it

 

[OvenMaster]

Unfortunately, this is by design in Win7.
The only way I found to get Win7 to remember my folders' customized settings, locations, and sizes like in past versions of Windows was to install ShellFolderFix.
http://www.sevenforums.com/free-dev...rfix-manage-folder-window-positions-size.html

 

[lehnerus2000]

Disable Auto-Folder Discovery

The view depends upon where you are viewing the folder from.
It will be different in the Libraries vs your User folder.

On my PC, my documents, music, pictures and video files are on different partitions (i.e. not on the OS partition).
As a result, the appearance of my folders is different in the Libraries, User folder and the actual location.

That's why I hate the auto-expand User Folder "feature" in Windows Explorer in W7.
When I choose a folder, I want to see it, not the Library version or the User Folder version.
If I want to see my User Folder, I'll go there myself.

You may need to disable the "Auto-Folder Discovery" setting in the Registry.
I can't find the online site, so I have attached a reg file that I made.

Back up your registry or better yet make a backup system image before applying it. Use at your own risk!
View attachment DisableAutoFolderDiscovery.reg

All of my folders, except the Recycle Bin, remember their settings.