Multiple folders for Windows Desktop Background?

[nabilalk]

Win 7 only allows you to set one folder at a time to search for wallpapers under Personalize>desktop background Is there a way to allow Win 7 to search folders within folders, or add multiple folders to the Picture Location so that you can use multiple folders for your desktop background?

I suppose I could use Webshots or some other desktop background app, but I would like to be able to do this without installing additional software. Thanks.

Update: Creating a new Library and manually adding each folder of wallpapers that I wanted to include, including manually adding subfolders allowed Win 7 to search all of the wallpapers that I wanted to use. Thank you Brink for the solution.

 

[noobvious]

Win 7 only allows you to set one folder at a time to search for wallpapers under Personalize>desktop background Is there a way to allow Win 7 to search folders within folders, or add multiple folders to the Picture Location so that you can use multiple folders for your desktop background?

I suppose I could use Webshots or some other desktop background app, but I would like to be able to do this without installing additional software. Thanks.

That's an interesting question. I prefer to keep my wallpapers in two distinct folders....."the girls" and "basic walls".....hopefully someone has an answer for you.

 

[derekimo]

Win 7 only allows you to set one folder at a time to search for wallpapers under Personalize>desktop background Is there a way to allow Win 7 to search folders within folders, or add multiple folders to the Picture Location so that you can use multiple folders for your desktop background?

I suppose I could use Webshots or some other desktop background app, but I would like to be able to do this without installing additional software. Thanks.

Have you tried putting your multiple folders into a single folder, then just have it use that one folder.

 

[nabilalk]

Win 7 only allows you to set one folder at a time to search for wallpapers under Personalize>desktop background Is there a way to allow Win 7 to search folders within folders, or add multiple folders to the Picture Location so that you can use multiple folders for your desktop background?

I suppose I could use Webshots or some other desktop background app, but I would like to be able to do this without installing additional software. Thanks.

Have you tried putting your multiple folders into a single folder, then just have it use that one folder.

Yes I have. The main issue is that Win 7 won't search folders within folders. For example, if you set your wallpaper folder to My Pictures, Win 7 will only search for images in the root directory of My Pictures. It will not search subfolders.

 

[derekimo]

Win 7 only allows you to set one folder at a time to search for wallpapers under Personalize>desktop background Is there a way to allow Win 7 to search folders within folders, or add multiple folders to the Picture Location so that you can use multiple folders for your desktop background?

I suppose I could use Webshots or some other desktop background app, but I would like to be able to do this without installing additional software. Thanks.

Have you tried putting your multiple folders into a single folder, then just have it use that one folder.

Yes I have. The main issue is that Win 7 won't search folders within folders. For example, if you set your wallpaper folder to My Pictures, Win 7 will only search for images in the root directory of My Pictures. It will not search subfolders.

O.K. how about creating a new folder with just the contents of the multiple folders copied to the new folder.

 

[nabilalk]

Have you tried putting your multiple folders into a single folder, then just have it use that one folder.

Yes I have. The main issue is that Win 7 won't search folders within folders. For example, if you set your wallpaper folder to My Pictures, Win 7 will only search for images in the root directory of My Pictures. It will not search subfolders.

O.K. how about creating a new folder with just the contents of the multiple folders copied to the new folder.

I could do that yes. But then I would have duplicate copies of all of my wallpapers. I have about 6GB of wallpapers, and I would prefer not to have duplicates. Plus, I like to keep things organized, and throwing all of my wallpapers in one folder would not allow me to maintain my folder structure.

 

[Brink]

Hello Nabilalk,

How about creating a new Library folder and including the folder locations that have the images you want to use in the library, then selecting the library in Desktop Background. This way they will be available from one library folder, but still only stored in there original locations.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[nabilalk]

Hello Nabilalk,

How about creating a new Library folder and including the folder locations that have the images you want to use in the library, then selecting the library in Desktop Background. This way they will be available from one library folder, but still only stored in there original locations.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

That sounds like a plan Brink. I will give that a try and post back.

 

[derekimo]

Yes I have. The main issue is that Win 7 won't search folders within folders. For example, if you set your wallpaper folder to My Pictures, Win 7 will only search for images in the root directory of My Pictures. It will not search subfolders.

O.K. how about creating a new folder with just the contents of the multiple folders copied to the new folder.

I could do that yes. But then I would have duplicate copies of all of my wallpapers. I have about 6GB of wallpapers, and I would prefer not to have duplicates. Plus, I like to keep things organized, and throwing all of my wallpapers in one folder would not allow me to maintain my folder structure.

I know what you mean, I have alot of wallpapers too. And some of my folders do have duplicates from other folders. Mainly because there are so many to put in specific folders, laziness on my part.
Those are about all I have to offer for suggestions, If you do find something that works out for you I'd be interested in how you do it.
Sorry I couldn't be more help to you, good luck with that.

 

[derekimo]

Hello Nabilalk,

How about creating a new Library folder and including the folder locations that have the images you want to use in the library, then selecting the library in Desktop Background. This way they will be available from one library folder, but still only stored in there original locations.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thanks Shawn, That's a great idea. I'll Have to try that myself.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome. I just hope it does the trick for you.

 

[derekimo]

You're welcome. I just hope it does the trick for you.

Well I tried that but it will still only use one folder at a time, Good idea though.
Thanks.

 

[nabilalk]

Solution

Hello Nabilalk,

How about creating a new Library folder and including the folder locations that have the images you want to use in the library, then selecting the library in Desktop Background. This way they will be available from one library folder, but still only stored in there original locations.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

The Library creation trick works. You create a new library and then add each folder of wallpapers that you want to that library. Keep in mind though, that you have to add subfolders separately in order for Win 7 backgrounds to search that folder for wallpapers. For example, if you have a folder of wallpapers called Nature, and you have subfolders named Americas, Europe, Africa, Antarctica, Middle East, Asia, then you have to select each folder separately in order for you to be able to use the wallpapers from that folder. Depending on how many subfolders you have, this can be quite tedious. However, it is a workaround that allows you to use the stock Windows 7 background features, without having to install additional software.

Thanks Brink!

 

[noobvious]

Hello Nabilalk,

How about creating a new Library folder and including the folder locations that have the images you want to use in the library, then selecting the library in Desktop Background. This way they will be available from one library folder, but still only stored in there original locations.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

That's actually what I did yesterday. It still only lets your "shuffle wallpaper" access one of the folders at a time, it seems, but I'm ok with that.

 

[derekimo]

Hello Nabilalk,

How about creating a new Library folder and including the folder locations that have the images you want to use in the library, then selecting the library in Desktop Background. This way they will be available from one library folder, but still only stored in there original locations.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

That's actually what I did yesterday. It still only lets your "shuffle wallpaper" access one of the folders at a time, it seems, but I'm ok with that.

Same here.

The Library creation trick works. You create a new library and then add each folder of wallpapers that you want to that library. Keep in mind though, that you have to add subfolders separately in order for Win 7 backgrounds to search that folder for wallpapers. For example, if you have a folder of wallpapers called Nature, and you have subfolders named Americas, Europe, Africa, Antarctica, Middle East, Asia, then you have to select each folder separately in order for you to be able to use the wallpapers from that folder. Depending on how many subfolders you have, this can be quite tedious. However, it is a workaround that allows you to use the stock Windows 7 background features, without having to install additional software.

Are you saying you got that to use the pictures in multiple folders?
I can't get it to use more than one folder at a time.

 

[noobvious]

Hello Nabilalk,

How about creating a new Library folder and including the folder locations that have the images you want to use in the library, then selecting the library in Desktop Background. This way they will be available from one library folder, but still only stored in there original locations.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

That's actually what I did yesterday. It still only lets your "shuffle wallpaper" access one of the folders at a time, it seems, but I'm ok with that.

Same here.

The Library creation trick works. You create a new library and then add each folder of wallpapers that you want to that library. Keep in mind though, that you have to add subfolders separately in order for Win 7 backgrounds to search that folder for wallpapers. For example, if you have a folder of wallpapers called Nature, and you have subfolders named Americas, Europe, Africa, Antarctica, Middle East, Asia, then you have to select each folder separately in order for you to be able to use the wallpapers from that folder. Depending on how many subfolders you have, this can be quite tedious. However, it is a workaround that allows you to use the stock Windows 7 background features, without having to install additional software.

Are you saying you got that to use the pictures in multiple folders?
I can't get it to use more than one folder at a time.

So you want it to shuffle through all of them, must be.

It's not a big deal for me,being limited to just one, as right now I only have two folders there...."the girls"(which is PG-13 since there is a woman living in the house) and "basic walls".

 

[nabilalk]

Hello Nabilalk,

How about creating a new Library folder and including the folder locations that have the images you want to use in the library, then selecting the library in Desktop Background. This way they will be available from one library folder, but still only stored in there original locations.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

That's actually what I did yesterday. It still only lets your "shuffle wallpaper" access one of the folders at a time, it seems, but I'm ok with that.

Same here.

The Library creation trick works. You create a new library and then add each folder of wallpapers that you want to that library. Keep in mind though, that you have to add subfolders separately in order for Win 7 backgrounds to search that folder for wallpapers. For example, if you have a folder of wallpapers called Nature, and you have subfolders named Americas, Europe, Africa, Antarctica, Middle East, Asia, then you have to select each folder separately in order for you to be able to use the wallpapers from that folder. Depending on how many subfolders you have, this can be quite tedious. However, it is a workaround that allows you to use the stock Windows 7 background features, without having to install additional software.

Are you saying you got that to use the pictures in multiple folders?
I can't get it to use more than one folder at a time.

Yes that is exactly what I am saying. The setup is tedious, but it works. Here are some basic steps to get you going:

1. Create a new Library via any of the methods described and add one folder you want to use

2. Open up the library you created, mine is called Wallpapers and click on Include: 1 location

3. Click Add and navigate to another folder that you want to include. Note, if you have a folder called Nature and within the Nature folder you have another folder of wallpapers that you want to include lets say its called Panorama, you have to include the Panorama folder in your library via the Add function. If you only include the Nature folder, and you don't have pictures in the root directory of that folder, then it won't work. You have to manually add each subfolder that contains the wallpapers that you want to include in your Wallpaper library

4. To add additional folders, continue to click Add and browse for the other other folder locations that include the wallpapers. Keep in mind once again, that if a folder has subfolders that you also want to include, you must add the subfolders as well as the root folders.

I hope that helps, please post back if you still have questions. To prove this works, here are some screens of my Wallpaper library in action.

 

[derekimo]

I don't know how you got that view in your first pic, mine will only show thumbnails of one folder at a time. The rest I had no problem with, here's what I got so far, How did you get that view where you select your wallpapers? Mine will only show thumbnails.

O.K. nevermind about the view question I figured that out.
But I still can't get it to list more than one folder. I'll keep trying though.
Thanks for your nice tutorial.

 

[nabilalk]

I don't know how you got that view in your first pic, mine will only show thumbnails of one folder at a time. The rest I had no problem with, here's what I got so far, How did you get that view where you select your wallpapers? Mine will only show thumbnails.

O.K. nevermind about the view question I figured that out.
But I still can't get it to list more than one folder. I'll keep trying though.
Thanks for your nice tutorial.

Under the Pictures Location in Personalize>Desktop Background you have 6 selected. You need to select your newly created Wallpaper Library. Try that and post back.

 

[derekimo]

I don't know how you got that view in your first pic, mine will only show thumbnails of one folder at a time. The rest I had no problem with, here's what I got so far, How did you get that view where you select your wallpapers? Mine will only show thumbnails.

O.K. nevermind about the view question I figured that out.
But I still can't get it to list more than one folder. I'll keep trying though.
Thanks for your nice tutorial.

Under the Pictures Location in Personalize>Desktop Background you have 6 selected. You need to select your newly created Wallpaper Library. Try that and post back.

Yeah I had 6 selected because I hadn't figured out the collapse view yet and the pictures are not for all eyes. Here's what I got now.
That's funny I was trying to help you at first and you ended up helping me.
Thanks. + rep for you.