Save to Desktop problems

[nabilalk]

With auto arrange and align to grid checked, the save order of files to desktop is random. Instead of saving the file after the last icon on the desktop, the order saved seems to depend on whatever you have the view options set to.

This was never an issue with Win XP. Anyone experiencing this issue and have a third-party solution? If anyone can phrase the question better, please do so as I could use the help.

 

[Brink]

Hello Nabilalk,

You can right click on the desktop and click on "Sort by" to select how you want the files on the desktop sorted by.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[nabilalk]

Hello Nabilalk,

You can right click on the desktop and click on "Sort by" to select how you want the files on the desktop sorted by.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thanks for the reply. I tried that and have tried sorting by every available option. In Win XP, My Computer and My Documents were always the number 1 and 2 icons on the desktop. There was even a tweak in Tweak UI Win XP Powertoy that forced My Computer as the 1st icon. I then had the recycle bin and Firefox. The first file saved to the desktop would save below the Firefox shortcut. Any subsequent saved file to the desktop would save below the first file. And so on. In other words, files were arranged based on their "creation date".

Win 7 only has a "Date modified" sort option. When this is set, the My Computer and User folder icons get moved around when I want them to stay at the top as the 1st and 2nd icons on the desktop. Can I add a Creation Date sort by option somehow?

Any way around this? Does my question make sense, would screens help?

 

[richc46]

Brink is right, just right click and set the way you want. What I do, is right clikck, remove all the checks, put the icons where I want and they seem to stay put. The only exception is when I restore my system with a system image, etc. When I first set them up they go where every I want to put them. After log off or shut down, they are in the same place but move just enough to be orderly, evenly spaced and neat.

 

[harpua]

Just move them around to where you want them to be. There is no need to sort them after that.

 

[Brink]

A workaround would be to have these Computer and User Folder shortcuts pinned to the taskbar instead of one on the desktop.

 

[nabilalk]

Just move them around to where you want them to be. There is no need to sort them after that.

But then what order will files saved to the desktop be in? And if align to grid isn't checked, when you delete a file from the desktop, there is a blank space created between saved files. In other words, with these options unchecked, the icons left of the desktop stay put where they are, and so do the files. When there is an empty space created from deleting files off the desktop, you have to manually move the remaining icons or files to fill the empty space.

 

[richc46]

If you try what I previously said, it really should work. It does on my computer.

 

[nabilalk]

Brink is right, just right click and set the way you want. What I do, is right clikck, remove all the checks, put the icons where I want and they seem to stay put. The only exception is when I restore my system with a system image, etc. When I first set them up they go where every I want to put them. After log off or shut down, they are in the same place but move just enough to be orderly, evenly spaced and neat.

Read what I said previously and give it a try

I will give that a shot. Is it something about the logoff or restart that preserves the order?

That seems to have worked! The only issue is that the User folder comes before My Computer. There used to be a Win XP Powertoy Tweak UI that had an option to fix this. Anyone know of a similar tweak option?

 

[rockewei]

i have the same problem

hi, i have the same problem.

most of the time, the saved file are at the second place, i mean it is below the icon of my computer in my case, not at the last position.

anyone can resolve it, please, thanks.

 

[nabilalk]

Its nice to know that I'm not alone in feeling annoyed with this issue. I noticed the same problem with Vista. If anyone has a permanent solution for this, as the arrangement of icons in desired order, the restart, does not work, I would love to hear from you. Thanks!

 

[ccinco]

Has this issue been resolved yet?

I save files to the desktop, and it is extremely irritating to have them appear randomly...sometimes in the upper left of the desktop under My Computer, and sometimes in the last position on the desktop, which is where I want them.

Has anyone figured out how to ensure that saved documents are always in the last (ie, most recent) position on the desktop in Windows 7? Thanks.

 

[richc46]

Yes easy to save doucment on desktop. Put documents in doucments folder and then make a short cut for the desktop. You can put them where you wish or right click on desktop and choose view or sort by. It always works for me, should work for you too.

 

[ccinco]

Saving items to desktop

OK, so when i am saving email attachments or downloading files from my web browser, how can I ensure these newest items show up last on my desktop every time. It is a major hassle to have to right click, TWICE, every time I save files (right clicking once and choosing "date order" puts them in the wrong order, so I have to do the same thing again...another hassle).

And why is it that sometimes the files appear last, as they should, and sometimes they appear after My Computer? These inconsistencies and hassles are a major annoyance.

 

[whoknows7]

My god, I am so glad I'm not the only one this bothers. It drives me absolutely insane. I never thought I'd miss a feature from XP so much. Did anybody find a real fix?

 

[bibsley]

I'm surpised that this thread has not had more traffic. I have this issue on multiple Windows 7 machines. When I save or move something to my desktop it invariably saves it at the top left of the screen, rather than under the other desktop icons, as it has done on every other version of Windows I've used over the past 20 years. Auto arrange and Align to grid both selected, but no sort options. Really irritating! None of the solutions that I've seen suggested work: maybe MS regard it as normal behavior rather than a bug, but it's certainly a regression to me.

 

[nabilalk]

Fences is a workaround.

My god, I am so glad I'm not the only one this bothers. It drives me absolutely insane. I never thought I'd miss a feature from XP so much. Did anybody find a real fix?

A possible workaround. You might try giving Fences a try. The program allows you to set the permanent icons in the order you want them set. Mine is from top left to bottom (Computer, Documents, Recycle Bin, Todo). You put the icons you want in a "fence" and then any saved items to Desktop are always in the last (ie, most recent) position on the desktop.

quick Fences setup:

1. manually arrange permanent Desktop icons in order you want them fixed.
2. install Fences
3. choose fence setup for advanced users option
4. right-click on desktop and drag rectangle that appears around the icons you want to make into a fixed fence
5. Appearence: under "Show labels" click " Never under Background style/color move "Transparency" to left
6. Done If you want the fence labeled, or you want it shaded, you can change appearance as you like it. I prefer no label, and transparency all the way to left, and no shading.

My fence:

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

The 1 issue I have with Fences, is that there is a blank space created between the end of the fence and the appearance of the first desktop item that is not inside the fence. I find that annoying, but compared to manually having to move around icons or manually move desktop icons to fill blank spaces left by deleted files from the Desktop, I will take Fences.

I don't understand why some people say they don't have this issue, where others clearly do. I have two Win 7 machines, one x86, the other x64 and they both have the problem. Yes, this problem could be solved by pinning the desired permanent Desktop shortcuts to the taskbar instead, however that is not what I want. I want to be able to do what I have done for years in XP, and I think a lot of other people do as well.

So for those out there with the same trouble as me, I say pick your poison. Fences is free and is a more suitable workaround than manually moving or pinning items to the taskbar. I don't like having to run another program in the background, but its a small memory footprint.

If anyone has any other ideas, please share. Or if you need help setting up Fences, let me know by posting here or PMing me.