Solved Sort Folders By Name Does Not Do So Alphabetically As Expected

[Chris Nicola]

I have a folder which has 493 sub folders. When I choose sort by name it does not do so alphabetically the way I expect ie. first by number and then by letter. The first 458 folders are sorted alphabetically as expected. Then there is another group of 35 folders at the end that are sorted alphabetically on their own for no apparent reason. For example in the second group is a folder called 1-Downloaded files 1. This should appear at the very top of the all 493 folders but instead appears at the top of the list in the second group. I want them all to be sorted alphabetically as one set not as two sets or groups. Your advice would be appreciated.

Kind Regards

Chris

 

[Ageeb]

Maybe you'll find something useful in this thread:
Alphabetical Sort Order isn't Alphabetical

 

[seavixen32]

Try numbering it as 01 instead of 1.

 

[Chris Nicola]

Thanks for the suggestions. It seems only be happening to the alphabetical sort in this one folder. Changing a test folder from 1 to 01 did not do the trick. In this case I am not experiencing the problems mentioned in this thread
Alphabetical Sort Order isn't Alphabetical

I am experiencing a twin group Alphabetical sort. For example in the first group I have folders beginning with the letter E sorted correctly and the second group I have another set of folders beginning with E. I want them all to be sorted together. I have no idea why they are being sorted into 2 groups. I have been examining the folder properties of the 2 groups and can't find any difference yet.

Kind Regards

Chris

 

[Ageeb]

If the folder names aren't sensitive (for whatever reasons) could you make a screenshot for us? I'd like to see what's happening.
Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in Seven Forums

 

[Chris Nicola]

I have attached the two most important of the 5 screenshots. Capture 1 is the beginning of the Folder list. Capture 5 is the end of the Folder list. In the middle of Capture 5 you can see the second set of files arranged alphabetically starting from 1-Downloaded Files1.

Kind Regards

Chris

 

[seavixen32]

Try removing the hyphen in the folder names in question e.g. 1-Downloaded Files 1 would become 1Downloaded Files 1.

 

[Chris Nicola]

Thanks. Tried that, still no change though.

Kind Regards

Chrois

 

[Ageeb]

I tried to replicate your problem with a random sample of your folder names and couldn't
cropped my settings for you to compare with.

 

[Chris Nicola]

Thanks for all your help. I just tried an experiment. I copied a random sample of files from the problem folder into another new test folder and they seem to be arranged correctly. I suspect there must be some registry or other damage somewhere. This was probably caused by a bulk file renaming utility I used on the files in this folder that might not be fully compatible with Windows 7. Rebooting did not solve the problem. I am not sure if a disk error check will help. As a work around, what I will probably do is copy all the files into another folder and delete the old problem folder, then run a disk check.

Kind Regards
Chris

 

[Ageeb]

Good strategy! Let us know what you discover...

-Ageeb

 

[seavixen32]

OK, thanks for the update.

 

[Chris Nicola]

In the end I found an easier method. I created a new folder and opened it in a new window. Then I dragged all the contents of the problem folder into the new folder. This took only a few seconds instead of waiting for an hour or whatever if I had copied and pasted 45 Gbt. In the new folder Alphabetical order has been properly restored. I suspect the culprit was the "Bulk Rename Utility" which I used to remove the prefix "Downloaded" from many file names. I never had problems using it before but there is always a first time.This folder also had a mixture of folders previously created on older OS so they may have had different folder attributes which didn't go down well with the "Bulk Rename Utility".

Thanks again for all your help and support.

Kind Regards

Chris