Solved Windows Explorer left hand pane

[mewnlite]

If I expand a folder that's down towards the bottom and there's a lot of subfolders, then everything moves up to make room for the subfolder list. That's as it should be. But about the time I go to click on one of the subfolders, the whole list moves down again and you have to scroll back down to get where you want. After that, it stays put. It's an bug/annoyance that I hope someone gets fixed.
Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[Antman]

I think the OP is noticing the little quirk in Win 7 where Explore does not bring the left pane target folder (the one with focud) up to the to of the pane, throwing it instead to the bottom of the pane.

A nuisance for sure, but unresolved to my knowledge.

 

[joema]

OK, further research shows this is a widely-known problem. It's more serious than a folder jumping around when you click on it.

The problem also happens when doing a drag/drop to the Windows Explorer navigation pane, which causes files to land in the wrong place. IOW you're dragging a file to a folder, and just as your mouse cursor touches it, the folder jumps out from under you, making your files land in the wrong place.

The problem was reported before Win7 shipped; I can't believe it wasn't fixed. There are so many threads discussing it, I can't tell if MS has acknowledged it a bug or still considers it intended design behavior. If a bug I see no indication of a severity assessment: hotfix, vs service pack vs next major Windows version.

Various other threads containing discussion and work-arounds (none good, IMO):

Windows explorer tree view expands at the bottom, not at the top as it used to be (note this one contains pointers to yet other threads discussing the problem)

Strange folder behavior in left pane of Windows Explorer

W7 Jumping To Bottom Browser When clicking on Folders (thread contains 9MB .mov video which well illustrates the problem): http://www.md-arts.com/scrn/W7_JumpingToBottomBrowserWhenFileSelected_01.mov

 

[Tepid]

I got money says it will be fixed in SP1

 

[LPent]

@Tepid: Can I collect now

 

[davehc]

LOL. It wasn't

 

[mewnlite]

I downloaded and installed xplorer2 from xplorer² lite: free windows explorer replacement (file manager)

There's a "lite" version and a paid version for $29.95. Somehow I missed the "lite" version when I went there and wound up paying for it.

It works great. So would have the lite version.

 

[dsperber]

I'm a fan of Free Commander as my "file manager" Explorer substitute.

 

[joema]

Status update: the problem is still not fixed, and users report the behavior is also in the Windows 8 Developer Preview.

Low-level Microsoft personnel have stated it's "by design", but nobody at Microsoft has articulated a rationale for the current behavior. I've seen no response from a senior Escalation Support Engineer, nor a senior person in the Windows product group.

Further discussion: Windows explorer tree view expands at the bottom, not at the top as it - Microsoft Answers

Windows 8 Explorer Navigation Pane Jumps a Short Time After Window Is Started

https://connect.microsoft.com/Windo...in-explorer-server-2008-r2-and-windows-7#tabs

 

[dwightrj]

Right click on the left explorer pane and uncheck "expand to current folder" and "show all folders"

 

[joema]

That doesn't fix it. See the above links.

 

[dwightrj]

It wasn't meant to fix a freeze

 

[dwightrj]

Disregard my last post. I was responding to several forums and inadvertently replied to the wrong one.

Yes, it does seem to fix all of the above issues.

1. Before when I attempted to drag a folder or file from the right pane and drop it on another in the left pane, just as I was about to release it, the left pane might suddenly scroll up to libraries or somewhere else, causing me to drop the file in some unknown location. It no longer does that.

2. When opening a folder in the left pane it might open correctly then jump to the bottom of the pane or even off the bottom of the pane leaving the cursor hovering in the original location. It has resolved that.

3. Each time I open a folder in the left pane now, it scrolls up high enough to show the contents of that folder. If the folder contains more subfolders than will fit in the pane as it is currently sized, it will scroll the folder that I click on to the top of the screen but no further, showing as much of the contents as the window size will allow below it.

4. Now when I first open explorer, the files are no longer expanded but more in a higher level or overall view of the folder structure, with minor folders and subfolders collapsed, the way that I would expect it to be.

5. In general it just doesn't display any of the erratic behavior mentioned above.

 

[joema]

...Yes, it does seem to fix all of the above issues....

It does not fix the above issues. I have used those settings since Win7 was released, and the problem still happens.

As mentioned in the above links, the problem is erratic. You can make a change, think you fixed it, only to have the problem later return.

See this video for more details: http://www.md-arts.com/scrn/W7_JumpingToBottomBrowserWhenFileSelected_01.mov

Many hundreds of people have complained about this problem. They have examined every possible workaround. If fixing it only required turning off "show all folders" and "expand to current folder", it would have been found long ago.

 

[dwightrj]

Ok. Thanks joema. It hasn't returned for me yet, so I will be watching for it.

 

[Philip JD]

Windows Explorer Left Pane - Erratic Behavior

There are several threads on the erratic behavior of Windows Explorer left pane. Add me to the list of those frustrated. However, last post on most of them seem to be quite some time ago. Is there a "real" fix. Or have we all just resigned ourselves to having to accept what Microsoft gives us?

 

[Layback Bear]

If their is a fix I haven't found it.

 

[tns1]

...and three years later the bug is still there. Fortunately it does not happen that often.

 

[Alejandro85]

Classic Shell contains a setting that fixes this precise bug in Explorer. It's located in Explorer settings => Navigation Pane => Fix folder scrolling.
The obvious downside is that you need third party software to fix a bug that MS should fix. At this point it's obvious that they don't care about it. I wonder if it's still broken in the latests Windows 8 and 10.

 

[tns1]

Classic Shell contains a setting that fixes this precise bug in Explorer. It's located in Explorer settings => Navigation Pane => Fix folder scrolling.
The obvious downside is that you need third party software to fix a bug that MS should fix. At this point it's obvious that they don't care about it. I wonder if it's still broken in the latests Windows 8 and 10.

I use Classic Shell, and the setting you refer to is on by default. I can tell you that it does not fix everything. The folder tree still jumps up or down just when I get ready to click. I had it do this three times in a row, just like one of those joke apps that intentionally mess with you. It seems like it may happen only the first time you use windows explorer, and will behave well until the next boot. Possibly this is a boot-up issue.