Remember each folder's view settings in Windows 7?
I know this functionality is not available as a built-in option for Windows 7. However, I'm asking because I'm curious if anybody here has found a way to achieve this effect through other means (perhaps a 3rd party utility, or some other trick).
Please keep in mind that I'm not interesting in remembering window position and sizes. I only care about the view/layout settings (icons/list/details/etc). I'm also not interested in setting a single default view for every folder.
I understand this might not be possible, but I wanted to take the chance asking.
The view is attached to the library. Or, more precisely, the library type (Music, Video, Documents etc). The folder view as seen from outside the library can be different.
All included folders and sub-folders in a library will always share the same folder view.
The most one can do is have separate "Arrange by" view settings in each added right-click -> New -> Folder created in the library itself.
One "workaround" I know of, is to setup a second library with the view you want. You can even have the same folders in it.
The extremely long thread Is Remember each folder's view settings functionality gone for good? has this solution by a guy named Gray (which I haven't tested) :
There are two scenarios with remembering views (Windows 7):
- Libraries - Don't Remember
- Folders / Favourites - DO Remember (Easy Fix : Add My Docs to Favourites - see below)
Library Behavior
Lets say you click Documents, then choose 'medium icons', wherever you navigate within Documents from then on stays in 'med icon' view.
NB Choosing Organize>Fold & Search Options>View>'Apply to Folders' and 'Reset Folders' are not available in Libraries.
Folders / Favorites
Folders do remember views by default. So if you navigate to C:\users\xxx\Documents etc each individual folder in the tree will remember whatever you set it to.
Likewise if you add 'My Documents' to Favorites and navigate from there. To add 'My Docs' to Favorites you need to navigate to your User Folder e.g:
- Start Menu > User Folder > My Docs
- Right-click Favorites > Add current location to favorites
DO NOT add 'My Docs' to Favorites from within Libraries. As it is 'Libraries' that ignore last view setting.
NB Choosing Organize>Fold & Search Options>View>'Apply to Folders' and 'Reset Folders' are available in Folders. So you can make all folders copy your current view (Apply to folders).
Remember each folder's view settings in Windows 7? I know this functionality is not available as a built-in option for Windows 7.
Sure it is. Windows automatically stores all related information about Explorer windows in the registry in ShellBags.
However, I'm asking because I'm curious if anybody here has found a way to achieve this effect through other means (perhaps a 3rd party utility, or some other trick).
It happens automatically, so no third-party tool should be needed. There do exist a few tools that let you view them, but there aren’t any tools that let you save or restore them. (Actually, I wrote one back in the day for XP, but ShellBags changed a lot with Vista and I never had enough motivation to bother updating it.)
I'm not interesting in remembering window position and sizes. I only care about the view/layout settings (icons/list/details/etc). I'm also not interested in setting a single default view for every folder.
They’re the same thing; Windows stores all of those settings in the ShellBags.
I understand this might not be possible, but I wanted to take the chance asking.
Windows should automatically save the view mode for each folder, but it defaults to saving only the most recent 400 folder settings. You can increase this so that it saves more (or less) by modifying (or adding if necessary), the following the BagMRU Size registry entry:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
;Save folder settings for 1,000 folders (1000=3E8 hex)
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell]
"BagMRU Size"=dword:000003E8
;This is supposedly where you set it for 64-bit systems, but the above one works just fine
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Wow6432Node\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell]
"BagMRU Size"=dword:000003E8
If necessary, you can try manually saving and restoring the folder settings by exporting and importing the registry key HKCR\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell (make sure to close Windows Explorer before restoring).
Additionally, there existed since the Windows 95 days, a rumor that holding the Ctrl when clicking the [x] button to close an Explorer window will force Windows to save that folder’s settings, but that was never definitively proven to be real, and certainly not proven to still apply to recent versions of Windows.
I'm running Win7 x64 and it does seem to remember my folder settings (I say seem to because I have never actively checked it until now). My Pictures folder shows as large tiles and pretty much everything else is detailed view.
According to some posts here though, if it is part of a Library (or at least accessed through a Library link) it will not remember the folder layout (although that also seems to work ok for me...)
EDIT: Having done some more playing, I think what the users in the link I posted mean is; If you change the layout of a folder within explorer having accesses the folder the "normal" way, if you then navigate to that same folder through a library link, the layout will not have changed and will be the same layout you used last time you access the folder through the library link (If that makes any sense whatsoever!).