XP: Change the Default Folder View / Make all Folder Views the Same

Contributor Icon Contributed by David Kirk     
Tag Icon Tagged: Windows  

You like all your folders to look a certain way… but you don’t want to change them all one by one? Here’s the quick way to do it.


You like all your folders to look a certain way… but you don’t want to change them all one by one? Here’s the quick way to do it.

    1. Open a folder
    2. Click the View menu
    3. Select the type of view you want (large, small, details, list, etc.)
    4. Click the View menu again
    5. Select Arrange Icons
    6. Select the type of arrange and if you want Auto Arrange
    7. Look at your folder view. This will be the folder view that you are going to set as your default folder view if you continue. If you are not happy, continue to adjust the methods of viewing and arranging. Then continue.
    7. Click the Tools menu
    8. Click Folder Options
    9. Click View tab
    10. Click Apply to All Folders
 

41 Comments -


  1. Matthew said on October 1, 2008

    Thank you, worked a treat :)

  2. gretchen said on January 24, 2009

    Thanks!!!

  3. ECampbell said on April 10, 2009

    This has been driving me nuts! Thanks!

  4. shelly said on April 17, 2009

    I just earned big points with my boss. This has been driving us both nutz for quite a while! Thanks!

  5. Naz said on June 16, 2009

    Thats great! thanks for that!

  6. Eric Holroyd said on June 19, 2009

    I like to view folders as a List, and every time I set it up that way it reverts to Icon view when I reboot.

    Does anyone know of a PERMANENT fix for this please?

  7. Thomas said on June 23, 2009

    Thanks davak! This was awesome! Thanks for sharing mate :)

  8. hunter said on June 30, 2009

    Thank you so much, it works

  9. Jaimin said on July 5, 2009

    Thanx for help

  10. Anonymous said on August 3, 2009

    Great!! That’s working!! Thanks a lot guys!!!

  11. Anonymous said on August 6, 2009

    It doesn’t work with the powerpoint 2003 view. It stays at PREVIEW view.

  12. Matt said on August 24, 2009

    This is perfect. Couldn’t believe how easy it was to setup. Can’t believe I was changing folders one by one each time I opened them. Cheers!

  13. Name said on September 3, 2009

    Thank u so much! This has been driving me crazy for a long time. Can’t believe how long it took me to fix considering it was so easy. Thanks again.

  14. Anonymous said on November 2, 2009

    How is it that sometimes its the little things we have to look up online? Great help!! Looks like no more right clicking for me!!

    Thanks

    James

  15. Anonymous said on November 25, 2009

    Great tip, been lazy to do a search for this but I wanted this for so long.
    Saves me ton of time on doing this minuscule thing every time.

  16. Moonlighter said on December 3, 2009

    Thanx! I needed that! ;o)

  17. Anonymous said on December 30, 2009

    Thanks to whoever put this here. Having to change every folder to show details was getting on my nerves something fierce

  18. Name said on March 5, 2010

    But what if you don’t want “ALL” folders to look the same – what if you only want, say “My Music” to include “Artist”, “Title”, “Track” and “Duration”, while “My Pictures” has “Dimensions” and “Date Picture Taken”?

  19. adsl viettel said on March 23, 2010

    Thanks for your tutorial, now i can change the Default Folder View :)

  20. Joe said on March 31, 2010

    I’ve been wanting to change my default view for the longest and it finally dawned on me to just Google it. Problem solved! Thank you!!

  21. Brenda said on May 25, 2010

    I prefer the DETAIL list when viewing folders. How can I make the font larger without losing the DETAIL list?

  22. M Davies said on June 15, 2010

    I’ve been working with Windows for more years than I can remember – and I never knew this trick! Many thanks :)

  23. Shea said on June 17, 2010

    anyway to keep the view the same when searching for documents to attach in folders?

  24. Shakti said on June 30, 2010

    Hi Davak,

    REALLY helpful article.

    ~Shakti

  25. vhexp said on August 31, 2010

    Thanks alot Davak

  26. Leah said on September 21, 2010

    very helpful, thanks.
    ~Leah

  27. Peki said on September 29, 2010

    It`s very small things, but I spent one hour looking for it! Thanks!

  28. Abraca said on October 10, 2010

    On my XP SP3 it does not work
    Always set the order of view to the last modification, and does not affect if i set order to Name and click on Apply to All Folders

  29. MSWindows For free said on December 30, 2010

    wow i am already using win 7 , but now i know that my xp sp2 can do that, it’s been so long ago think it impossible, but now it work’s, so i told my boss and he likes it, to viw details al of his backed up folder view changed un usual,
    now it can, be all detailed view.
    Thank’s,

  30. Dineshonfun said on January 4, 2011

    Thank you guys….
    -Dinesh aka networK!NG

  31. Me said on January 28, 2011

    This had been driving me nuts. Finally go annoyed and had time (made time) to research. Great job – thanks. Kate

  32. Guezzt said on February 2, 2011

    Thanx, bro!

  33. D3 said on February 3, 2011

    Great stuff! Can this be done as a batch file? If so, how!?!

  34. Yorjio said on February 9, 2011

    Amazingly Worked Thanks!

  35. Guest said on February 16, 2011

    Works! Thanks!

  36. Bawareh said on April 8, 2011

    It works great UNTIL I reboot, then reverts back to ICON view!

    Is there a way to make it permanent, perhaps in the Registry???

  37. Ilja Tirins said on April 21, 2011

    AAA awesome!!!!!

  38. necip said on December 19, 2011

    thanks.. :)

  39. Teresa said on December 27, 2011

    Thank you!

  40. Teresa said on December 27, 2011

    Thanks! It was very helpful.

  41. Christian said on February 7, 2012

    Thank you in 2012!! :)

 

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