changing the default view in the "open file" dialog?

[tbh]

i have searched more than once and have failed to learn how to do this.
maybe someone can help.

the "open file" dialog is used so often that it would save a great deal of
time to change its default setting to what I need most often:
details
sorted alphabetically (or by modified time)

preferably i'd also like to be able to choose the size and order of columns.

since the open file dialog, however, is resizable in some applications and
not in others, i wonder if it is centrally configurable.

(but then maybe there are a couple of them and one would have to tweak in
more than one place.)

potentially hugely grateful for tips or pointers,

Tim Hanson

p.s. incidentally, the closest thing I found to an "answer" to this question
was in

microsoft.public.win2000.general

from August 2003. it was infuriatingly close, but though I followed
instructions carefully I didn't succeed.

the implications (interesting if true) are:
- one would solve this by saving folder settings in Windows Explorer (!?
that's just one application, why would its settings affect system-wide
dialog settings?)
- some applications (e.g. Office) might override these settings; but
- something simple like Notepad would respect the settings

 

[David Candy]

You can't change view. Sort is a global setting (view style isn't). Sort a folder window how you want and press Ctrl + X on titlebar. This sets global sort. Many things can override this in folder windows but there is nothing to override it in a dialog. Office use their own dialogs.

 

[tbh]

thanks, David.

this would be a great feature. do you know a good place to send windows
feature suggestions?

cheers,

Tim

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Tim,

Cottonwood Software: File-Ex and Windows Utilities for Power-Users:
http://www.cottonwoodsw.com/

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


thanks, David.

this would be a great feature. do you know a good place to send windows
feature suggestions?

cheers,

Tim

 

[tbh]

thanks, Ramesh. now all we have to do is convince microsoft to buy that
product and build it in!

 

[Homer J. Simpson]

I love how the author of that page took a half-sized screenshot of the Open
dialog box and captioned it "Turn that tiny File Open dialog" and then
compares it with one that has been stretched from the usual default size...

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Yeah. Just noticed the size

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


I love how the author of that page took a half-sized screenshot of the Open
dialog box and captioned it "Turn that tiny File Open dialog" and then
compares it with one that has been stretched from the usual default size...