How can I keep the columns consistent in Explorer's DETAIL view

[Jim]

Hmmm..this is becoming a major annoyance. When I look at a fodler
listing in detail view, I invariably want to see things like Date
Created and Date Modified.

If there are any pictures in the folder, Vista insists on showing me
columns like Date Take, Tags, Rating etc - all of which are pointless
to me!

Is there any way so that ALL folders show the same set of columns when
viewed in Detail view? Or can I set a default column-list somewhere?


Many thanks,



Jim

 

[Chad Harris]

Jim--

Let me know if this works. I included some refs but they aren't needed to
get this done. Once you set these columns you can right click to the right
of the particular colum heading and select Group By (I'm not on Vista now
but it's similar to those words and you will get headings as letters of the
alphabet and they all should ***stick.

When you open an explorer folder, note that at the lower left there is an
icon.

1) Go to the bottom of the folder on the left where if you create a new
folder on your desktop there will be a new folder icon in the lower left
corner or if like I always do you substitute one of thousands of favicons in
your favicon collection or one of thousands of icons native to Windows
Vista, it's .dlls, .exes, and its downloaded programs and zip files via the
Change or Modify Icon dialogue box. If you have named the folder it will
have the name of the folder. If you have subbed an icon for the folder,
that icon will be there.

2) Right click that folder or icon and in the categories listed there that
look like this:

Sort By
Group By
Stack By

Name
Date Modified
Type
Size
Ascending
Descending

More

Click MORE and you will have the opportunity to customize and choose and
TAILOR WHICH OF OVER 120 column headings you want to confer on whichever
view you then choose and whichever way you choose to sort, group, or stack.

The way I do it because it works for me and is analagous to the Show in
Groups that was brought in during Windows XP is to go up to name where y ou
can choose

Sort
Group
Stack by Name

and I choose Stck by Name because this is analagous to the bold headings of
an index in a book except that they are headings now in Vista and I would
have made them more bold. By name means they will be grouped alphabetically
and then for the column headings I want, I do what I described above.

For my downloads folder, I choose Sort by "Date Modified" or I just do that
after a download so that I can easily locate many of the non-ituitively
named downloads with characters and less obvious names on them. Everyone
knows what I mean by that, because everyone sees those.


For ref:

Vista Folder FAQ
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/8eb3b0f8-533a-4e63-b967-b090a7912cc71033.mspx

Press Alt Key to Show Menus in Explorer Folders Vista
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/637ba0fa-7408-48bf-b7d5-7b0085dd9e081033.mspx

Windows Explorer Vista
http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/vista/vista_explorer.htm

Organize Folders Vista
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/experiences/productivity.mspx

Windows Vista Folders
http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/vista/vista_virtual.htm

http://www.tech-recipes.com/windows_tips1409.html

Shell Team Video Exploring and Using Vista
http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=114710

Paul Thurrott Explorer in Vista
http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/winvista_05.asp

http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/winvista_beta1_02.asp

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/experiences/design.mspx

CH

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

In folders that have already 'sniffed' the content and applied an unwanted
template, you can restore the standard template (& associated columns) by
opening the folder's Properties dialog, selecting the 'Customize' tab, and
selecting 'All Items' as the template.

If you want to modify the default columns displayed for folders using the
'All Items' template, just open any folder using that template, configure
the view to your liking, then click 'Organize' -> 'Folder & Search
Options' -> 'View' tab -> 'Apply to Folders'

To override content-sniffing and make 'All Items' the default template for
all folders, you need to edit the registry. Copy the text between the
dashed lines, paste into Notepad, and save the file with a .reg extension.
Double-click the .reg file you've created to merge the information into the
registry. Watch out for line wrap -- each registry key name [HKEY...]
should be a single line. I'll risk the wrath of the purists and attach it
as text file as well -- just save the attachment and then change its
extension to .reg and proceed as above.

-----------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local
Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local
Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
"FolderType"="NotSpecified"