Out of Alphabetical Order

[Zygy]

On one of my computers a newly created Folder In my Documents does not find
its correct space in alphabetical order when the name is inserted but stays
at the bottom of the list of Folders in My Documents, requiring it to be
placed in the correct place by hand incurring all the difficulties of
merging Folders at the same time - all time consuming.

Is there a way of correcting this? The Technical Assistance for HP Compaq
failed to find a solution - maybe you readers are better equipped with the
grey matter than they are?

 

[Richard Urban]

Without seeing your folder structure we can not determine why the folder is
not going to the correct order.

So, what is the name and type of the new folder and what are 2-3 of the
folders you would expect to see above and below the folder you created?

 

[H Brown]

First, do any of these folder names begin/end with or contain *any* numbers,
symbols or punctuation marks within the string of the alphabet letters A
through Z.

In other words if you have three folder names like
Abc
Abd
Bac
those three would stay in what people normally think of when we say
alphabetical order. But for example, if I create a new folder and name it
*Zbc added to the three folder examples earlier you would get them in
alphabetical order and the order would be:
*Zbc
Abc
Abd
Bac .
"By default, the newer sort order considers strings in file and folder names
as numeric content, not text. Numerals in folder and file names are sorted
according to their numeric value."
Learn more here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319827

That being said, the folder in question, rename it and type in the name, it
can be the same name you are using now, but rename it and see what happens.
(Refresh)
This is a quick guess, if of no help, as Richard Urban said give more info.
H Brown

 

[Alan Montgomery]

I can think of several possible reasons.

On one of my computers a newly created Folder In my Documents does not
find its correct space in alphabetical order when the name is inserted
but stays at the bottom of the list of Folders in My Documents,
requiring it to be placed in the correct place by hand incurring all the
difficulties of merging Folders at the same time - all time consuming.

Is there a way of correcting this? The Technical Assistance for HP
Compaq failed to find a solution - maybe you readers are better equipped
with the grey matter than they are?

1) Is the view sorted - if not then explorer will add the folder where you
told it to put it. This sounds the most likely as you can correct the
position by moving it.

2) When a new folder or file is created an existing explorer view just
adds the file to the end of the list regardless of sorting - if this is
the case a refresh will solve this on the right pane.

3) When the file or folder name contains adjacent digits windows treats
these as a single number - thus "A3" comes before "A21" as 3 comes before
21.

4) Windows keeps files and folders seperate when sorting, however a ZIP
file looks, and acts, like a folder but is sorted as a file. This is
especially true if you have left "hide known extensions" on, and aren't
showing the file type column.

 

[Zygy]

There are about 75 Folders in My Documents, such as Cash Flows, Credit Cards
Charges, Diaries, Misc. Correspondence ect.ect. There are no folders with
numbers only names.I have no other paper files. All my business is conducted
from the computer and the Compaq one is a second storage (as a safeguard) of
all the information of my main computer. Both of my computers have Vista
Business, Office and both have exactly the same My Documents. On the main
one any new Folder created in My Documents is automatically put in
alphabetical order as soon as I finish typing in the name. On the Compaq
computer it stays at the end of the list and it does not matter what I do it
will not shift to a correct alphabetical place. Moving it by hand is not
easy, because the slightest misdirection and it merges with another Folder
and in any case it is time consuming, which I cannot afford!
There must be a way of correcting this fault.

 

[Dave]

If the View is set to Details, just click on the Name column heading to
change the sort order.
If you're viewing icons, just right-click on an empty area, select
Sort by - Name

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Press F5 or choose Refresh.

There are about 75 Folders in My Documents, such as Cash Flows, Credit Cards
Charges, Diaries, Misc. Correspondence ect.ect. There are no folders with
numbers only names.I have no other paper files. All my business is conducted
from the computer and the Compaq one is a second storage (as a safeguard) of
all the information of my main computer. Both of my computers have Vista
Business, Office and both have exactly the same My Documents. On the main
one any new Folder created in My Documents is automatically put in
alphabetical order as soon as I finish typing in the name. On the Compaq
computer it stays at the end of the list and it does not matter what I do it
will not shift to a correct alphabetical place. Moving it by hand is not
easy, because the slightest misdirection and it merges with another Folder
and in any case it is time consuming, which I cannot afford!
There must be a way of correcting this fault.

 

[Bill Leary]

And thank you, Zygy, for your original post. It's nice to know someone
else has this problem, and I can commiserate.

Sorry, I've just now noticed this thread.

Perhaps this was already covered. If not, have a look at this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319827

In step 6 I set the value to 1 for my Vista Ultimate 32 system. I now get a
sort order that makes "ASCII" sense to me.

- Bill