Disable folder previews in My Pictures?

[carabalda]

I have successfully redirected where my WIN-XP-Pro
system looks for "My Pictures" by editing the registry
and changing the data for HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
Current Version\Explorer\User Shell Folders\My Pictures
from "%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Pictures" to "D:\Pix-
Photos" (a folder created on a second hard drive).

No problems there.

But when I go to save an image from a web site, let's say,
XP points me to this redirected folder as I want, but it
also shows special icons of each folder contained in
D:\Pic-Photos... these icons are traditional yellow
folders but they have mini thumbnail previews of the first
4 images in each folder pasted on the side of the icon.

Someone obviously thinks this is advantageous (and it's
the same thing I saw when My Pictures was in its original
place under My Documents... but it takes far too much time
to generate these special preview icons, when all I want
to see is a plain Details View of the folders there.

Is there any way to disable this automatic special folder
icon view in the My Pictures folder? I just want to see
plain folders in a list... no thumbnails on top of
folders.

Thanks in advance.

carabalda

 

[Hank Wirtz]

When looking at the save dialog, in the upper right will be a button to
allow you to select the view. It's currently set to Thumbnail, but you can
change it to Tiles, Icons, List or Details.

Hope that helps-

-HW

 

[carabalda]

Yes, I see that Thumbnails is the default "view" for this
special folder. And I understand that I can change the
view to "list" or "details" - AFTER I've waited for all
the thumbnails to be generated, which takes too long for
impatient me - but what I'm looking for is a way to
PERMANENTLY make the "My Pictures" folder view default
to "list"... I hate having to make that change every time
I go to this folder.

Normal customization of it in Windows Explorer > Tools >
Folder Options > View does not "stick" with this
particular folder... it's "extra special" from a Windows
point of view, and always seems to want to show me
thumbnails... and I HATE that!

carabalda

 

[John Inzer]

Normal customization of it in Windows Explorer > Tools >
Folder Options > View does not "stick" with this
particular folder... it's "extra special" from a Windows
point of view, and always seems to want to show me
thumbnails... and I HATE that!

carabalda

===========================
Try this...

Open your My Pictures folder and go to...
View / Details as you have done previously.

Next...go to...Tools / Folder Options / View
tab and left click the "Apply To All Folders"
button / Yes / OK.

Also... at...Tools / Folder Options / View tab...
be sure that "Remember Each Folder's View
Settings" is checked.

--

John Inzer
Picture It! MVP
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http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=pic

 

[Guest]

John,

Thanks for the suggestion, but that doesn't really do it.

I did exactly what you recommended. What this does is
allow me to have the Details view of this folder WHEN I'M
ACCESSING IT FROM WINDOWS EXPLORER (the file manager). In
that case, this folder (and all others) open up in Details
view.

However...

If I'm at a web site using INTERNET EXPLORER (the web
browser) and I right-click an image and select "Save
Picture As", the "Save Picture" window appears with
the "Save In" location defaulting to the "My Pictures"
folder as expected... BUT THE VIEW IS AGAIN USING
THUMBNAILS, NOT DETAILS AS SHOULD HAVE BEEN "SET" WHEN
I APPLIED THAT VIEW TO ALL FOLDERS. Shouldn't it?

Do you see? IE is doing something differently than
Windows Explorer. It's as if this Thumbnails View is
hard-coded into the "Save Picture As" part of IE's
right-click menu option.

I just don't get it... and it's extremely frustrating
to me. Although I have a very fast machine with lots of
RAM and a great video card, it takes too much time to
generate these special preview thumbnails of all the
folders within My Pictures. And I hate having to always
manually change the view from Thumbnails to Details or
List when I try to save a photo from IE. These are
unnecessary extra mouse-clicks that I find annoying.
XP is so customizeable in many other ways... I wonder
why this one thing is so obstinate.

carabalda

 

[John Inzer]

John,

Thanks for the suggestion, but that doesn't really do it.

I did exactly what you recommended. What this does is
allow me to have the Details view of this folder WHEN I'M
ACCESSING IT FROM WINDOWS EXPLORER (the file manager). In
that case, this folder (and all others) open up in Details
view.

However...

If I'm at a web site using INTERNET EXPLORER (the web
browser) and I right-click an image and select "Save
Picture As", the "Save Picture" window appears with
the "Save In" location defaulting to the "My Pictures"
folder as expected... BUT THE VIEW IS AGAIN USING
THUMBNAILS, NOT DETAILS AS SHOULD HAVE BEEN "SET" WHEN
I APPLIED THAT VIEW TO ALL FOLDERS. Shouldn't it?

Do you see? IE is doing something differently than
Windows Explorer. It's as if this Thumbnails View is
hard-coded into the "Save Picture As" part of IE's
right-click menu option.

I just don't get it... and it's extremely frustrating
to me. Although I have a very fast machine with lots of
RAM and a great video card, it takes too much time to
generate these special preview thumbnails of all the
folders within My Pictures. And I hate having to always
manually change the view from Thumbnails to Details or
List when I try to save a photo from IE. These are
unnecessary extra mouse-clicks that I find annoying.
XP is so customizeable in many other ways... I wonder
why this one thing is so obstinate.

carabalda

===================================
The screaming is not necessary.

OK...now you have your folders set to "Details"...

When you are on a website and wish to save
a picture...try this...right click the image and
choose...Copy...

Right click again and choose...Go to My Pictures...
Right click the folder you wish to save in and choose
Paste.

If you have several images to copy...just tile your
IE screen with your My Pictures Screen and...
then you can copy/paste or drag and drop.

If you're copying a series of images you can usually
change the last number on the URL and the next
image in sequence will load.

--

John Inzer
Picture It! MVP
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http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=pic

 

[David Candy]

You can't specify the icon style in Open dialogs. Open dialogs don't use saved folder settings at all but a system default - which doesn't include provision for icon style.

 

[carabalda]

-----Original Message-----

===================================
The screaming is not necessary.

OK...now you have your folders set to "Details"...

When you are on a website and wish to save
a picture...try this...right click the image and
choose...Copy...

Right click again and choose...Go to My Pictures...
Right click the folder you wish to save in and choose
Paste.

If you have several images to copy...just tile your
IE screen with your My Pictures Screen and...
then you can copy/paste or drag and drop.

If you're copying a series of images you can usually
change the last number on the URL and the next
image in sequence will load.

--

John Inzer
Picture It! MVP
return e-mail disabled

Picture It! Support Center
http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=pic

John, Sorry for "the screaming"... I was just trying to
add emphasis the only way possible with fixed-font plain
text. My apologies...

Your solution, which works, defeates the entire purpose
of the request. I want to reduce the number of clicks it
take to get an image saved to the hard disk. Having to
right-click and Copy, then right-click again and go to
My Pictures, then right-click yet again and Paste, is far
too many clicks to get the job done. And lo and behold,
the very first time I tried your method, even though I
was taken to the My Pictures folder in Windows Explorer,
the view was initially Thumbnails. After I changed the
view to Details, that Details view remained for each
subsequent test. But I'm guessing that each time the
computer is rebooted, the first time I try your method
again, that folder's view will have gone back to
Thumbnails... it's extremely frustrating.

The reply after yours, from, David explains it... what I
want simply cannot happen. The thumbnails view will always
appear when I simply right-click and select "Save As".
This system default is non-customizeable.

That just kind of amazes me... and not in a good way.

But thanks for trying anyway.

carabalda

 

[David Candy]

If you have thumbnail caching on (look in Folder Options - View - Do Not Cache Thumbnails) then it only takes the time to read the file (thumbs.db) and show it (which isn't that quick), rather than making the thumbnail.

Your detail view should stick (at least till you've visited 400 folders without returning to My Pics), if not you have another seperate problem.

 

[John Inzer]

Your solution, which works, defeates the entire purpose
of the request. I want to reduce the number of clicks it
take to get an image saved to the hard disk. Having to
right-click and Copy, then right-click again and go to
My Pictures, then right-click yet again and Paste, is far
too many clicks to get the job done. And lo and behold,
the very first time I tried your method, even though I
was taken to the My Pictures folder in Windows Explorer,
the view was initially Thumbnails. After I changed the
view to Details, that Details view remained for each
subsequent test.

=======================================
What you don't seem to understand is if you tile the
screens you can drag and drop images very quickly.
(And you'll never have to see the Right Click/Save
Picture As screen)

As for the Details View...Windows only remembers
the first 400 folders but that can easiy be increased
with the free PowerToy...TweakUI. (it can also reduce
the size and quality of thumbs which makes them
quicker to load)

Windows XP PowerToys / free download
http://tinyurl.com/36n

--

John Inzer
Picture It! MVP
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[Guest]

John Inzer, lots of good info there. Thanks for that. Here's a question much more interesting to me, though: can I *absolutely* *disable* the generation of Thumbs.db forever on my system (XP Home)?

 

[John Inzer]

John Inzer, lots of good info there. Thanks for that.
Here's a question much more interesting to me, though:
can I *absolutely* *disable* the generation of Thumbs.db
forever on my system (XP Home)?

===============================================
Yes,...have a look at the following article:

What is thumbs.db
http://tinyurl.com/g4dt

--

John Inzer
Picture It! MVP
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[Guest]

Awesome! Thanks again!

 

[John Inzer]

Awesome! Thanks again!

======================
You're welcome.

--

John Inzer
Picture It! MVP
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Picture It! Support Center
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