File Open dialog

[Terry Pinnell]

I'm reposting this query in simplified form. Despite much googling and
other posts in several online forums I still have no solution.

In short, the default View mode of many of my programs when I use
File>Open has recently become Large Icon. I want to get it back to
List.

I've tried the often-recommended methods, like opening various Windows
folders and closing them while holding Shift or Control, or expanding
the number of 'remembered folders'. Also kicking the CPU, mild
swearing, etc.

There must be someone out there who has solved a similar problem with
some obscure hack...

 

[Ayush]

Replied to [Terry Pinnell]s message :

In short, the default View mode of many of my programs when I use
File>Open has recently become Large Icon. I want to get it back to
List.

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/scripts_desc/xp_opensaveorder.htm

Direct Link :
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/scripts/xp_shellstate.reg

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

The usual behavior of this dialog is to open in list view for all folders EXCEPT 'My Pictures' and
it's subfolders.

Are the folders in question part of the 'My Pictures' hierarchy? You can check to see what folder
is designated as My Pictures via TweakUI or checking the registry under this key:

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders"

In the right-hand pane, check the value of 'My Pictures'

 

[Terry Pinnell]

Replied to [Terry Pinnell]s message :

In short, the default View mode of many of my programs when I use
File>Open has recently become Large Icon. I want to get it back to
List.

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/scripts_desc/xp_opensaveorder.htm

Direct Link :
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/scripts/xp_shellstate.reg

Thanks, but that was one of the many things I tried. As mentioned,
normal folder opening is OK - it's just File>Open that gives me the
problem.

 

[Terry Pinnell]

The usual behavior of this dialog is to open in list view for all folders EXCEPT 'My Pictures' and
it's subfolders.

Are the folders in question part of the 'My Pictures' hierarchy? You can check to see what folder
is designated as My Pictures via TweakUI or checking the registry under this key:

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders"

In the right-hand pane, check the value of 'My Pictures'

Thanks Keith. I'll check this out more thoroughly, but can't see that
is the solution. For a start, this only happens with *some* programs.
Others browse in list mode as usual. And I have hundreds of subfolders
within say \My Documents and \My Pictures; are *all* of these meant to
be handled specially by XP?

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

Thanks Keith. I'll check this out more thoroughly, but can't see that
is the solution. For a start, this only happens with *some* programs.
Others browse in list mode as usual. And I have hundreds of subfolders
within say \My Documents and \My Pictures; are *all* of these meant to
be handled specially by XP?

Does the behavior occur in Notepad? If so, you're dealing with the Windows common dialog, if not,
it's specific to the programs in question. Subfolders of My Documents that are not part of the My
Pictures hierarchy should display in list view -- ALL subfolders of My Pictures, regardless of the
number, should default to thumbnail.

 

[Terry Pinnell]

Does the behavior occur in Notepad? If so, you're dealing with the Windows common dialog, if not,
it's specific to the programs in question. Subfolders of My Documents that are not part of the My
Pictures hierarchy should display in list view -- ALL subfolders of My Pictures, regardless of the
number, should default to thumbnail.

Thanks for sticking with me on this one, Keith. At first I was
delighted because I thought you'd sorted it, as your diagnosis made me
realise I'd been overlooking the obvious. I first tested Notepad and
confirmed that that too was giving the same behaviour, so I was
plainly mistaken about the 'some' programs; it's universal. But the
key point is that up until now, my 'Movies' folder (with scores of
subfolders and hundreds of files of many types) has been *within* \My
Pictures. IOW, its path has been D:\My Pictures\Movies. So, in the
light of your post, I've now moved it to D:\Movies.

Expecting all to now be well, I'm therefore disappointed to find that
File>Open (from any program) is *still* displaying Large Icons or
Thumbnails.

Does this mean that, even though it is now outside the 'special' My
Pictures folder, it has retained those special characteristics?

Meanwhile, I'll try a few more tests and report back if I get a
breakthrough.

 

[Terry Pinnell]

Thanks for sticking with me on this one, Keith. At first I was
delighted because I thought you'd sorted it, as your diagnosis made me
realise I'd been overlooking the obvious. I first tested Notepad and
confirmed that that too was giving the same behaviour, so I was
plainly mistaken about the 'some' programs; it's universal. But the
key point is that up until now, my 'Movies' folder (with scores of
subfolders and hundreds of files of many types) has been *within* \My
Pictures. IOW, its path has been D:\My Pictures\Movies. So, in the
light of your post, I've now moved it to D:\Movies.

Expecting all to now be well, I'm therefore disappointed to find that
File>Open (from any program) is *still* displaying Large Icons or
Thumbnails.

Does this mean that, even though it is now outside the 'special' My
Pictures folder, it has retained those special characteristics?

Meanwhile, I'll try a few more tests and report back if I get a
breakthrough.

It seems the answer is Yes! TweakUI now shows the special folder 'My
Videos' as D:\Movies, so it was presumably changed automatically when
I moved it. So I used the TweakUI facility to change its location to a
folder I don't use, D:\Docs\My Videos. (Somewhat nervously, as TweakUI
popped up a warning that I could render my system unusable if I
screwed up!) Anyway, happy to report that that seems to have fixed the
problem. I can now use File>Open on Movies and its many subfolders and
get List view.

I must say I really dislike this 'special folder' stuff. I'd much
prefer to decide all aspects of where I want to keep my files and how
I want folders to be named and displayed.

Many thanks for sorting this one for me.

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

You welcome. Glad it's all sorted out.