Understanding Saved Views and Browsing Folders
In Windows 2000 Professional, the view you use is not always permanently saved in Windows Explorer. You can control whether the views you use are saved permanently or temporarily by using the Remember each folder's view settings check box on the View tab of the Folder Options dialog box (see figure 9.3).
By default the Remember each folder's view settings option is enabled. When you choose to leave this setting enabled, the following happens:
a.. The changes you make to a folder's view is automatically saved when you close the folder.
b.. The view you use to view one folder is not applied to other folders.
c.. When you open a folder, it opens in the view you used when you last viewed it.
When you clear the check box for Remember each folder's view settings, the following happens:
a.. When you start Windows Explorer, the first folder you view displays in the folder's saved view. Windows Explorer holds that view in temporary memory and applies it to all the folders that you visit while Windows Explorer remains open unless you manually alter the view.
b.. As you browse to other folders (after the initial folder is opened), the saved view for each folder is ignored, and when you quit Windows Explorer, the folder view that you have been using to view multiple folders is deleted from temporary memory.
c.. The next time you open Windows Explorer, once again, it is the saved view of the first folder you open that determines how you view multiple folders.
Setting All Folders to the Same View
Some users want to have all their Windows Explorer folders set to the same view. In Windows 2000 Professional, the default setting is that any change made to a folder's view is automatically saved when you close the folder and is not applied to other folders. However, you can set all folders to the same view by using the Folder Options command as described in the following procedure.
To set all folders to the same view
1.. In My Computer or Windows Explorer, set the view to your preference.
2.. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
3.. In the Folder Options dialog box, click the View tab.
4.. Under Folder Views, click Like Current Folder.
Important The Remember each folder's view settings check box on the View tab of the Folder Options dialog box (see Figure 9.3) affects how the view settings of individual folders are applied and saved. For more information about the impact of clearing this check box, see "Understanding Saved Views and Browsing Folders" earlier in this chapter.