My Documents icons: View option- no longer arranges by date created

[eli]

Hello:

I'm accustomed to have My Documents icons arrange by date Created with the
option of arranging them by Name if needed.

I think there was also an "Auto Arrange" option.

Yesterday, I noticed a different array of "Views".

Instead the list of View options has several irrelevant options such as:

Artist
Album Title
Track Number
etc....

I'm able to add the former options by:
View--->Choose Details and adding the option to view by date created or
modified.

But it seems I need to do this whenever I open My Documents folder.

What is causing this?

AND

How can I get that back in the main View-->Arrange Icons? or the Auto
Arrange as I have it in most other folders?

Thanks in advance:

-Eli

Windows XP Professional Edition SP2
Zone Alarm Security Suite 6.1.744.001

 

[Joe Wright]

Hello:

I'm accustomed to have My Documents icons arrange by date Created with the
option of arranging them by Name if needed.

I think there was also an "Auto Arrange" option.

Yesterday, I noticed a different array of "Views".

Instead the list of View options has several irrelevant options such as:

Artist
Album Title
Track Number
etc....

I'm able to add the former options by:
View--->Choose Details and adding the option to view by date created or
modified.

But it seems I need to do this whenever I open My Documents folder.

What is causing this?

AND

How can I get that back in the main View-->Arrange Icons? or the Auto
Arrange as I have it in most other folders?

Thanks in advance:

-Eli

Right-click the folder, click Properties, Customize tab, change the
folder type to "Documents (for any file type)".

 

[eli]

Joe wrote:

" Right-click the folder, click Properties, Customize tab, change the

folder type to "Documents (for any file type)".

===================

Hi Joe:

I don't see a "customize" tab under Properties for My Documents. I only see such a tab for other folders.

Suggestions?

-Eli
**************************************

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

If your column choices aren't being remembered, you've probably reached the limit for saved views.
You can use Kelly's edit:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Line 2, left-hand column.

To clear the currently saved views & up the limit to the max.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]


Joe wrote:

" Right-click the folder, click Properties, Customize tab, change the

folder type to "Documents (for any file type)".

===================

Hi Joe:

I don't see a "customize" tab under Properties for My Documents. I only see such a tab for other
folders.

Suggestions?

-Eli
**************************************

 

[Joe Wright]

Joe wrote:

" Right-click the folder, click Properties, Customize tab, change the
===================

Hi Joe:

I don't see a "customize" tab under Properties for *My Documents*. I
only see such a tab for other folders.

Suggestions?

-Eli
**************************************

OK, sorry, I didn't realize that. I looked through the registry and
didn't see any place to set the folder type for My Documents either. I
suspect a repair of the My Documents folder is needed.

Maybe the "Restore My Documents" registry repair will reset its
filetype. Located here:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
55. Restore My Documents

Ah, this Google Groups thread seems to have pin-pointed the solution,
though it took a few steps to solve. The first link gives an
explanation, and the second, the mentioned Desktop.ini change necessary:

http://groups.google.com/group/micr...r+my+documents+folder&rnum=4#f352bc11f0263b7b
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...documents+folder&rnum=4&#doc_32a51695c34c8e98

 

[eli]

Keith wrote:

<<<
If your column choices aren't being remembered, you've probably reached the limit for saved views.
You can use Kelly's edit:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Line 2, left-hand column.

To clear the currently saved views & up the limit to the max.
Thanks Keith. I did try the method suggested by that GoogleGroup posted above by Joe. it only worked temporarily. As soon as i access a file in any folder outside of My Documents, those Music right click contect views reappear though. I can even remove those right-click -->View musical context items from the "My Music" folder. They don't return. Yet oddly, they do return to the My Documents folder, and absent the needed : Modified, Created vies....

I'm wondering if perhaps you or someone else might be aware of a way to fix this without altering the registry directly, as I have no proficiency, comprehension, nor confidence in such matters.

Thanks again:

-Eli

****************************************************************************

 

[Joe Wright]

Keith wrote:

*<<<*
*If your column choices aren't being remembered, you've probably reached
the limit for saved views.
You can use Kelly's edit:

**http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm*

*Line 2, left-hand column.

To clear the currently saved views & up the limit to the max.*
*
**
Thanks Keith. I did try the method suggested by that GoogleGroup posted
above by Joe. it only worked temporarily. As soon as i access a file in
any folder outside of My Documents, those Music right click contect
views reappear though. I can even remove those right-click -->View
musical context items from the "My Music" folder. They don't
return. Yet oddly, they do return to the My Documents folder, and
absent the needed : Modified, Created vies....

I'm wondering if perhaps you or someone else might be aware of a way to
fix this without altering the registry directly, as I have no
proficiency, comprehension, nor confidence in such matters.

Thanks again:

-Eli

The .reg file is quite easy to use.. just right-click its link, save it
to the Desktop, right-click, click Merge.

Were there any differences in the desktop.ini file?

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

Eli,

There is no way other than a registry mod to clear the index for saved views, which is the problem
when views are not remembered. 'Reset All Folders' clears the view settings themselves, but not the
index.

As Joe said, you just download the .reg file from Kelly's site & right-click it & select 'Merge'.
You should save the file to your desktop so that you can close all explorer windows before merging
the file.

This will address the problem of changes you make not being remembered and the column selection
should be reset as well.

Did you have the 'proper' desktop.ini file:

[DeleteOnCopy]
Owner=<user>
Personalized=5
PersonalizedName=My Documents

or had a different one been copied there?

The above section only affects the display name under 'My Computer', but if you had a section
similar to:

[.ShellClassInfo]
FolderType=MusicArtist

that would affect the folder type & column choice & the section should be deleted.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]


Keith wrote:

<<<
If your column choices aren't being remembered, you've probably reached the limit for saved views.
You can use Kelly's edit:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Line 2, left-hand column.

To clear the currently saved views & up the limit to the max.

Thanks Keith. I did try the method suggested by that GoogleGroup posted above by Joe. it only worked
temporarily. As soon as i access a file in any folder outside of My Documents, those Music right
click contect views reappear though. I can even remove those right-click -->View musical context
items from the "My Music" folder. They don't return. Yet oddly, they do return to the My Documents
folder, and absent the needed : Modified, Created vies....

I'm wondering if perhaps you or someone else might be aware of a way to fix this without altering
the registry directly, as I have no proficiency, comprehension, nor confidence in such matters.

Thanks again:

-Eli

****************************************************************************

 

[eli]

Keith wrote:

<<<
Did you have the 'proper' desktop.ini file:

[DeleteOnCopy]
Owner=<user>
Personalized=5
PersonalizedName=My Documents

or had a different one been copied there?

====================
Thanks again Keith and Joe.

Where exactly would I find this particular desktop.ini file?

-Eli

****************************************************************************************

Eli,

There is no way other than a registry mod to clear the index for saved views, which is the problem
when views are not remembered. 'Reset All Folders' clears the view settings themselves, but not the
index.

As Joe said, you just download the .reg file from Kelly's site & right-click it & select 'Merge'.
You should save the file to your desktop so that you can close all explorer windows before merging
the file.

This will address the problem of changes you make not being remembered and the column selection
should be reset as well.

Did you have the 'proper' desktop.ini file:

[DeleteOnCopy]
Owner=<user>
Personalized=5
PersonalizedName=My Documents

or had a different one been copied there?

The above section only affects the display name under 'My Computer', but if you had a section
similar to:

[.ShellClassInfo]
FolderType=MusicArtist

that would affect the folder type & column choice & the section should be deleted.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]


Keith wrote:

<<<
If your column choices aren't being remembered, you've probably reached the limit for saved views.
You can use Kelly's edit:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Line 2, left-hand column.

To clear the currently saved views & up the limit to the max.

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

Where exactly would I find this particular desktop.ini file?

In the 'My Documents' folder. It normally has its 'hidden' and 'system' attributes set, so you need
to set folder view options to both 'Show Hidden Files' and turn off 'Hide protected O.S. files
(Recommended)'.

 

[eli]

Keith wrote:

"In the 'My Documents' folder. It normally has its 'hidden' and 'system' attributes set, so you need
to set folder view options to both 'Show Hidden Files' and turn off 'Hide protected O.S. files "

============

Thanks Keith.; i think I found the culprit. Here's a copy n paste of that desktop.ini file in the My Documents folder. It shows that it was modified Sept:. 25

=============
[.ShellClassInfo]
FolderType=MusicAlbum
MusicBuyUrl=http://windowsmedia.com/redir/buyno...9&geoid=f4&version=10.0.0.4036&userlocale=409
============================

Exactly how should I modify that file , and should formatting be ON or OFF for that Notepad file?

Thanks again:

-Eli

Windows XP Professional Edition SP2

************************************************************

Where exactly would I find this particular desktop.ini file?

In the 'My Documents' folder. It normally has its 'hidden' and 'system' attributes set, so you need
to set folder view options to both 'Show Hidden Files' and turn off 'Hide protected O.S. files
(Recommended)'.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

 

[Joe Wright]

Keith wrote:

*"**In the 'My Documents' folder. It normally has its 'hidden' and
'system' attributes set, so you need
to set folder view options to both 'Show Hidden Files' and turn off
'Hide protected O.S. files "*
**
*============*

Thanks Keith.; i think I found the culprit. Here's a copy n paste of
that desktop.ini file in the My Documents folder. It shows that it was
modified Sept:. 25

=============
[.ShellClassInfo]
FolderType=MusicAlbum
MusicBuyUrl=http://windowsmedia.com/redir/buyno...9&geoid=f4&version=10.0.0.4036&userlocale=409
============================

Exactly how should I modify that file , and should formatting be ON or
OFF for that Notepad file?

Thanks again:

-Eli

Windows XP Professional Edition SP2

************************************************************
"Keith Miller MVP" <[email protected]

"eli" <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote in

message news:%[email protected]...

In the 'My Documents' folder. It normally has its 'hidden' and

'system' attributes set, so you need

to set folder view options to both 'Show Hidden Files' and turn off 'Hide protected O.S. files
(Recommended)'.

No formatting.. Take the example file in his post, highlight it, copy.
Go to Notepad or Wordpad, open the Desktop.ini file, click/swipe
across all text to highlight, press Ctrl/V to paste his text over the
current text. If it doesn't work right, cancel and try again.

 

[eli]

Joe Wright had written:

<<<
No formatting.. Take the example file in his post, highlight it, copy.
Go to Notepad or Wordpad, open the Desktop.ini file, click/swipe
across all text to highlight, press Ctrl/V to paste his text over the
current text. If it doesn't work right, cancel and try again.--
===============

Thank you kindly Joe and Keith. I apreciate your help here.

I simply replaced that desktop.ini file as Keith showed above. It was a bit tricky since the user name in the path:

C:\Documents and Setting/user/My Documents

is but one vowel different from my user logon name. I found it worked better if I used the user logon name than the pathway name. After restoring the desktop.ini file as suggested, I went to Tools--> Folder Options-->View and clicked on: Reset all Folders.

It seems that the Arrange Icons options remain constant for the My Documents folder, and read exactly as they do for the other logon user: Name, Size, Type, Modified.

Furthermore, these don't change when I access files in other folders as happened before. I also see those previous music-based arrange icons options in the My Music folder, as one would expect.....They too seem to be retained .....

As to how that Folder Type =Music Album wended its way into the earlier desktop.ini.....I'm quite perplexed by this.It did say something about Leon Russell and I have one of his songs in My Music folder [ecellent musician...], but I wonder how it managed to alter that file...

Anyhow: As of now, all seems well....and I didn't need to use those Kellys- Korner Tweaks...If I run into further problems with this, I'll let you know...

Thanks again:

-Eli

*****************************************************************************************************

Keith wrote:

*"**In the 'My Documents' folder. It normally has its 'hidden' and
'system' attributes set, so you need
to set folder view options to both 'Show Hidden Files' and turn off
'Hide protected O.S. files "*
**
*============*

Thanks Keith.; i think I found the culprit. Here's a copy n paste of
that desktop.ini file in the My Documents folder. It shows that it was
modified Sept:. 25

=============
[.ShellClassInfo]
FolderType=MusicAlbum
MusicBuyUrl=http://windowsmedia.com/redir/buyno...9&geoid=f4&version=10.0.0.4036&userlocale=409
============================

Exactly how should I modify that file , and should formatting be ON or
OFF for that Notepad file?

Thanks again:

-Eli

Windows XP Professional Edition SP2

************************************************************
"Keith Miller MVP" <[email protected]

"eli" <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote in

message news:%[email protected]...

Where exactly would I find this particular desktop.ini file?


In the 'My Documents' folder. It normally has its 'hidden' and

'system' attributes set, so you need

to set folder view options to both 'Show Hidden Files' and turn off 'Hide protected O.S. files
(Recommended)'.

No formatting.. Take the example file in his post, highlight it, copy.
Go to Notepad or Wordpad, open the Desktop.ini file, click/swipe
across all text to highlight, press Ctrl/V to paste his text over the
current text. If it doesn't work right, cancel and try again.

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

Glad it's sorted out.

--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]


Joe Wright had written:

<<<
No formatting.. Take the example file in his post, highlight it, copy.
Go to Notepad or Wordpad, open the Desktop.ini file, click/swipe
across all text to highlight, press Ctrl/V to paste his text over the
current text. If it doesn't work right, cancel and try again.--
===============

Thank you kindly Joe and Keith. I apreciate your help here.

I simply replaced that desktop.ini file as Keith showed above. It was a bit tricky since the user
name in the path:

C:\Documents and Setting/user/My Documents

is but one vowel different from my user logon name. I found it worked better if I used the user
logon name than the pathway name. After restoring the desktop.ini file as suggested, I went to
Tools--> Folder Options-->View and clicked on: Reset all Folders.

It seems that the Arrange Icons options remain constant for the My Documents folder, and read
exactly as they do for the other logon user: Name, Size, Type, Modified.

Furthermore, these don't change when I access files in other folders as happened before. I also see
those previous music-based arrange icons options in the My Music folder, as one would
expect.....They too seem to be retained .....

As to how that Folder Type =Music Album wended its way into the earlier desktop.ini.....I'm quite
perplexed by this.It did say something about Leon Russell and I have one of his songs in My Music
folder [ecellent musician...], but I wonder how it managed to alter that file...

Anyhow: As of now, all seems well....and I didn't need to use those Kellys- Korner Tweaks...If I run
into further problems with this, I'll let you know...

Thanks again:

-Eli

*****************************************************************************************************

Keith wrote:

*"**In the 'My Documents' folder. It normally has its 'hidden' and
'system' attributes set, so you need
to set folder view options to both 'Show Hidden Files' and turn off
'Hide protected O.S. files "*
**
*============*

Thanks Keith.; i think I found the culprit. Here's a copy n paste of
that desktop.ini file in the My Documents folder. It shows that it was
modified Sept:. 25

=============
[.ShellClassInfo]
FolderType=MusicAlbum
MusicBuyUrl=http://windowsmedia.com/redir/buyno...9&geoid=f4&version=10.0.0.4036&userlocale=409
============================

Exactly how should I modify that file , and should formatting be ON or
OFF for that Notepad file?

Thanks again:

-Eli

Windows XP Professional Edition SP2

************************************************************
"Keith Miller MVP" <[email protected]

"eli" <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote in

message news:%[email protected]...

Where exactly would I find this particular desktop.ini file?


In the 'My Documents' folder. It normally has its 'hidden' and

'system' attributes set, so you need

to set folder view options to both 'Show Hidden Files' and turn off 'Hide protected O.S. files
(Recommended)'.

No formatting.. Take the example file in his post, highlight it, copy.
Go to Notepad or Wordpad, open the Desktop.ini file, click/swipe
across all text to highlight, press Ctrl/V to paste his text over the
current text. If it doesn't work right, cancel and try again.