Windows 10: Change Folder View Layout in Windows 10

How to: Change Folder View Layout in Windows 10

How to Change the Layout View of a Folder in Windows 10


In Windows, you can change the Sort by, and layout view of items in your folders to how you like.

The view layout of a folder's content can be changed to extra large icons, large icons, medium icons, small icons, list, details, tiles, or content.

This tutorial will show you how to change the icon view layout of items in a folder in File Explorer for your account in Windows 10.

*note Included folders in a library will all share the same view layout.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Change Folder View Layout from File Explorer Ribbon
• Option Two: To Change Folder View Layout from File Explorer Toolbar
• Option Three: To Change Folder View Layout from Open and Save As Dialog Boxes Toolbar
• Option Four: To Change Desktop and Folder View Layout from Context Menu
• Option Five: To Change Desktop and Folder View Layout with Scroll Wheel
• Option Six: To Change Desktop and Folder View Layout with Keyboard

OPTION ONE [/i] To Change Folder View Layout from File Explorer Ribbon
1. In File Explorer, open the folder you want to change the view layout of.

2. Click/tap on the View tab (Alt+V). (see screenshot below step 3)

3. In the Layout section of the ribbon, select Extra large icons, Large icons, Medium icons, Small icons, List, Details, Tiles, or Content for the view layout you want. (see screenshot below)









OPTION TWO [/i] To Change Folder View Layout from File Explorer Toolbar
1. In File Explorer, open the folder you want to change the view layout of its content.

2. At the bottom right corner of File Explorer, click/tap on either the Details (left) or Large icons (right) button for the view layout you want. (see screenshots below)












OPTION THREE [/i] To Change Folder View Layout from Open and Save As Dialog Boxes Toolbar
1. When you have a step 2 or step 3 below for how you would like to change the view layout.

2. Click/tap on the Change your view button until the layout view is how you want. (see screenshot below)



3. Click/tap on the More options button, and select the layout view you want. (see screenshot below)








OPTION FOUR [/i] To Change Desktop and Folder View Layout from Context Menu
1. Go to your desktop, or open a folder in File Explorer you want to change the view layout of.

2. Right click or press and hold on an empty area inside the folder, click/tap on View, and select Extra large icons, Large icons, Medium icons, Small icons, List, Details, Tiles, or Content for the view layout you want. (see screenshots below)












OPTION FIVE [/i] To Change Desktop and Folder View Layout with Scroll Wheel
1. Click/tap on an empty area on your desktop or in a open folder in File Explorer you want to change the view layout of.

2. Press and hold the Ctrl key and roll the scroll wheel forward or backward until you have the view layout you want, and release the Ctrl key.





OPTION SIX [/i] To Change Desktop and Folder View Layout with Keyboard
1. Click/tap on an empty area on your desktop or in a open folder in File Explorer you want to change the view layout of its content.

2. Press and hold the Ctrl+Shift keys and press a number key 1 to 8 until you have the view layout you want, then release the Ctrl+Shift keys.



Note Some people report they must press Ctrl+Alt instead of Ctrl+Shift.

This will not work using the number pad. You will need to use the numbers at the top of the keyboard.

The views in red below no longer work only on the Desktop starting with Windows 10 version 1703, but will still work in File Explorer for all versions.

[table][tr][td]Number[/td] [td]View Layout[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]1[/td] [td]Extra large icons[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]2[/td] [td]Large icons[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]3[/td] [td]Medium icons[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]4[/td] [td]Small icons[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]5[/td] [td]List[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]6[/td] [td]Details[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]7[/td] [td]Tiles[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]8[/td] [td]Content[/td] [/tr] [/table]




That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Backup and Restore Folder View Settings in Windows 10
• How to Apply a Folder's View to All Folders of Same Template Type in Windows 10
• How to Set a Default Folder View for All Folders in Windows 10
• How to Change the Template of a Drive, Folder, or Library in Windows 10
• How to Enable or Disable Auto Arrange in Folders in Windows 10
• How to Reset Folder View Settings to Default in Windows 10
• How to Change the Sort by View of a Folder in Windows 10
• How to Change the Group by View of a Folder in Windows 10
• How to Size Width of All Columns to Fit in Folder in Windows 10
• How to Change the Size of Desktop Icons in Windows 10

:)

 

Is there a way to change the default Windows 10 File Explorer layout view, regardless of content type

When using Windows 10 File explorer to open directories, folders and sub-folders, the default layout view changes depending on the file content type in the folders.

Music, Pictures, Videos, application files etc...

The majority of default view is Large Icons. I always have to manually change them to 'Details'

When I manually change the view of a specific folder to 'Details', Windows seems to remember that as a preference because the next time I open that same folder, it retains the last layout view I used.

As I cannot change the layout view manually for each and every folder,

How can I change the default layout view for every existing folder and every newly created folder to open in a 'Details' layout view.

**moved from Windows / Windows 10 / Desktop, Start, & Personalization.

 

Photo Collection On Windows 10

Hi Susan,

Using the File Explorer in Windows 10, you can change the template, column width, Group by, Sort by, and layout view of the files in a folder to your preference. You can follow the steps below to change the Folder View options on Windows 10:

• Open the folder that you want to change the view layout of in the File Explorer.
• Click on the View tab.
• From the View tab, you can change the options to the view layout that you want.

Should you need further assistance, don't hesitate to get back to us.

 

Hello Allen, *Smile

Are the folders this is happing with on a removable drive?

If so, folder views are not remembered for these type of locations.

 

You need to apply the view setting for each folder type:

 

how can i apply layout for all folders?

 

Hello evildog1, *Smile

You can use the method in the tutorial below to do so.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/3...dows-10-a.html

 

uhm that method does not work. i want to set folder view as List as default instead Details for all folders

 

You should be able to use that tutorial to set all folders to have the "General items" template, set a folder to use "List" view, then use "Apply to Folder" to apply the view to all folders. *Smile

 

"uhm that method does not work. i want to set folder view as List as default instead Details for all folders"
Did you download and run Brink's .bat file in Step 1 ? Lacking that, look at the screens in post 3. In Step 5 'folders of this type' defaults to each of the Windows templates for Pictures, Music, etc. If you want ALL folders to have the same List view, r-click any folder in each of the 5 folders under This PC (Desktop does not apply) and hit 'Customize this folder'. Set to 'Optimize this folder for General Items". Then follow the screen in post 3 using List instead of Details in Step 1 and you should be good to go.

 

The non-icon desktop layout options seem to have been removed in 1703 *Sad

 

Thank you @Michael. I have added a note for this in the tutorial. *Sad

 

how about a .reg or .bat file to restore custom folder view setting after a clean install? after i reinstall windows the first thing i do is reassign my secondary drives/partitions there previous drive letters. in doing this i don't have to change various setting in my backup for various programs like my browsers, winstep, etc.... but where various view settings are concerned it can be weeks before i reset each and every folder. i would rather have click and done on the various view settings so i can open a folder and just do what i open that folder for instead of opening the folder, adjusting the view, and then doing what i opened the folder for. thanks

 

Hello @ChaChaLaBoom, *Smile

If you like, you could use the method in the tutorial below to backup and restore your folder view settings.

Backup and Restore Folder View Settings in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Backup Restore Tutorials

 

Here's another way to change the desktop layout, for any AutoIt users:
Code: #include <GUIListView.au3> _GUICtrlListView_SetView(ControlGetHandle('', 'FolderView', 'SysListView321'), 2)[/quote] Put that in an .au3 file in your Startup folder, and it will switch to List view at login.

You can change the last 2 to a 1 for Details view, or 4 for Tiles.