Windows 10: Enable or Disable Auto Arrange in Folders in Windows 10

I have started mixing photos and i noticed I can drag and drop as planned with the download of details bat. However at times when i drop a photo sometimes it does a auto switch with a few other photos already in this folder. Same goes with if i have say 100 photos in the order i like and do a rename with them all highlighted it will auto select the order of naming the files which messes up my order. Any ideas or do i need to install all 3 of your sections for large, med too to open it completely for what i need? Thanks again

 

HappyCamper,

This is normal for when you drop an item or rename items in a folder for that item(s) be auto arranged at first. Disabling auto arrange just allows you to arrange them how you like afterwards.

 

Another question:

I'm not sure if this is possible, but what I'd really like is for auto-arrange and align to grid to remain on by default, but have the option to manually disable them by individual folder as I wish. Unfortunately, this does not appear to be an option in the tutorial; all options seem to disable by default both auto arrange and align to grid, and one must then manually turn them back on if desired. I don't want to have to turn on both these options manually for every folder for which I don't want that behavior... which will be most of them. I just want auto-arrange and align to grid to show up as options in all folders.

Is there a way to do that? Or is there a limitation in the OS that it will only display the auto-arrange and align to grid options for a folder if they are disabled by default?

Thanks!

 

Hello Nevyn, and welcome to Ten Forums. *Smile

I'll have to play with it for a bit to see what I may be able to do, and hopefully post back with a solution for you.

 

Wow, you're quick! Thanks a bunch for looking into this!

On the other hand, don't feed the help vampires too much. Wouldn't want you to burn out!

Have a good night.

 

@Nevyn,

I have updated steps 3 and 4 to have an auto arrange turned OFF option in them to help. *Smile

 

Excellent! Thanks a bunch for figuring that out! *Biggrin

 

You're most welcome Nevyn. *Smile

 

Hey Brink - excellent thread and tutorial.

What I really miss when we use this disable auto arrange feature is that it does change what we see in This PC. Normally I like the default where I see 3 groups - Folders, Devices+Drives and Network Locations. What I like the most is under Devices+Drives, I see all my HD's and most importantly under each HD is displayed something like: 34 gig free of 74 gig.

When I use the BAT files to disable auto arrange for some reason we no longer get the free space info like: 34 gig free of 74 gig. Is there a way to get this back? Tiles is the default, but I can’t get this info in any view except details.

 

Hello Gerry, *Smile

If you like, you could use OPTION ONE in the tutorial below for the Windows 8 version in Windows 10 for this. I didn't include it in the Windows 10 version since that part is applied to both "This PC" and "Quick access", and auto arrange isn't disabled in only these two locations. if that's ok with you, then this below should work nicely for you.

Windows Explorer Auto Arrange - Disable in Windows 8

 

Excellent, Brink. This solved the problem. If I understand you correctly the disadvantage of this method is I can't turn off auto arrange in This PC or Quick access. If that's the case then this is just fine, I see no reason to ever need to do that. Great solution - I love this forum!

 

That's correct. I'm glad it meets your needs. *Smile

 

On my Win 8.1 computer that I upgraded to Win 10 this is working just fine. On my Win 7 computer that I also upgraded to Win 10 there is a problem with the desktop icons. First of all after I ran the BAT file on both computers I had to change my desktop icons back to View/Small. Both were on medium.


Now every time I reboot my Win 7 /10 computer the desktop icons are all neatly arranged on the left side of the desktop in perfect columns up and down, certainly not the way I placed them. Fortunately I have Iconoid which remembers and is able to restore icon placement on the desktop.

But still I'd like to get it like my other Win 8 / 10 computer which does boot up fine retaining the desktop icon positions. When I use remote desktop sometimes the icon positions are changed and that's why I use Iconoid at times to restore. When I right click the desktop and choose View/auto arrange it places the icons in the exact position I mentioned all to the left in neat columns.

I noticed on both computers View/align to grid is checked. I'm trying to see if unchecking that on the Win 7 / 10 computer may help. Obviously what's happening is for some reason on boot it's automatically choosing auto arrange icons on desktop.

As far as I'm concerned I'd never ever want to use auto arrange on the desktop, so if that can be permanently disabled that's fine with me. Any solutions to this?

 

Hello Gerry, *Smile

When you right click on your desktop and click on View, do you have both Auto arrange icons and Align icons to grid unchecked?

 

They are both unchecked. When I first did the BAT. Align to grid was checked and it was on medium icons. I changed to small icons and later unchecked align to grid. I also checked and then unchecked auto arrange to see if that would make a difference . After reboot it's still the same, icons are auto arranged