Try making the icons larger to accommodate the picture. For example:
How do I get Classic Folder Icons Back?
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(128, 8%, 22%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Anonymous
How can I get back the folder icons from windows xp? I need my folder icons to be flat square folders, which I can customize with one photo from inside the folder shown on the front? These open folders sitting sideways with documents and pictures falling out, are driving me crazy. I work with thousands of photos every day and need a quick simple way to identify what is inside each folder. Now I have to spend hours opening each folder and looking through the photos...such a waste of time. Why is such a simple folder icon gone in Windows 7? I need it back!
Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Files, folders, and storage
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
Answer accepted by question author
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
Periwinkleblue,
Hello, I’m afraid that changing the file displayed/icon would be the closest choices for customizing the folder in the way you would like, short of possible third party tweaks.
If this is a feature you would like reinstated, please leave your suggestion at Windows 7 Feedback.
Lisa
Microsoft Answers Support Engineer
Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.
55 additional answers
Sort by: Newest
-
Anonymous
2012-01-26T05:16:38+00:00 Yes! I agree with this Tufte remark!
I just switched to Windows 7 from XP, and the folder icons have been extremely inconvenient. Echoing the opinions of many others in this thread, I am also an artist with a large number of images. Oftentimes I need to rapidly scan folders for an image.
It's not about how large the folder icon is (as the Microsoft tech support staff keep reinforcing), it's about the faux-3D effect adding too much visual clutter and hampering the ability to do a quick visual search. Is it that hard to understand that it's more difficult to search for something when everything is slanted vs. flat?
I like Windows 7 a lot, but this new folder icon is a big design fail in terms of functionality (and quite frankly, aesthetics as well imo).
Any chance Microsoft will yield? Or is it time to look for 3rd party plugins?
-
Anonymous
2012-01-07T10:22:50+00:00 The 3D icon design is simply not as effective for visualising information as the flat design was.
This has so often been the case with Microsoft over the past 10 years, think charts, graphs, and now folder icons too. The people at Microsoft design who think Windows and Office are enhanced by hard-to-see-3D should read some Tufte. Windows 8 seems to be better in this regard, so perhaps those people have learned or gone? So, can we have an option of flat folders put back in Windows 7 please? Pretty please?
-
Anonymous
2011-09-10T14:29:38+00:00 again, as I said, why should users find complicated workaround to a problem that did not exist in XP? that is so utterly counterproductive.
The feature existed in XP, it was a one-click affair, it was practically and widely used. Why was this dropped in win7 and replaced by something nobody likes, doesn't make sense and p...s a lot of people off? And why does msn not listen to its customers?