Windows Explorer navigation pane changing position when viewing sub directories

Add me to the list of frustrated users... Explorer in W7 really, really, REALLY sucks.

I kinda liked the favorites-bar in Vista's explorer; it was situated in a separate 'box' above the folder-tree so when you started scrolling (in the folder-tree) the favorites stayed on screen. The only drawback in my opinion was that it came at the expense of screen-space in the navigation-pane, giving the folder-tree a bit less space then it had in XP. And since Vista, in comparison with XP, uses just about twice as much space to show ANYTHING due to larger margins/paddings/font-sizes/etc (I didn't buy a large monitor so I could fit larger icons on my desktop, but thanks anyway) it didn't leave that much space for the navigation-pane anyway.

So how do you **** up an almost perfectly working feature like the favorites-bar? Integrate it in the navigation-pane so that you have to scroll up for an eternity if you're working somewhere near the bottom in an expanded folder-tree! AARGH. What's the use of quicklinks (which favorites are) if it takes more than a second to get there..?

Open Windows Explorer and open up enough drives and or directories to completely fill the nav pane. Now view a directory at the bottom of the list and make sure it has a sub-directory. Click the plus to view the sub-directory and bam, the focus goes to the top of the nav pane when we clearly are working at the bottom of the list. This is very annoying.

This is the Left Pane Scroll Bug.

See the bottom of this post for help with the left pane scroll bug.

Tell MS you want it fixed by voting at the Microsoft Connect website:

**http://connect.microsoft.com/WindowsServerFeedback/feedback/details/621426/bug-when-expanding-folders-in-explorer-server-2008-r2-and-windows-7**

Watch the left pane scroll bug: Video evidence of the left pane scroll bug using Windows Explorer in Windows 7

This shows one way to reproduce it, clicking the triangle to expand a folder you're currently viewing also reproduces it.

Left Pane Scroll Bug threads: 1. Bug: Windows Explorer expands folders inappropriately, jumping the folder you expand to the bottom of the navigation pane 2. Windows explorer tree view expands at the bottom, not at the top as it used to be 3. Windows Explorer navigation pane issue 4. Windows explorer moves the selected folder to bottom of folders list. How do I stop this? 5. Strange folder behavior in left pane of Windows Explorer

Unfortunately when Microsoft redesigned Windows Explorer they made some pretty horrendous decisions - of which many people have complained about. There are many other file managers available, both free and for a price. One of them might be easier to use and have the features you want, here is a list of most that are available:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_file_managers

Classic Shell

• Customize Windows Explorer with removed features (more helpful options and info below):

http://classicshell.sourceforge.net

Xplorer² Lite

• single or dual pane file browser with tabs and many features:

http://www.zabkat.com/x2lite.htm

Guides on how to manually make changes to Windows Explorer

How to Fix The Left Pane Scroll Bug

       See the bottom of this post for help with the left pane scroll bug using Classic Shell.

       Click here to view one of several methods to reproduce it.

       Click here to vote for fixing the left pane scroll bug.

Note: The links below involve editing the registry - be careful!

**Auto Arrange Option #1 - How to disable Auto Arrange in Windows 7**

Auto Arrange Option #2 - How to disable Auto Arrange in Windows 7****

Libraries Folder - How to Add or Remove the Libraries Folder from the Navigation Pane

User Folder - How to Add or Remove your User Folder from the Windows 7 Navigation Pane

Full Row Select - How to Disable Full Row Select (details view) in Windows Explorer

_________________________________________

Extra links - help guides for using Windows Explorer

Folder Options   Change View Settings   Using Search   Change User Folder Icon   Associate File Type   Share Folders - XP & Win7   Add/Remove Columns   Add Folder To Library

Most important features to fix or return to Windows Explorer:

1. The option to disable Auto Arrange.
2. Fix The Left Pane Scroll Bug: If you are viewing a folder and expand it in the left pane to show it's subfolders, the folder is annoyingly auto-scrolled to the bottom of the pane causing the subfolders to not be shown, making it difficult to work with. Double clicking a folder in the left pane can also cause this problem.  Vote to fix it.
3. When multiple files are selected they should stay selected when changing the sorting order (ex: Name to Size). Maintaining selected files when sorting should be a requirement and this feature should not have been removed.
4. The option to remember each folder's view settings (remembering individual folder window sizes and positions).
5. The option to remove "Full row selection" for details view. "Full row selection" is very annoying when the folder is full and has no empty space to click on. Also, when dragging/dropping files to a different folder - if you release the file on the row of a subfolder or .exe/.zip/.rar file "full row selection" causes the file to be moved into the subfolder or .exe/.zip/.rar file rather the the intended folder.
6. A search window with all the advanced search options. No syntax required.
7. The option to always show free disk space and folder size in the status bar and/or details pane. Also always automatically show the size of selected files (when many files are selected it will not show the total size).
8. The option to scroll the pane your mouse is in with mouse wheel even if that pane is not selected.

Let Microsoft know you want Windows Explorers features returned:

Since many people seem to agree that some or all the changes made to Windows Explorer have actually made it less user friendly, you can go to the Windows 7 Feedback page and (politely) let them know your suggestions for improving it:

http://mymfe.microsoft.com/Windows%207/Feedback.aspx?formID=195

Note: don't make the message too long, there is a size limit to your message even though the page doesn't tell you about it. Also, don't just copy and paste from the list above - they will think the same person is repeatedly submitting feedback.

Left pane scroll bug (and other fixes):

Using Classic Shell To Restore Some Features To Windows Explorer

After installing the free Classic Shell you can customize Windows Explorer closer to how you want it, the quote below is just one way to do so. Click here to see some of the options you can customize, and here is the FAQ page for Classic Shell.

A solution which did work for restoring some features.

1. Install the free Classic Shell.  This is very customizable, and works as a mod for Windows Explorer rather than a full blown replacement. You didn't need to install the Classic Start Menu option, but you can if you want.
2. Reboot the computer.
3. Launch Windows Explorer (Start - Computer) and turn on "Always Show Menus" (Organize - Layout - check Menu Bar). This is just for configuration, you can turn it off again afterwards if you want.
4. Right click on the menu bar and turn on the "Classic Explorer Bar". This adds a series of cut/copy/paste icons to Explorer. Crucially, it also adds the "Configuration" icon.
5. Go into the configuration and from here you can tweak things to your heart's content. To kill the horrible Windows 7 folder-jumping, switch the "Navigation Pane Style" to Vista. You can even knock it back to XP mode if you want (this adds in the lines to the folder tree and adds a classic "+" icon for expanding folders). The Windows Vista style folder view looks pretty much the same as the Windows 7 view, but gets rid of the horrible jumping.
6. Tweak any other settings you want.

After this, you can turn the toolbar and menus back off in Explorer if you wish. Windows Explorer looks largely the same, but folders no longer jump around. Vote for Microsoft to fix this bug.

Now, if only MS could code properly so that we don't have to mess with third party apps to get Windows to actually work properly...

Add me to the list of frustrated. MS, please fix this. 

Windows Live Mail has sam issue, PLEASE FIX, Microsoft

Actually, it's not lost. Win XP was the first to single click on the folder and have subfolders displayed in the left panel as well as the right panel. Previous Windows versions act just like Windows 7.

Add me to the list of frustrated. MS, please fix this.