Windows Explorer expands folders inappropriately, jumping the folder you expand to the bottom of the navigation pane

Anonymous

When using a left-side Navigation pane, if there are enough folders in the navigation pane such that you have a vertical scroll bar, if you click on a folder with the mouse (so as to see the contends in the right pane), then expand the folder (either by clicking on the + symbol or with the arrow key), then the left pane will automatically scroll up as far as it can such that the folder you expanded is still in view at the bottom of the pane. This removes the folder from under your mouse, where it would be expected to stay.

This is certainly a bug, as it only happens the first time you attempt to expand a folder in the manner. After doing it once, you can scroll the navigation (left) pane so that the folder in question is back in the middle of the pane, and it will expand and contract as expected, remaining under the mouse.

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Anonymous

Because many people seem to be interested in this issue, I'll post some info on my recent contact with Microsoft regarding this issue.

It seemed that everywhere this issue was talked about, all anybody would get from a Microsoft employee was a boilerplate "Thanks for your feedback" response. Never was the validity of the issue discussed or even acknowledged. I decided to write an email to the man in charge, Steve Ballmer, clearly laying out the problem with links to a walkthrough of the problem, this discussion, and the bug report with 220 votes (at the time). I realized that Steve would never read it himself, but I figured his email must get auto-forwarded to someone who might actually read it.

Two days later I got an email from an Advocacy Specialist from Microsoft saying a "grace case" has been created and the Windows Escalation Team would get in touch with me. The next day an Escalation Engineer emailed me asking when would be a good time to talk on the phone about the issues. So that he would be completely clear with what I was talking about, I recorded a screencast that walked through precisely what the issue was.

Edit: I've made a more condensed video demonstrating the "folder jump bug", view it here.

The end result of our talking was this:

The engineers are aware of this issue.
They may or may not provide a fix for it.

Nothing groundbreaking, but it's one more little push in the right direction. In my opinion, posting in this thread about the problem is virtually worthless. I would suggest:

Voting up and commenting on the bug here:

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

He said that site is closely monitored by the dev team.

Writing intelligent, profanity-free complaints that mention how the bug negatively affects your everyday file-management workflow. Email these up the Microsoft food chain until you get a response. You are a paying customer and you deserve to be heard.

I got tired of dealing with it, so am now using XYplorer when doing heavy file management. It stings to have to pay for a decent file manager, but that is life. If this issue bothers you at all, please comment and vote on the bug, and write an email.

UPDATE 9/13/11: Bug is still present in Windows 8 Developer Preview, see it here.

UPDATE 1/30/12: Finally we have a public acknowledgment that this is in fact a bug that needs to be addressed, and it will apparently be fixed in the upcoming Windows 8 Beta. This is good news, but I know I will be using Win7 for at least another year or two, as will many, many others. We deserve a patch to fix this issue in Win7. Until that happens, keep bugging Microsoft about it.

FINAL THOUGHTS: This is a real bug with 645! votes on their feedback page, however MS has no plans to fix it for their Windows 7 users. The bug is fixed in Windows 8, which means nothing for a vast number of us who have no plans to upgrade. If this bug really gets under your skin, I suggest installing Classic Shell, which has been recommended a few times in this thread. You can choose to only install the 'Classic Explorer' feature which fixes this bug among others, and even brings back the old File Copy UI which is so nice to have back. I've been using it for many months now without any troubles.

Also, to those of you who think they find a solution to this problem by simply changing a few options settings somewhere... thank you for your desire to help all of us, but you must not be having the same problem, and please don't post your 'solution' here. If you read some of the 29 pages of this thread, you'll see every solution imaginable has been suggested. This is a bug in Explorer itself. If you use Windows 7 and plan to keep using it, your options are 1) use Classic Shell, or 2) use a third party file management tool, such as XYplorer. If you stumble across this thread because you just noticed this bug, please vote up the bug, and do either 1 or 2.

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Anonymous

2010-10-06T10:27:48+00:00

Of course Microsoft will deny any existence of a bug in their software... or perhaps they're also using Classic Shell.
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Anonymous

2010-10-06T10:22:47+00:00

Curious! I've been setting up Windows 7 PCs at work for a while and have found that this bug exists on every single PC I've tested. Explorer doesn't need to be maximised.

To replicate it, expand a folder or two in the folder pane so that there is a scroll bar (the Windows or Program Files folders are good starting places). Then identify a folder which has the "subfolders" icon next to it. Don't click on it though. Instead, make sure that this folder is somewhere roughly in the middle of the folder view, then double click on it. This should both expand the folder and open its contents in the right hand pane. However, it also makes the folder view scroll upwards so that this folder is now at the bottom of the list with all is subfolders hidden from view. So, you scroll down (to make them visible) and double click on another subfolder. Again, it opens and the view jumps upwards again so that the contents are all hidden off the bottom of the view.

Hence, double clicking through several folders becomes a constant battle against Explorer's infuriating insistence on scrolling upwards and hiding the subfolders of the folder you've just expanded.

I've found it to be a 100% reproducible bug on all copies of Windows 7 that I've tried it on, plus it also occurs on Windows Server 2008 R2 as well. I've also found that the Classic Shell software (not the GP setting) fixes the bug.
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Anonymous

2010-10-06T01:00:29+00:00

Of course you don't. You're an MVP. As I already pointed out somewhere, this Windows' feature (the Jolly Jumping Folders) comes also with a face recognition software and a database with the faces of every MVP that ever was.

When the face recognition software detects your face, it prevents this extremely helpful and well designed feature from starting ... because you, as MVPs, don't need it.

If you feel you are being discriminated because of your MVPness, you should follow any of the links mentioned before and fill a feedback form or a feature request or a message in a bottle.
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Anonymous

2010-10-04T02:49:29+00:00

I honestly have to say I am aware of this, but I do not experience it. I open Explorer, not maximized, I am able to expand folders and no jumping occurs at all.

Teching It Easy: With Windows |ActiveWin |Notebooks | Microsoft MVP
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