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

2012-03-04T00:31:15+00:00

Since many people keep complaining about this issue, once again: THIS SOFTWARE SOLVES THE PROBLEM:

http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/

Once you install it, go to options->Navigation Pane->Fix folder scrolling and the bug is gone. It WORKS!
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Anonymous

2012-03-03T23:06:46+00:00

Anyway, I found something that seems to fix it for me.

I hit the Start Button...and type "edit group policy". In the Local Group Policy Editor, I went to:

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Explorer

Then I enabled "Turn on Classic Shell".

So far I'm not sure what else this changes in Windows Explorer, but at least for the time being, my folders aren't jumping to the bottom when I expand them.

" I'm not sure what else this changes in Windows Explorer..."

Well I'll tell you what it changed for me and it was horrible! I'm running Win 7 x64 bit. A couple of hours later l noticed that all of my "Single" clicks with my mouse were now being interpreted as "Double" clicks!

It had been some time since I'd made this change and it didn't seem relevant anyways because the effect was everywhere, not just windows explorer.

I'd click on an .exe file to move and Voila, it'd try to execute it!

Try to move a shortcut on my desktop... yep. It'd think I double clicked it!

I spent several hours checking mouse settings. Installing my mouse driver. Looking for viruses - did find one actually - unrelated though!

So I went to sleep and slept on it. And then on a fresher mind I remembered. Oh yeah. Let's change Windows Explorer back to it's normally crappy behavior so I changed "Turn on Classic Shell" setting back and Voila! No more double clicks.

I can use my computer again!

That was a good try though. Really wish Microsoft would fix Explorer in 7 and not just do it in 8.
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Anonymous

2012-03-02T23:16:17+00:00

It's stunning that such an egregious, and frankly major, error not only will continue to blight Windows 7 explorer but MS is choosing to just let the problem fester. Hey Steve Bahlmer, every time my selected folder jumps completely away from where i just clicked on it, I'm thinking of you! This is the worst kind of arrogance by Microsoft. This makes what could really have been their best explorer into an unusable piece of **** for a serious power user/programmer. Really. I want to be - no - I NEED to be irritated that way 5000 times per day in addition to all my other irritations we programmers go through! Thanks Steve! Hey Bill! This is who you entrusted your baby too? I guess Microsoft will never get it really.
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