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

2011-11-19T14:05:25+00:00

The Jump Bug drove me nuts from day one. I came across a cool app that eliminates this irritation. The app is "Classic Shell". http://www.7tutorials.com/fix-windows-explorer-annoyances-classic-shell

I cannot remember exactly where I discovered the information about Classic Shell, possibly in a post in this thread. With this app I chose to only use the Windows Explorer option at setup, and not the Start Menu or IE9 options. Also, on the advice of someone, I also chose to use "Windows XP Simple" option in Settings on the Navigation Tab.

Give it a try. It's absolutely a great fix for the jump bug.
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Anonymous

2011-11-17T07:15:53+00:00

I just moved to Windows 7 recently and found the same problem also applied for my Windows 7 SP1 (Hong Kong Chinese version).

This is very annoying for my daily tasks and I'm very upset on why there is still no official permanent fix on this problem. I hope this issue will be addressed very soon by the Microsoft Engineers as this is a really annoying "feature" to most of us. This feature is not user friendly and is not intelligent enough by today's standpoint.

While other operating systems are becoming more and more mature and user friendly, I think it's time for Windows to catch up!
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Anonymous

2011-11-16T21:50:23+00:00

Regardless of the fact that older Windows did not have this "Feature", Windows 7 should NOT have it. Old things pass away, and new things come up. Let's be honest, windows 3.1 wasn't able to run 25 programs at the same time, nor was it able to stream 1080p to your television while you listen to mp3's and play Borderlands. Most of these changes are welcome, and some are adapted to. As many have said, this "feature" is not one of them that should be adapted to, it should be eradicated -

e-rad-i-cate

verb (used with object), -cat·ed, -cat·ing. 1. to remove or destroy utterly;

The point is, the folder jumping is a bug that MS calls a "feature". They call it a "feature" for the sake of not admitting that it was a mistake to have programmed it to behave the way it does.

If I remember right, the beta version of Windows 8 has this same useless "feature" as well. I will be sticking to Vista and XP for my computing needs, and it's unlikely that I will be buying newer MS OS's for quite a while.
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Anonymous

2011-10-26T05:13:45+00:00

It already has been reported.

Vote to have the bug fixed at Microsoft Connect:

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

Thanks for pointing it out. Actually I've voted it there long time ago, but now I become not so sure that the issue in the Connect program is actually read by MS. I CAN'T even see a single comment from MS responding the issue (either acknowledge it, or even deny it). If you compare to other programs in Connect, in here (https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio) or here (https://connect.microsoft.com/IE) for examples, usually MS would respond to such a reported issue.

I mean how can people be sure it's the RIGHT Connect program to report this issue? The program itself is even named WindowsServerFeedback, means feedback for Windows Server, not specifically to Windows (non-server, or in general), or even Windows UI Design/Experience. To make it more verbose, even [Supreeth - Microsoft Support] didn't specify exactly in which specific Connect program this should be reported so that MS will listen to it, respond to it, not being careless about it, and finally give a statement and take a REAL action to fix it.
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