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

Anonymous
2009-10-28T18:12:01+00:00

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.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Files, folders, and storage

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Anonymous
2011-06-30T22:14:30+00:00

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:

  1. The engineers are aware of this issue.
  2. 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:

  1. 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.

  1. 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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  1. Anonymous
    2010-10-12T14:57:00+00:00

    I am with you guys, annoying.

    /maybe this is off, or i just doen't read through the whole topic but i have another problem:

    the left bar doesn't expand when i am in a folder, and jump into a subfolder in the right bar.

    for example:

    I download something into C:\tmp\downloads\abc.zip

    I clicked to unzip the files into C:\tmp\downloads\abc\

    When the winzip open the explorer, the left side doen't expand. i should navigate through the whole tree to reach the folder.

    This is bigger problem for me then the jump to problem.

    /

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-10-12T15:34:52+00:00

    @J0e - yes, Classic Shell 2.8.3 is beta. If you want a stable version try 2.0.0. That's nothing surprising. When software reaches an major version (like 2.0), development continues for the next major version, which will be in beta until it goes through all testing and reaches a "major version" status. Unless I stop development after 3.0, there will always be the latest major version, and the new beta version to choose from. That's the nature of software development. The big bold warning about**"DO NOT unistall..."** was because a dangerous bug got into the wild for 2 weeks before I cought it, but that's the risk you take when running beta versions. As I said, if you want stable, use 2.0.0.

    BTW, 2.8.3 proves to be very stable. During the last 2 months it's out, I've had very few bug reports. The next one will have few big new features, so stability will go down again.

    @lolka_bolka - try going to the Folder Options and click "Automaticall expand to current folder".

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-10-13T15:09:59+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

     

    Then you are clearly not doing it right! ;)

    Have you watched the video of the bug? It's here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGdGoO7Anis

    I hope you stay interested in this problem as it is irritating to a lot of people.

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-10-14T17:41:35+00:00

    You have to find it amusing that M$ spent millions advertising how Win7 was designed with feedback from consumers, yet I can find no one who thinks that M$ "improvements" and new "features" in Windows Explorer are beneficial.  How about adding back a visible tree structure to the left hand pane?  Minor indentations make it difficult to get a true sense for the directory structure, especially when working at higher resolutions where the indentations are barely noticeable.

    I'd like to know who provided the feedback that having the "Show Desktop" icon is more convenient on the right side of the screen, or that I now have to open "Network and sharing center" just to view my connection status and properties instead of simply double clicking the icon, or that now having "Libraries" in my Windows Explorer is somehow helpful - rather than actually being able to to directly access a folder that say, scans have been sent to, I now have to guess where that folder is in order to access the file and copy it to where I really want it, or that websites are repeatedly telling me to "upgrade" my Internet Explorer 8...and one of my favorites, though it's been around for quite a while previous to Win7 - let's hide filename extensions by default, so noone knows what file type they're trying to open! Great idea! Easy to fix, but why does it need to be fixed?

    But definitely add my vote to PLEASE remove this "feature" of having my Windows Explorer folder tree and folders force me to chase them around my screen, maximized or not.

    Or am I being naive in believing that M$ actually has any interest whatsoever in hearing what their buying public has to say?

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