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
    2013-11-01T10:01:11+00:00

    Yes I agree with this one too. If Windows 7 wasn't such a good stable operating system I'd probably go back to XP. It's just these little infuriating bugs, and let's face it, they are bugs, that take away from probably the best Windows OS yet. (IMHO). Active Window Border is adjustable in Advanced Widows Color and Appearance, but in only adjusts the outside border window not the folder and file separtor divider.

    Yes, when I found the "Active Window Border" in "Window Color and Appearance", I thought "Yippee! I can fix that thin dividing line to be like it is in XP!". But when I increased the border "size" from 1 to 3, it had no effect on that divider.

    My thoughts then are unprintable. Well done, Microsoft, another useful feature deleted, forgotten or - most likely - not known by the rewriters of your upgraded O/S.

    By the way, something you should know: that vertical dividing line is also present in "regedit".

    The Registry Editor is divided into two parts: a navigation pane on the left and a detail pane on the right. The thickness of the vertical divider between the two panes depends on the Active Window Border value and can be adjusted in Win 7. So there is no problem grabbing that divider.

    So let's all be thankful that they kept their fingers out of the Registry Editor code.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-11-01T09:07:38+00:00

    Yes I agree with this one too. If Windows 7 wasn't such a good stable operating system I'd probably go back to XP. It's just these little infuriating bugs, and let's face it, they are bugs, that take away from probably the best Windows OS yet. (IMHO). Active Window Border is adjustable in Advanced Widows Color and Appearance, but in only adjusts the outside border window not the folder and file separtor divider.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-11-01T08:48:27+00:00

    These days, "Microsoft" and "sensible" shouldn't be used in the same sentence.

    There's also another stupid problem with Explorer in Win 7 - the vertical divider between the Folder Pane and the File Pane is so thin that it is almost impossible to grab in order to change the width of the panes.

    ( ... snip ... )

    Just thinking about this stupid error and how much time it wastes me gets me worked up - if these people had been in my employ and produced software like this, they'd be out on their ear.

    I can only agree.

    I guess a big part of the problem is that MS started out as a bunch of programmers made good and that's how they still think corporately.  There used to be an old saw in the software game: "A bug is an undocumented feature, and a feature is a documented bug".  It ain't like that any more and it didn't ought to have ever been that way.  These days a bug is a thing that annoys your users and a feature is something they either like or want.

    The key to success in this market is to think like a user, understand your users, listen to your users, and deliver what they want.  This bloke "Supreeth" needs to spend less time defending the indefensible and more time telling his employers that they stuffed up.  And if that's not the way he sees his job we gotta ask whose fault that is.

    Al

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-11-01T05:52:36+00:00

    These days, "Microsoft" and "sensible" shouldn't be used in the same sentence.

    There's also another stupid problem with Explorer in Win 7 - the vertical divider between the Folder Pane and the File Pane is so thin that it is almost impossible to grab in order to change the width of the panes.

    In XP, the "Active Window Border" was used to define the thickness of this vertical line.

    In Win 7, the "Active Window Border" is simply ignored - the divider is 1 or 2 pixels wide no matter how thick the border is.

    I was thinking of starting a new topic to ask about this problem, but then I realised I would probably receive the stock answer from someone called "Supreeth" that this is "by design".

    The truth is, of course, that whoever specified how Explorer was supposed to work in Win 7 simply didn't know that the thickness of this vertical line is defined by the Active Window Border value.

    So it wasn't made that way and now we have to play this stupid game of trying to grab the line and drag it, which can take several seconds, instead of simply doing it instantly and carrying on with our work.

    Just thinking about this stupid error and how much time it wastes me gets me worked up - if these people had been in my employ and produced software like this, they'd be out on their ear.

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