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

2013-11-01T16:33:24+00:00

<snip>

P.S. Does our b!#@h!^g do any good here in answers.microsoft.com?

It's been a long time since anyone from Microsoft commented.

I hear crickets! <chirp> <chirp>
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Anonymous

2013-11-01T15:46:56+00:00

I agree with the O.P. It seems some of us are programmers like me. I think it's important to point out that when the .dll concept came about it was all about reusing code. You could call (include/import) a dll from your program that would take care of the border sizing for you. It seems the dividing line is in a dll since it's controllable via the registry for regedit as Zaphod points out. What MS missed was reusing this code for Win7 Explorer. It's possible they were on a "new and improved" vein and bypassed the "old ways".

That also speaks to the topic of this thread. From a programmers POV, they added functionality to show as much above the folder you are expanding as possible, which accounts for the "jump" that occurs when you expand. There has to be a requirement in a shop like Microsoft that made the programmer include this functionality. They don't add features they think would be cool. They need approval first. To receive approval you need a prototype and Use Cases to warrant the change. To me, the question is what Use Case exists where you want to see the folders above the expanded folder, not below?

I'd be very interested in a side thread on that topic. Ignore how much the current functionality bothers you, think of and share some reason they would do that. I'd be most interested in detailed responses from the programmer, his manager and anyone who approved it, the ones that thought this up. I am extremely not interested in some Tier 1 support dude responding. Extremely.

Lastly and priority 1, I would be extremely interested in a Win7 patch that corrects this functionality so the highlighted folder stays right where it is when you expand it.

P.S. Does our b!#@h!^g do any good here in answers.microsoft.com?
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Anonymous

2013-11-01T15:44:11+00:00

No I have plus signs, not sure how I did that but it can be done.

BUT !!!!

The dang things dissapear if I move my mouse to the files side, and is also very irritating along with this other problem.

I havn't dragged that seperater line around, why did you have to point that out LoL.

It is sooooooo stupid they can't just fix this stuff, we have updates, they built this whole system for all this update stuff, they send out 200 meg updates. I mean what are they exactly doing at that place.

FIX this stuff
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Anonymous

2013-11-01T13:08:22+00:00

Thanks for that. I guess because the registry editor didn't warrant a change it works as normal, but because they had to have those stupid little arrows for nested folders instead of the good old "+" symbol in a square it somehow messed up the code. I don't think you get that "folder" jumping issue in Regedit either. That is to say when you click on a key it doesn't jump to the bottom like Windows Explorer does. I wish I was a programmer, because I'd closely examine Explorer and the Regedit executables and see what's going on. MS aren't going to fix it. They want you to buy Windows 8.
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