How to manually arrange folders in windows 7__

Anonymous
2009-10-24T14:09:18+00:00

When i try manually move one folder to be the first i can t whay

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

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Anonymous
2009-10-25T13:55:54+00:00

Hello ivan099, welcome.

You can manually arrange desktop icons, however, any other icons within folders are auto-arranged and cannot be altered by direct access. You can arrange them in a multitude of different ways by right clicking open space (within a folder) and selecting Sort By > More...

A problem was discovered in Windows XP when users would accidentally manually arrange folders and icons and, in turn, they would overlap eachother. For simplicity's sake and for performance reasons, this feature was removed.

There are a number of 3rd-party programs that exist that allow you to do this, however, they would of course not be supported by Microsoft.

I would search the internet for 'File Manager', 'Alternate Shell', or something of the like. You may find some support forums that have users that specialize in just the exact thing you are looking for.

Hope this helps,

Thanks!

Ryan Thieman

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-01-18T22:16:34+00:00

    I'm Unhappy with Microsoft doing away with this feature in Windows 7 as well. We should have been given a choice of the manually arrange so people could shut it on and off as they desire!

    I used the ZIP file fix here and it worked fine for me.

    You can use this registry hack to get it back like you want it. A ZIP file is available if you don't want to do it manually.

    How to Disable Full Row Select in Explorer in Windows 7?http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/disable-full-row-select-explorer-windows-7/ 

    Please let Microsoft know of your displeasure of this change.

    Leave Windows 7 Feedbackhttp://mymfe.microsoft.com/Windows%207/Feedback.aspx?formID=195

    Bruce Hagen

    MS-MVP Oct. 1, 2004 ~ Sept. 30, 2010

    Imperial Beach, CA

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-01-18T22:08:15+00:00

    I'm Unhappy with Microsoft doing away with this feature in Windows 7 as well. We should have been given a choice of the manually arrange so people could shut it on and off as they desire!

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-10-28T08:28:52+00:00

    Well Service Pack 1 Release Candidate is out and I don't see this blocking problem fixed in it. Working with files is impossible without auto sort and auto arrange turned off. I have formatted and gone back to Windows XP SP3. No problem with that OS.

    Microsoft can't take any action or notice but I definitely can.

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-10-11T10:49:52+00:00

    I am struggling with Windows 7 - I used XP before and always arranged my folders for easy access  - I would not reccomend 7 to anyone.

    There is a very simple registry change which will allow you manually to rearrange files within a folder when using Windows 7 explorer.

    I have been using this for many months with complete success. For full details see:

    http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/92758-windows-explorer-auto-arrange-disable.html    (copy and paste this link into your browser)

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