Disable group by in Downloads folder (Windows 10 1903)

Anonymous
2019-06-18T09:01:17+00:00

Hi, since I updated to the new Windows 1903 version the files in some folders like "Downloads" are always grouped by the date. I was able to disable this in the File Explorer itself by choosing "Group by = none". But in all kind of "Save as" dialogs from any application the group by date still appears and in those special explorer windows there is no option to disable file grouping in them. So how can I disable this globally?

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Files, folders, and storage

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Anonymous
2019-06-19T03:25:57+00:00

Hi Chap Sistine,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

The Group by option in normal folders and in Save as window are different, so if you change the Group by to type in Downloads folder, it will not change in Save as window. Then, if you change the Group by in Save as window, it will not change in normal folders.

You can refer the below example.

Change the Group by as size in Downloads folder - Change the Group by as size in Save as window.

Change the Group by as type in Downloads folder - (Check) Group by as size in Save as window (it will not change until you right-click in Save as window and change it to type or anything else).

Also, the Group by option is specific to folders and once you change Group by for a particular folder, the changes will not be applied to all the folders. You need to change the Group by for every folder by opening that particular folder > Press the Alt and V > Click on G > Select the Group by settings or click on Choose columns for more options.

So, once you change the Group by in Save as window, it will remain the same regardless of whichever application you open the Save as window from.

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-06-30T13:36:53+00:00

    Unfortunately your answer was of little use. You gave the answer yo wanted to give instead of the answer to the question. How do I turn off this feature for all directory listings, wherever they appear? It may be a feature that someone on your team thought was cool and all that, but for many of us it is simply and annoyance. Please resist the temptation to think that all changes are an improvement and changes are just changes.

    I too am involved in technology and I learned a long time ago that calling a change an improvement does not make it so. This change has actually made it more difficult, and requires much more scrolling around to get to what I want. That is not an improvement, it is only a change. Please consider that it is the end user that has to use the computer that this software  is installed on, and not everyone works in the same manner as the person on your team who authorized this. And they are probably doing a different kind of work, and have different requirements.

    Thank you.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-05-28T21:44:52+00:00

    Seperate grouping & sorting have always been an option in Explorer.

    Keith

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-05-28T16:04:51+00:00

    I think you missed the issue that caused the question.

      The problem is that the Group by option has been moved from the Sort by menu/interface to it's own, seperate UI control.

      Before this latest update, the way to shut off group by was to pick the group by option off the sort menu & turn it off there.

      Now the group by has it's own dropdown in the toolbar, not apparently accessable from right-clicking anything in the data area (you have to show the view toolbar to get it)

      There is additional functionality here as well, since you can now Group By a different column than you Sort by, meaning the major sort/group is applied first, and the sort of items inside the group is the sort order. This is a cool thing, and I appreciate that this time at least, there is a reason for the UI shift, to support the new functionality.

      You correctly identified the new behavior, but you didn't identify it as new.

      If you'd said:

    After the <xxx> update, the Group by and Sort by options in normal folders and in Save as window are now differentseparately applied options,

      It would have been much clearer.

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-05-23T19:00:12+00:00

    I found this elsewhere:

    For the Save As box that appears if you have moved your default Downloads folder:

    "After some searching I found that by right-clicking on a group in either the Downloads or the Open dialogue box (say “Yesterday”) the option Group by (None) appears and sets the option."

    Works for me!

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