Disable group by in Downloads folder (Windows 10 1903)

Anonymous

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?

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Anonymous

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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Anonymous

2019-07-25T04:20:58+00:00

Regards;

Mr. Khan your answer only lookup to Windows File Explorer and other functions of Windows but do not take in account other software's that had been affected by this "not understand why" change to a date default. I am using QDir as my File Explorer since I can have up to 4 screens at the same time and did not matter that I made the changes on the software to what I want (and was the options before this marvelous change) Group by "none" and Sort by Name it always came back to the new default. I have thousands of folders that took me years to organize in a way that make sense to my work and *Voila!*in a moment Microsoft scratch that organization.

Is there not possible that consider and maybe ask to customers before making this kind of changes. Who organize the files by date in this century (you always have options to sort them on the fly)?

Sincerely

Luis Marrero
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Anonymous

2019-07-27T12:21:01+00:00

My Windows 10 Pro was just updated to version 1903 - and Microsoft changed my Downloads folder group option to Group By Date Modified.

At first, I though I'd lost the subfolders. Then I became increasingly annoyed when I couldn't find any mention of this change in the What's New or What's Changed information, or how to make it just show all in alphabetical order. I had to spend significant time to research the problem and how to fix it.

Microsoft - as a general rule, I would prefer that your updates make no change my user interface. Especially when you're changing a user preference option rather than introducing some global improvement.

But if you feel you must change my user interface, PLEASE HAVE THE COURTESY TO PLAINLY STATE YOUR CHANGES IN AN OBVIOUS AND EASILY ACCESSED AREA.
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Anonymous

2019-08-16T16:18:47+00:00

why are you concerned with the other GUIDs? Are you having issues with other folder types grouping despite having attempted to turn off grouping via the GUI? I think you're making it harder for yourself than need be.

That being said, if you copy & paste the following code into a PowerShellwindow & execute it, it will turn off grouping in every saved view (including Quick Access, wihich requires using Reset Folders to restore grouping):

gci 'HKCU:\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags' -recurse |

?{$_.GetValueNames() -contains 'GroupView'} |

?{$_.GetValue('GroupView') -ne 0} | %{

$splat = @{

'Path' = $_.PSPath

'Name' = 'GroupView'

'Value' = 0

}

Set-ItemProperty @splat

$splat.Name = 'GroupByKey:PID'

$splat.Value = 0

Set-ItemProperty @splat

$splat.Name = 'GroupByKey:FMTID'

$splat.Value = '{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}'

Set-ItemProperty @splat

}

gps explorer | spps

Keith
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Anonymous

2019-07-20T16:09:34+00:00

Hi Shafeeq_Khan,

I have the same problem that karolyszabohu has. A few years ago I moved my default Download location to D:/MyDownloads, I followed the instructions per answer from Microsoft community, and it worked great until upgrade to 1903. Every time I try to save a download, I use Firefox as my browser, the download folder opens grouped by date. There is NO OPTION to view or change the grouping to none. This is the only folder that acts this way, every other folder displays with no grouping. Is there a solution you know of that will help, it's really confusing trying to find a folder to put a file in, when you don't know the last time it was accessed, then having to search thorough a long list, by date, to find the folder you need.
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