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
    2021-01-23T19:22:58+00:00

    JUST BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE IT DOESN'T MAKE IT A BUG!

    GroupBy Date is the default for the Downloads FolderType, so you have to user Apply to Folders to set a custom default with no grouping.

    I've posted about this numerous times here & in other online forums. Search for my other replies for me details.

    Keith

    Aye, but this is quite clearly a bug and hundreds of thousands of users agree across many many IT and casual user sites not to mention this very place young one. You may post your opposition to the facts all you wish, <removed - TOC violation>

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-08-27T13:12:11+00:00

    Though I may not agree with the "forceful" language, I want to express my absolute agreement with his message.

    IMHO, it is not only stupid to eff around with a working interface paradigm, it violates several cannons of human interface design.

    1.  The principle of least astonishment:

    Suddenly  re-arranging a known and working interface paradigm, absent user input, is just plain wrong.

    2.  "Better is the enemy of good":

    Otherwise expressed as "Leave 'well enough' alone" or "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

    3.  I strongly object to Microsoft's new policy of resetting and re-arranging a user's carefully crafted settings, both without permission and without notice.

    4.  A "feature" isn't a feature if it can't be disabled.  If you do, for whatever God Forsaken reason, decide to impose a new "feature" or UI paradigm, it should be OPTIONAL and require an EXPLICIT AND AFFIRMATIVE user selection to enable it.

    Summary:

    The computer does not belong to you. Neither does the user's configuration and setup preferences. Don't eff with them!

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-01-17T23:04:08+00:00

    I should apologize for being cranky.  That does indeed work on my other PC, just not the one I use every day.  However, the fact that this thread is still generating interest after the same solution has been posted many times, suggests that there are others for whom it doesn't work.  Let's see if we can figure out what's going on.

    Total number of saved views: 5000

    IDs of FolderTypes with custom templates:

    {885A186E-A440-4ADA-812B-DB871B942259}

    {7D49D726-3C21-4F05-99AA-FDC2C9474656}

    {5C4F28B5-F869-4E84-8E60-F11DB97C5CC7}

    You have templates created for Generic, Documents, and Downloads FolderTypes. I'm willing to bet what's screwing you up is that 5000. That's the max # of views that can be saved. When you hit that, Windows has to delete a previously saved view every time it tries to save a new one. Have you noticed folders on the Desktop not remembering their view settings?

    The best thing to do is delete all saved views by deleting the registry keys:

    HKCU:\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags

    and

    HKCU:\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMRU

    Make sure all Explorer windows are closed before you delete the keys. Sign out & sign back in before launching Explorer again.

    You can export these for backup before deleting, but I wouldn't bother. You will lose all saved folder views. The next time a folder is opened, it will use the views saved by Apply to Folders if one exists. If not, it will use the machine-wide defaults found under:

    HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderTypes

    But with the understanding that Apply to Folders works on a per-Foldertype basis, you can open each of the folders under This PC and set your preferred default view for each corresponding FolderType (Desktop uses Generic), and then use Apply to Folders to create the template for that FolderType. And remember, the source for all this confusion & consternation: Downloads now has its own FolderTYpe (even though it doesn't appear in the Customize tab), it no longer uses Generic.

    Another good thing about this "clean slate" approach is that your custom view will be used by the dialogs if created before the dialog is launched for the first time. So, set all default view preferences for all FolderTypes in Explorer and use Apply to Folders before launching any dialogs!

    I'm curious to know how the Downloads folder will open for you the first time. That will tell us if the Apply to Folders template was created correctly or whether views being maxed out interfered with its proper creation.

    Keith

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-08-22T15:50:08+00:00

    All that prose and it's not clear if you ever right-clicked in the dialog background to disable grouping! Did you? Is it not sticking?

    Keith

    It doesn't stick. If it stuck there would be no need for this thread.

    I had to create a new "download" folder and redirect all of my browser downloads to that, but I left the Windows folder alone and just quit using it and removed it from my side bar.

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