Please bring back the ability to freely arrange icons within folders "DISABLE AUTO ARRANGE"!

Anonymous
2022-08-13T02:39:26+00:00

I just want to "disable" confounding Auto Arrange files within folders in Windows 10. I can't understand that when you leave file/folder icons in the position and order that you want and then Windows decides to mix them up. I'm continually wasting time trying to find lost data. It's ridiculous. Does anyone know or can create something that just allows you to arrange or sort files within folders, and Leave them alone, without the OS messing them up?

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

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-01-10T17:34:36+00:00

    I am not a 10 years awarded Windows MVP, I am a guy who uses windows to to my job - like most users. This is such a simple question that I can't comprehend your response so I will simplify with a good example.

    In previous versions of windows it was EXTREMELY simple to arrange desktop icons:

    • right click

    -select arrange icons

    -pick "auto arrange" or "align to grid"

    Literally 1.4 seconds to arrange desktop icons. MS seems to have removed that option and now there is some convoluted way to perform what was previously a 1.4 second task. Now, your "theme" has control over how desktop icons are arranged, pinning web shortcuts to the start menu no longer functions and rather than focusing on system files, the search bar defaults to web-based results, and the SNIP function now adds more steps.

    MS adds steps to perform simple tasks, every extra click is lost productivity for no good reason.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-01-10T18:08:23+00:00

    Hi, this thread is not about desktop icons, although people keep introducing them. This thread about the freedom to arrange files in folders, which is impossible. It was possible with Office 2003.

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  3. Les Ferch 10,361 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-01-10T18:10:12+00:00

    In previous versions of windows it was EXTREMELY simple to arrange desktop icons:

    • right click

    -select arrange icons

    -pick "auto arrange" or "align to grid"

    Literally 1.4 seconds to arrange desktop icons. MS seems to have removed that option and now there is some convoluted way to perform what was previously a 1.4 second task.

    This thread is about manually arranging icons within FOLDERS. Your question (and, unfortunately, some of the responses) are about manually arranging icons on the DESKTOP. Microsoft has never removed the feature to manually arrange icons on the desktop. The features you described are still present and should work. If you're having an issue with that functionality, please open a new question.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-01-10T18:51:33+00:00

    Please, please nobody come back about desktop icons. This thread is about the ability to list files freely in any order, that is, not in date order, date modified, or any other order fixed by Microsoft

    This is what it is about: Why can't users arrange their files in the order this want?

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  5. Les Ferch 10,361 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-01-10T21:05:19+00:00

    Hi, this thread is not about desktop icons, although people keep introducing them. This thread about the freedom to arrange files in folders, which is impossible. It was possible with Office 2003.

    Folder icon arranging is a Windows File Explorer feature, but you may have noticed/used it when you were in an open/save dialog back when Office 2003 was released. Windows XP was the current OS at that time and it provided the feature to arrange icons freely in folders. As mentioned previously in the thread, the feature was still built in, and could be enabled via a simple registry setting, until it was mostly killed off with the release of Windows 10 1703 in 2017. By "mostly" I mean that you can still enable free arranging of icons in folders, but their positions won't be remembered.

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