MS Office desktop icons move after I modify and save them.

Anonymous
2010-02-25T23:36:10+00:00

My MS word and excel documents that I have on the upper right hand area of my desktop move after I modify and save them.  If I open them and don't save them nothing happens, but if I modify and save them, they move to the far left aligned with other icons.  They do not appear to be temp or hidden files.  They just move to the far left arranged with other icons.  I want to modify and save them and the files to stay in the upper right hand area...  Help???

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Anonymous
2010-02-26T17:12:02+00:00

Turn off the “Auto Arrange” option for icons on the desktop, and then place icons on the desktop where you want them.

To turnoff the “Auto Arrange” feature,

For windows 7:

Right click a blank area on the desktop and select View and uncheck Auto arrange icons.

For Windows XP:

Right-click a blank area on the desktop, and then click Arrange Icons. Click the command that indicates how you want to arrange the icons (by Name, by Type, and so on), uncheck Auto Arrange.

Niranjan I K Microsoft Answers Support Engineer.

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-03-01T18:48:52+00:00

    Thank You So Very Much!!! 

    Your solution works so well.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-03-01T18:59:30+00:00

    "The solution is to switch off background saves (Click the office button from within Word, then Word Options, then Advanced. In the Save section you should find the "allow background saves" box ticked. Untick and it should resolve the problem. This does mean that background saves aren't carried out, but looking at forums etc. no-one actually really seems to know what this function does.... "

    To keep  W8 and Office 10 from shifting your icons around when you re-save, try the following: 

    Open Word and select a blank document.  

    Click on File > Options > Advanced  

    Scroll way down to Save and

    Deselect  "Allow background saves".

    This change corrects the shifty problem for all of your Word files, not just that newly opened blank.

    Thank you, Terry_Johnson!

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-10-05T12:15:41+00:00

    Found this at http://www.computing.net/answers/windows-7/desktop-icons-keep-moving-in-windows-7/5758.html

    I had this issue of desktop icons rearranging themselves in Windows 7 whenever I would restart or reboot and what fixed my problem was the following:<br><br>1. Right click on the desktop.<br><br><br>2. Choose "Personalize".<br><br><br>3. On the left hand side of this control pannel, click "Change desktop icons."<br><br><br>4. There was a box that was checked next to "Allow themes to change deskop icons." When I unchecked this box and restarted my computer, all my desktop icons remained where I had them. I both shut down my computer completely and restarted<br> my computer and after both times, all my desktop icons remained where they were.<br><br><br>Note: I had changed my original desktop background, so it seems that when this box was checked, Windows 7 would rearrange the icons based on how they thought the icons would best look with whatever desktop background you have.<br><br><br>Hope this helps.

    I'm now on Windows 10 and did the following.

    1. Right click the Desktop
    2. Choose "Personalize"
    3. Select "Themes"
    4. Select "Desktop Icon Settings"
    5. Unclick the little tick in the box that says "Allow themes to change desktop icons"

    It worked.  The block who posted the original message is a Genius!

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-10-05T12:17:25+00:00

    Found this at http://www.computing.net/answers/windows-7/desktop-icons-keep-moving-in-windows-7/5758.html

    I had this issue of desktop icons rearranging themselves in Windows 7 whenever I would restart or reboot and what fixed my problem was the following:<br><br>1. Right click on the desktop.<br><br><br>2. Choose "Personalize".<br><br><br>3. On the left hand side of this control pannel, click "Change desktop icons."<br><br><br>4. There was a box that was checked next to "Allow themes to change deskop icons." When I unchecked this box and restarted my computer, all my desktop icons remained where I had them. I both shut down my computer completely and restarted my computer and<br> after both times, all my desktop icons remained where they were.<br><br><br>Note: I had changed my original desktop background, so it seems that when this box was checked, Windows 7 would rearrange the icons based on how they thought the icons would best look with whatever desktop background you have.<br><br><br>Hope this helps.

    I'm now on Windows 10 and did the following.

    1. Right click the Desktop
    2. Choose "Personalize"
    3. Select "Themes"
    4. Select "Desktop Icon Settings"
    5. Unclick the little tick in the box that says "Allow themes to change desktop icons"

    It worked.  The block who posted the original message is a Genius!

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