Windows 7: How to customize File and Folder Views

When you create a new user profile, Windows 7 automatically creates a personal folder that matches your username and places a number of subfolders within that master folder. These subfolders are categorized by name (including My Documents, My Pictures, and My Music) and allow you to put your files into them. What’s more, these subfolders are private; no other user that uses your computer can view or open these subfolders. Yet what Microsoft gives you isn’t uniquely you.

Windows 7 offers a wide range of options for customizing how files are displayed through the Computer and Windows Explorer utilities. The full set of options is available from the View menu (accessible when the menu bar is displayed), although you can access many of the options from the toolbar as well. The options on the View menu change slightly based on which window you’re viewing (Computer versus Windows Explorer) and whether you’re viewing a library or folder.

The most common controls found on the View menu are

• Status Bar—If you miss the status bar at the bottom of the window, use this control to enable the display of this information bar. It shows the number of items in a library or folder, number of items selected, information about menu bar commands as you hover over them, and so on.

• Views—This section allows quick change of the view used to display file objects: Extra Large Icons, Large Icons, Medium Icons, Small Icons, List, Details, Tiles, and Content. Content view is new to Windows 7 and displays files and folders in a mixed graphical/stacked arrangement.

• Arrange By—This menu item appears in Windows Explorer when folders are displayed in a library and is used to define custom attributes for the selected folder. It defaults to Folder view, but you can change the arrangement of items based on author, date modified, tag, type, or name. The Arrange By options are specific to the type of library or folder selected.

• Sort By—This menu allows you to determine the sort order for files and folders. For example, you could group music files by name and show the files in ascending order.

• Group By—This menu allows you to group files by a certain criteria, such as the filename, file type, date, and so on.

• Choose Details—This command sets the details that appear in ToolTips, details, and Tile view. The defaults are name, date modified, type, and size. Over 100 options are available, which include attributes, company, file version, owner, and subject.

• Go To—This menu is used to navigate back, forward, up one level, or to recently visited locations.

• Refresh—This command reloads the display of files and folders.