Weekly Computer Tip # 360
10 February 2012


Set all the folders on your computer to match the current folder's view settings
(Windows 7)

Let me start by saying I absolutely love Windows 7 (as I've tried to rub off earlier this week when training staff at the University of Cambridge how to take advantage of the new and improved features of Microsoft's latest Operating System) but I cannot get my head around why they have made certain things more difficult to find. Take, for example, how to set all the folders to have your favourite view setting. This was always easy in Windows XP (see tip_105.php if you haven't upgraded yet) but I couldn't find it and ended up manually changing the appearance of items in my various folders from "Small Icons" to "Details", so that I'd be able to sort the items by name or by date. So if you want to set a default folder view for all folders in Windows 7...

Here's how:

  1. Change the appearance of the items in one of your folders the way you want all of your folders. (For instance, Details, sorted by Date modified.)
  2. On the toolbar, click Organize, followed by Folder and search options.
  3. In the Folder Options dialog box, click the View tab, click Apply to Folders, click Yes, and then click OK.

You now have set your own preferred view, which - of course - you can change as normal.

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