Configuring Explorer Windows 11 [23H2] build 22631.4890?

Maxim · Monday at 11:04 AM

Is there any way in Explorer on Windows 11 [23 H2] build 22631.4890 to configure the sorting of folders and files to be mixed up, rather than files and folders separately? For example, in Windows 7 it was possible to do this.

antspants · Monday at 11:33 AM

Les, hi
Does WinSetView have a way to stop File Explorer from separating files from folders when sorting by name?

Maxim · Monday at 3:55 PM

antspants said:
Les, hi
Does WinSetView have a way to stop File Explorer from separating files from folders when sorting by name?

It's a good program. But it doesn't have what I need.

LesFerch · Monday at 4:13 PM

Maxim said:
It's a good program. But it doesn't have what I need.

Sorry, WinSetView can only set options that Explorer supports. Unfortunately, Explorer has no option to show folders and files mixed together.

dacrone · Monday at 9:40 PM

one way:

go to the folder you want that view in. in the search in the top right, type

Code:

*.*

go to "Search Options" at the top and select "Current Folder"
Go to View > Details (or whatever view you want)
Go to Sort > Name
Right Click anywhere in the empty space inside the explorer window > Save Search > save it "Downloads" or whatever you want to name it > Choose save location.
Now you can launch that shortcut and it will keep those settings and open that folder. it will have the view you want (mixed and all by name)

Maxim · 2025-04-01T05:38:00-0400

dacrone said:
one way:

go to the folder you want that view in. in the search in the top right, type

Code:

*.*

go to "Search Options" at the top and select "Current Folder"
Go to View > Details (or whatever view you want)
Go to Sort > Name
Right Click anywhere in the empty space inside the explorer window > Save Search > save it "Downloads" or whatever you want to name it > Choose save location.
Now you can launch that shortcut and it will keep those settings and open that folder. it will have the view you want (mixed and all by name)

Thank you, your method works.

LesFerch · 2025-04-01T09:21:55-0400

Maxim said:
Thank you, your method works.

Since this is a search, as opposed to a folder view, it will show ALL files and folders all the way down the tree (i.e. contents of subfolders will be mixed with current folder). If you only want to see the files and folders for the current folder mixed together, I don't think there is a way to do that.

Edit: I missed the "Current folder" search option which is available in both current and older Windows versions. Thanks @dacrone

dacrone · 2025-04-01T11:13:28-0400

LesFerch said:
Since this is a search, as opposed to a folder view, it will show ALL files and folders all the way down the tree (i.e. contents of subfolders will be mixed with current folder). If you only want to see the files and folders for the current folder mixed together, I don't think there is a way to do that.

You mentioned this was possible in Windows 7, but I can't find any way to do that in Windows 7 either. It may have been an option in XP, but I don't have an XP VM set up to check that.

nope!

go to "Search Options" at the top and select "Current Folder"

LesFerch · 2025-04-01T11:34:18-0400

dacrone said:
nope!

go to "Search Options" at the top and select "Current Folder"

Huh, totally missed that! Thanks for the clarification! I will strike my earlier remark.

LesFerch · 2025-04-02T01:27:19-0400

Beware of one issue when working within a search result window...

If you rename a folder, while in a search result, Explorer will not rename the directory. Instead, it will create a hidden desktop.ini file with a new virtual name that only Explorer displays. The desktop.ini entry will look like this:

[.ShellClassInfo]
LocalizedResourceName=NewName

This will cause some serious hair pulling later.

Ed Tittel · 2025-04-02T12:38:02-0400

I'm (almost) afraid to ask, but @LesFerch: "How in heaven's name did you figure this out?" What a terrible thing to have to know...
Can't wait for the war story (PM me if you'd rather not clutter up this thread further).
Wow!
--Ed--

dacrone · 2025-04-02T16:00:21-0400

Here. Made this little tool via PowerShell. Malwarebytes flagged it but Defender didn't.. so may have to allow it. It's all PowerShell, so no installation necessary, just a portable app. It works by you choosing the folder you want to sort files/folders together in (has light and dark mode that retains through relaunch). Once you select the folder, it will hide all folders in said folder and create shortcuts to them all in that same directory all while removing the " - shorcut" tag from the names. Then your sort will be in order with all content mixed. To revert just choose the Restore button and choose the same directory. For now it only applies to the chosen target folder; it is not recursive. I may add another toggle to turn on/off recursive commands if needed but did not want to make it do more than requested.

JUST TO BE CLEAR - if you want to rename a Folder, restore the sorting or show hidden files so that the actual folder is showing and not the shortcut, then rename both, then hide hidden folders or use tool again. i will, at some point, go back and add a rename feature that intercepts renaming the shortcut and renames the folder as well.

EDIT: saw a minor visual flaw in the titlebar. fixed.

LesFerch · 2025-04-02T21:31:24-0400

Ed Tittel said:
I'm (almost) afraid to ask, but @LesFerch: "How in heaven's name did you figure this out?"

My first encounter with this issue was actually this morning when I tested @dacrone 's instructions for using a search to get a mixed view of files and folders. I tested using the Downloads folder and then decided to rename a couple of folders to see if they would rearrange by name. When I tried to rename one of those folders a second time, it refused to change so I took a closer look. That's when I saw that the names were still their original names with a dir command. It took a minute to find the name was only set virtually via the desktop.ini file.

Further testing reveals that this issue does not happen in all folders. But it happens in all shell folders such as Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, and Videos (when viewing a search result). It does not happen in a folder such as C:\Test.

This issue is not new to Windows 11. The same thing happens in Windows 10, but I could not recreate the issue in Windows 7. I did not test Windows 8.

Configuring Explorer Windows 11 [23H2] build 22631.4890?

New member

My Computer

Like a rolling drone.

My Computers

New member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

New member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

Attachments

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

Similar threads