Vista Details Columns

[General Crespin]

I'm running Vista 64-bit; I'm sure I'm not the only one where Vista seems to randomly pick and choose what details columns it displays.

Does anyone know if there are any upcoming patches to fix whatever in the hell is wrong with it, or else a way to turn off the thing that makes it automatically decide what details columns to show?

This is the ONE THING that REALLY bugs me about Vista.

Thanks.

 

[Maxx]

Here's what you have to do...and mind you, I've had to tell a lot of people this, lol. It doesn't work perfectly in all cases but it's close.

What you need to do is go to a folder and set it up the way you want - which columns, their spacing, etc. You then have to make this folder a template for a certain file type or, better yet, all file types (thus all folders will follow it). You can reach this by right-clicking said folder, going to the Customize tab, then at the top you choose which file type you wish it to be a template for - choose All Items for everything (apply to all subfolders, too, if desired). Apply.

You then go to Tools (top of Windows Explorer), Folder Options, hit the View tab, and choose Apply to Folders. After this you can highlight other folders (multiple at once, although some folders/drives cannot be changed in this manner) and go to the Customize tab and choose "All Items" (or whatever type you set) for their type and apply to all subfolders; they should then emulate the layout of your original template folder.

 

[General Crespin]

Kinda-not-really.

Thanks for the tip, though.

 

[Maxx]

It does work, but if you later change a folder or have new folders they may return to the default state until you set them as the proper type. Basically what you need to do is make a template for each folder type, they can be all the same if you want, then they should stay the way you want. It's confusing to explain and I have looked into doing it via the registry but it ends up being the same method, anyway...

I'll recap
1) Set up a folder the way you want your folders to look
2) Right-click the folder, click Properties, choose the Customize tab
3) At the top, pick the folder type for which you want to folder to be a template, and Apply
*make sure to have the template folder selected/open*
4) Go to Tools, Folder Options at the top of Explorer (press the Alt key to show the menus)
5) Choose the View tab and then click Apply to Folders, Apply
6) Highlight regular folders, right-click, go to Properties then the Customize tab
7) Pick the type you made a template for and also check "...to all subfolders," Apply
8) They will change to the setup you made

Notes:
You can't do this to all folders and drives, for instance you can't do it to the Program Files folder, the Windows folder, or the Vista OS drive itself.

When you have new folders, they will default to the type Windows expects, and if you don't have a template made for that type it will use the default. This is why you have to make it for all types..."All Items" should work, but to be certain just make a separate template folder for each of five types. Make sure to use a different folder for each of those, doesn't matter which ones, as long as they won't be moved or deleted.