Windows Vista Tip: 12 Hidden Windows Explorer Tricks
When Microsoft re-designed Vista's Windows Explorer interface, much added functionality was included compared to previous versions of Windows. While some of the functionality is easily notice, a lot of built-in hidden features are not easily found or realized.
To help find these features in Vista's Window Explorer, below list the 12 hidden tricks that are easy to find while others are not.
Address Bar
- If you are not used to viewing the path as Breadcrumb Trails and want to view the full path (Windows XP style), left click anywhere to the right of the path in the Address bar which will display XP style full path. To return to Breadcrumb Trails view, press the Esc key. (Clicking where circle is shown in Address Bar, will display XP style full path).
- To quickly create a shortcut to the location you are viewing, right click anywhere to the right of the path in the Address Bar and select Copy Address. This will put the text of the path in the clipboard allowing you to switch to your Desktop (for example) and right click and Paste Shortcut. Since the path is stored in the clipboard, it can also be pasted in a document, email, and so on…
- If you are in a deeply nested folder where the Address Bar does not have room to show the entire path, click on the double arrows to the left of the first item (in Address Bar). Clicking this will show the parent folders that don't fit on the Address Bar.
- Another feature found, to the right of the Back and Forward buttons (just before the Address Bar) is the Recent Items drop down button. Items displayed in this list are recently visited locations that you can select and jump to the location with needing to navigate using Explorer.
- Clicking anywhere on the Address bar and typing a URL such as http://www.watchingthenet.com will launch your web browser and open the site you typed.
Details Pane
- To enable, s
Command Bar
- To choose different folder view options, repeating clicking on the word Views in the Command bar will rotate through the different view options such as Details, List, Small Icons, etc…
Preview Pane
- To enable the Preview Pane
Filtering Folder Content Views
- Moving your mouse over a Heading will display a drop-down arrow. Clicking on the down arrow will display a set of filtering options (check boxes) that can be set for viewing items in the column.
- Notice after selecting filters, a check mark will appear to the right of the Header notifing you that filters are set for that column, and the values on which you have filtered (for example Date, File Type, Application Extensions, etc) will display in the Address Bar (clicking on the arrows before the values in the Address Bar will allow you to change the filter).
- To clear a set of filtering criteria, click to the left of the criteria on the Address Bar. In the example screenshot above, clicking on Office11 returns the folder to it's unfiltered state. To quickly return to the filtered state, click the back button (circled in above screenshot, left of the Address Bar)
- Since filtering is tied to the search engine in Vista, if you did not find what you are looking for when filtering, click Search in Subfolders found at the bottom of the filtered folder to extend the search.
I'm sure there are more hidden features that can be found in Windows Explorer or Vista itself. post a comment and let us know what you found!
Filed under Windows Vista Tips by Watching The Net
Comments on Windows Vista Tip: 12 Hidden Windows Explorer Tricks »
The one feature I miss most about Vista Explorer is the ability to expand folders within the Folders Pane with a single click, as could be done in XP. In Vista I am now required to either double click the folder to expand it, or single click on the little arrow beside the folder. Does this bother anyone else? Is there registry tweak to restore this functionality as it was in XP? I know it's a little thing, but it bugs me it.
Dave,
See if this helps:
Open Windows Explorer, click on Tools \ Folder Options and under "Click items as follows" section select the radio button next to "Single-click to open an item".
Thanks. I tried that but it doesn't have the effect I'm looking for. Enabling this feature allows only items in the right side pane to open with a single click, but I'm wanting the folders on the left side, in the Folders Pane, to expand/collapse with a single click. Similar to what double-clicking on a left-side folder now does. I'm specifically talking about the Folders Pane, at least that's what I think it's called (below the "Favorite Links" Pane).
Windows XP folders expand with a single click, but I don't think any previous Windows version did that. I always thought it was a pretty cool feature of XP and now it seems as though Vista has taken a step backwards. I'll bet there is a registry tweak to do this, but I couldn't find it.
Thanks,
Dave
P.S. I really enjoyed the above article and learned a lot.
Great article, thanks!
I was wondering if you new any good way to DISABLE the seemingly automatic "grouping" in Vista explorer.
I turn it off, then navigate to another folder and it comes back on.
Even if I use the Set all folders like this one, it seems to start grouping again eventually.
Any ideas?
@Darin
I know what you mean and I have not clearly figured out this behavior, but it may be possible the cause for this is that when you navigate to another folder, the view is really a different template.
Vista's Windows Explorer has multiple templates, All Items, Documents, Pictures and Videos, Music Details, Music Icons
Options settings can only be set across the same template type. If you wanted to set across all templates, you would need to select each template and save.
To view these templates, open a folder or Windows Explorer, right click on a blank space and choose Customize This Folder, then select the Customize tab.
Pull down the arrow under Use this folder type as a template
Nice article, I found this as I couldn't figure out how to turn off the "Grouping" filter. Now I know.
I'd second Dave's desire to be able to open a folder on the left side by single clicking on it. It was easier in XP, as you don't have to be so accurate to click on that small triangle.
I'll add a tip: Turn off "Tools / Folder Options… / View / Hide Extensions for known file types". It is really annoying that this option is on by default. It just makes it confusing to not be able to see your full filenames.
i could not agree with Dave ANY MORE. Having to double-click or click the arrow is HIGHLY obnoxious and rediculous to exclude with Vista. Although it may seem like a small irritation…it isn't. The object should be to click as little as possible making it easier for the user. Vista has indeed taken a step backwards in this. It is EXTREMELY frustrating.
Has anyone found a solution for this?
hi. good artlicle.
does anyone know if the cut, copy, paste, copy to, move to, buttons can be added to the bar as in xp?
Question: If I am in particular folder in Windows Explorer, is there a way to jump directly into that folder when I open the command window? Cutting and pasting the path into the cmd prompt and using change directory ("cd") is OK but seems to me unnecessarily lengthy.
Hi Musoke. Vista includes an "Open Command Window Here" feature that does what you want. To use it, just right click on the folder you want to open the command prompt in, while holding down the Shift key. Note that this only works in the right-hand side of Windows Explorer. XP can also have this feature, but you would need to download and install the Microsoft PowerToys for XP to get it.
Cool! Exactly what I needed. Thanks Dave!
Playing with Vista's explorer for weeks, it just doesn't have the ability to act the way a streamlined, intuitive file management program should. I would have never thought to use a third party explorer, but the first day I tried using Xplorer I never re-considered. It provides much more then I would ever need, and I have even started to use some features that has eliminated several mouse functions and key strokes to just one click!
http://zabkat.com/x2lite.htm
@TS, yes, they can, but Vista is incapable of providing anything comparable to the XP file operations.
To add the commands, go to this site and download the file for exactly that purpose. It is a safe site without spyware or adware.
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/add-copy-to-move-to-on-windows-vista-right-click-menu/
That is the best you can do with Vista. But the Vista file system is very different from XP, so you'll never be able to handle file operations properly. My solution was to dump Vista and return to XP, very happily. I've never looked back.
Good luck.
@William
What TS is looking for are the buttons in the Standard tool bar, not from the right click context menu.
QTTabBar (http://qttabbar.wikidot.com/) is one solution but can be buggy for some users on Vista.
xplorer2 may be a better alternative but it's not free.
Actually this works from Left pane as well if you hold shift key and use File menu button you get open Command from here as well.
I do a lot of file maintenance so I spend a lot of time in Explorer. In every previous version of Windows, you could just cursor down through the tree in the navigation pane, and when you stopped on a folder, that became the current folder and all the subfolders and files would show in the detail pane. You could cursor right to open that folder in the navigation pane or cursor left to close it again. You can still open and close the folders, but to select the current folder, you either have to hit [Enter] or click on it. Is there a fix or hack for this?
Another function I found by accident is to type a folder name in the address bar, then press escape and enter. You will then be taken directly to the local folder.
These are some great explorer tricks for Vista
Hi. I would like to know. Is there a trick to completelly hide the toolbar (the thing with the back/fordward buttons) in the vista windows explorer? And also can I make it view each folder in a new window and hide the details pane and side pane (to sumarize I wanna make it look and act like the MacOS 9 finder or the Win95 explorer, or the gnome 2.6 nautilus did).
Has a solution been found to Dave's original issue of expanding folders with a single click in the Navigation Pane/Folder View without having to click the small triangle? I feel your pain; it bugs me it too.
I third or fourth the motion to single click open folders in tree view!
$1,000,000 Internet Dollars for whoever figures this out!
Am I the only one who misses the "parent directory" icon?
You know, the map icon with a green upwards pointing arrow on it.
I used to be very speedy while browsing through my files in XP and now with the removal of that single important action I lost like 40% of my "speed"… Please be aware that I need to work as fast and efficient as possible.
Hi. IS IT EVEN LEGAL TO ASK ABOUT SPATIAL NAVIGATION UNDER VISTA?
Microsoft was such an anus for removing the "Up" button.