How to fix File Explorer folder views in Windows 10 and 11

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ISSUE 20.06 • 2023-02-06 PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston There’s a common complaint about the file manager in Windows 10 and 11. You change File E
[See the full post at: How to fix File Explorer folder views in Windows 10 and 11]

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fisher75, DLivesInTexas, rc primak, lmacri, Just another Forum Poster, Alex5723, abbodi86

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How to fix missing folders thumbnails in Windows 11?

It seems not many miss this feature. I do.

Top 10 features and changes Windows 11 users want for File Explorer

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Alex5723 wrote:

How to fix missing folders thumbnails in Windows 11 ?

Folder thumbnails have been back in Windows 11 for nearly a year:

• File Explorer will now show previews of items within folders. [February 16, 2022]

and available to everyone with version 22H2 for more than four months (as I pointed out to you seven months ago and five months ago).

 

Alex5723 wrote:

It seems not many miss this feature. I do.

What you’re missing is Windows 11 version 22H2:

Alex5723 wrote:

I won’t install Windows 11 until Microsoft brings back thumbnails to folders.

 

Alex5723 wrote:

Top 10 features and changes Windows 11 users want for File Explorer

Thumbnails or folder previews aren’t mentioned in that recent list, because it was fixed ages ago.

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Alex5723, rc primak

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principally because of the lack of dual panes in win explorer, I have switched to Tablacus Explorer.   It can have 1, 2, 3, 4, etc panes.  It works fine, but will take some education to set up.  It comes as a basic program, in x32 and x64 versions.  You will need the x64 version to get the expected win10 context menus.

all ‘features’ are via addons.  and the explanations for what the different addons do is rather skimpy.  eg: there are two different addons for seeing a file preview.  one i chose one that places the addon to right of window.  (Frankly, I don’t remember what the other did, but it wasn’t what I wanted),  Then I installed another addon, which turns addons off/on,  to open/close the preview. so I don’t have see preview all the time.  iow: everytime I had a problem, it turned out there was a setting or addon to fix it.

Tablacus  is through github, and user questions go into the bug forum.  which is how I learned what I needed to get it working how I like.  It doesn’t install.  It goes into a folder, and you create a link/shortcut to it. It is free.

https://tablacus.github.io/explorer_en.html

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b wrote:

Folder thumbnails have been back in Windows 11 for nearly a year:

No, they are not. Preview isn’t folder icon/thumbnail.

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Microfix

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So, for instance, folders containing music with album art don’t display album art thumbnail/icon on that root folder in Win11?? Please expand on this..

Surely that would be advantageous for multiple albums of the same artist to home-in quicker by album cover..

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Microfix wrote:

So, for instance, folders containing music with album art don’t display album art thumbnail/icon on that root folder in Win11??

Correct. Root folder and sub-folders..

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Alex5723 wrote:

No, they are not. Preview isn’t folder icon/thumbnail.

P:\Camera Roll\2015\

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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Alex5723

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Still doesn’t support folder/sub-folders icons/thumbnails.

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The option to display a picture on a folder icon works in Windows 11 version 22H2:

Change Folder Picture in Windows 11 [ElevenForum.com]

Additionally; if a folder contains a picture file named folder.jpg, then that picture is displayed on the folder icon automatically.

I just tested both of these.

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Alex5723

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Alex5723 wrote:

Still doesn’t support folder/sub-folders icons/thumbnails.

P:\ is root.

Camera Roll\is folder.

2015\is sub-folder.

Displayed with content are sub-sub-folders.

P:\Camera Roll\2015\01 Jan\2015-01-31-14h22m34s.jpg

is a thumbnail in the 01 Jan\ sub-sub-folder.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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No one really likes Windows 11

As someone who has been an IT pro for over 30 years, I disagree.  As these eyes age, the Windows 11 font change is worth the price of admission alone. Yes, there are annoyances. The copy/paste icons in file explorer drive be bananas but, on the whole, I embrace Windows 11.

I truly wish more article authors could guide us through changes with deft and wift and without amplifying the echo chamber of discontent that we already get from end users.

Not sure why that 1 line bothered me so much… but it did.

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RetiredGeek, 8string, bbearren, Will Fastie, b

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Eldon Neustaeter wrote:

the echo chamber of discontent

We’re working on that. However, I think expressions of discontent have value. Microsoft has not handled the evolution to Windows 11 well, and it deserves to be called on it.

A year from now, the sentiment will probably be different.

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Will Fastie wrote:

Microsoft has not handled the evolution to Windows 11 well, and it deserves to be called on it.

Such a statement depends entirely on one’s point of view, and more in line with “the echo chamber of discontent”.  I have had no trouble at all in the evolution from Windows 10 Pro to Windows 11 Pro.  While Susan does an extremely commendable job wearing her “Patch Lady” hat for staid business environments, I don’t really need it.

224 million Windows users are running Windows 11.  Has any “PC Enthusiasts” web site or YouTube channel had any noticeable effect on how Microsoft operates within their business model?  In my view the numbers don’t reflect that.  I’m reminded of a rodeo cowboy riding a bull; who’s in control of whom?  And one must also keep in mind that Windows is not Microsoft’s main cash cow.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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8string

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Eldon Neustaeter wrote:

No one really likes Windows 11

Change that to ‘most really don’t like Windows 11’ as is manifested by its poor install base (~16%) after a year+ (barely passing Windows 7 install base).

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phaolo

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Well, it launched into a pandemic, and many users who got new machines choose to stick with what they knew given the need to learn video conferencing, etc. Businesses weren’t desparate for new IT projects for upgrades to an OS unless they were upgrading from W7.  Doesn’t surprise me at all. With 40 years of experience in this I learned in the days of Solaris that not every upgrade to an OS was worth it for many months afterwards. OS’s are not the primary thing people use, they use email, slack, teams, word, excel etc. They care little about the OS except when it gets in their way, which both Windows and Apple are doing more and more. I say that as a happy user of both. I have no desire to return to Windows 10, even with all the small annoyances of 11.

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[8string]

I tried WinSetView yesterday but found that there was a bug that seemed to happen that caused me to remove the program. I have two 27″ monitors attached to my Surface 9, and when using WinSetView the monitor on the left (the primary monitor) set all my icons to be spaced across the screen as if a folder view. I could not easily find a setting in the program for this, so I uninstalled the program and rebooted. Problem fixed. So while I would love this program to work on only folders apparently it assumes my desktop is also a folder. By default that should not be true.

W11 2H 22 16GBs RAM.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by 8string.

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windbg

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8string wrote:

So while I would love this program to work on only folders apparently it assumes my desktop is also a folder. By default that should not be true.

Your desktop is indeed a folder; C:\Users\<username>\Desktop.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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Of course it is, but it struck me as odd that there is no “Desktop” choice in the program. IMHO the Desktop folder should be left as is. There is no way to do that, apparently, unless it’s buried under another choice. It’s arguably the most important folder!

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windbg

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Alex5723 wrote:

poor install base

Currently, approximately 24% of our readership uses Windows 11 on their primary computing device. Of those still running Windows 10, 20% say they will upgrade in 2023.

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The thing I continue to be irritated by in Windows 10 and 11 is that “randomly” (I say that because it could be Windows patching or other things that reset it), my grouping settings revert to default.

I don’t *want* my Downloads folder to be grouped; I set it to “Group By: (None)” because I switch sort by name or by date quite regularly depending on what I need. Having things sorted by Microsoft’s opinion of what a home user wants doesn’t match the things I do every day in IT. No matter how many times I reset this the way I want, it eventually reverts on both.

As for Windows 11, it has gone from “extreme dislike” to “meh” to “it’s getting better” for me. I still tend to run it only on systems where Thread Director is useful, or there’s extra security (11th-gen Intel/AMD Zen3 CPUs and later), but the annoyances are growing smaller over time. Explorer no longer seems to crash every time I unzip a file to a OneDrive folder, for example (something that has never happened for me in Win10, but has taken a year and a half to resolve in Windows 11).

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

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Will Fastie wrote:

Alex5723 wrote:

poor install base

Currently, approximately 24% of our readership uses Windows 11 on their primary computing device. Of those still running Windows 10, 20% say they will upgrade in 2023.

The forum is by far not a mirror of Windows 11 users world wide.

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Yep.

The rest of the world isn’t as anti-Windows 10 anti-Windows 11.

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[8string]

8string wrote:

I tried WinSetView yesterday but found that there was a bug that seemed to happen that caused me to remove the program. I have two 27″ monitors attached to my Surface 9, and when using WinSetView the monitor on the left (the primary monitor) set all my icons to be spaced across the screen as if a folder view. I could not easily find a setting in the program for this, so I uninstalled the program and rebooted. Problem fixed. So while I would love this program to work on only folders apparently it assumes my desktop is also a folder. By default that should not be true.

W11 2H 22 16GBs RAM.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by 8string.

have you downloaded & updated to the newest version of WinSetView?

some of the problems you are having with that app could be fixed in the newest release

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Alex5723

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