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Customizing the Details Folder View in Windows 7
Within Windows 7, one view that you can further customize is the Details view. By default, the Details view presents you with the name of each of the items, along with the file size, the type of file it is, and the date it was last modified. You can change the display to include additional values for each item. The following steps show you how to change what is displayed in this view:
1. Open Windows Explorer. On the Start menu, select All Programs > Accessories > Windows Explorer.
2. Navigate to the folder or drive that you want to view.
3. Make sure you are in Details view by selecting View > Details from the Windows Explorer menu.
4. Select View > Choose Details from the menu.
5. Select the items that you would like to have displayed in the Details view by clicking on the associated check box. If you don’t want something displayed, uncheck the box. Alternatively, you can select an item by clicking on its name and then clicking on the Show button. If an item is already selected, you can unselect it by clicking on the name followed by clicking on the Hide button.
6. Place the items in the order you want them to appear. You can click on a Details item to select it. You can then use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to change the order in which the items display.
7. Set the widths for each item by entering a value in the Width of Selection Columns (in pixels) box.
8. Click the OK button to apply the changes.
You can also select items to be displayed in the Details view by right-clicking on the labels above the Details information. This presents a pop-up menu. Simply click on an item you want displayed. A check appears next to the item in the menu, and the item is displayed. Clicking on an item that is already displayed causes the check mark to be removed and the item to be hidden. If the item you want is not in the pop-up list of items, you can select the More option.
Windows 7 Settings Options on All Folders
You can set a number of options for viewing items on your hard drive, including the type of view, whether you have to click once or twice to open an item, whether additional details and links are provided, and whether folders open in the current window or in a new window. A few of these settings can be set once and they apply to everything. The view determines what you see and how it is displayed. You can customize or select your preferred view and then apply it to all of your folders. The following steps show you how to set some of the global options for viewing files and folders. Once these options are set, they can impact all of your folders. Before doing Step 8 of the following, you should make sure that the current folder is set to the View options that you want to use as the defaults for all your folders.
1. Open Windows Explorer. On the Start menu, select All Programs > Accessories > Windows Explorer.
2. Select Tools > Folder Options from the menus. The Folder Options dialog window appears.
3. Select the General tab if it is not already selected. The General tab allows you to customize several options that impact all of your folders.
4. Turn on or off the Explorer pane. The Explorer pane is the left side of Windows Explorer. If you select Show Common Tasks in Folders, you are given the Explorer pane. If you select Use Windows Classic Folders, the Explorer pane is turned off.
5. Determine whether you want to navigate from one folder to the next in the same window or if you want each folder to open in a separate window. If you select Open Each Folder in the Same Window, then when you click on a folder, its contents replace the current window’s contents. If you select Open Each Folder in Its Own Window, each time you display a different folder, it opens and displays its contents in a new window.
6. Select whether you want to have your Windows folders act like Web pages or whether you would prefer them to act like standard windows. You can have your folders act more like Web pages by selecting Single- Click to Open an Item.
7. Click the Apply button to apply these settings to all your windows.
8. Click the View tab. The Folder Views options, as well as the advanced options for folders, appear.
9. Click the Apply to All Folders button. This applies the view settings from the current folder to all of your folders.
10. Click the OK button to close the Folder Options dialog window.
Customizing Windows Explorer in Windows 7
In addition to customizing the manner in which folders are formatted and displayed, in Winows 7 you can also customize the Windows Explorer program itself. This includes changing items such as toolbars and status bars, as well as determining what is shown in the Explorer pane on the left side of Windows Explorer. The following steps walk you through many of the key customizations you may find useful:
1. Open Windows Explorer. On the Start menu, select All Programs > Accessories > Windows Explorer.
2. Select the toolbars you want displayed. You can use three different toolbars in Windows Explorer: Standard Buttons bar, Address bar, and Links bar. These are selected from the View > Toolbars menu. If you select it again, the toolbar is hidden.
3. Customize the Standard toolbar. You can change the icons that are on the Standard toolbar, as well as whether text is displayed with them:
- Select View > Toolbars > Customize. This displays the Customize Toolbar dialog.
- Click on an icon in the list of Available Toolbar Buttons.
- Click the Add button to add this to the toolbar.
- Click on the icon in the Current Toolbar Buttons list.
- Use the Move Up and Move Down button to move the icon to the location you want it in the toolbar.
- Repeat these steps for each button you want added.
- Customize the overall toolbar icons by choosing from the Text Options and Icon Options drop-down lists.
- Click the Close button when you have made all of your changes.
4. Add or remove the status bar. This shows the status bar that can also be displayed or removed from Windows Explorer. To add this, select View > Status Bar from the menus. To remove the status bar, select the option again.
5. Pick the Explorer bar you want to display. You can click the Folders icon in the Standard Buttons toolbar to display the Folders view. Deselecting this icon displays the Common areas in the Explorer pane. You can also select a number of other options to display in this pane. These options can be found by selecting View > Explorer Bar from the menus. The options include Search, Favorites, Media, History, and Folders.
6. Turn on or off the Tip of the Day. A tip area can be displayed by selecting View > Explorer Bar > Tip of the Day.