Desktop Icons - View and Sort By

How to Change the Desktop Icons View Alignment and Sort By Order in Vista​

information   Information
This will show you how to hide or show all icons on the desktop, or change how all of the icons are aligned (View) and sorted (Sort By) on the desktop to how you want them displayed.

EXAMPLE: View Before (Everything Unchecked), Align to Grid, and Auto Arrange
View_Before.jpg​
​
View_After_Grid.jpg​
​
View_After_Auto.jpg​
​




OPTION ONE
Hide or Show All Desktop Icons

1. Right click on the desktop and click on View. (See screenshot below step 3)​
​
2. To Hide All Desktop Icons​
​
A) Click on Show All Icons to uncheck it. (See screenshot below step 3)​

3. To Show All Dekstop Icons​
​
A) Click on Show All Icons to check it.​
​
View.jpg​
​





OPTION TWO
Change the Desktop View Alignment Settings

1. Right click on the desktop and click on View. (See screenshot below step 4)​
​
2. To Have the Icons Stay Where Placed on the Desktop​
​
A) Click on Align to Grid and Auto Arrange to uncheck them. (See screenshot below step 4)​

3. To Have the Icons Align to a Grid​
NOTE: The icons will still basically be left where placed on the Desktop, but they will be moved slightly to keep them aligned to a grid on the desktop. It keeps the icons from overlapping each other. (See the middle Example above)​
​
A) Click on Align to Grid to check it. (See screenshot below step 4)​

4. To Have the Icons Automatically Align​
NOTE: The icons will be automatically aligned starting at the upper left corner of the desktop to a grid. (See the bottom Example above)​
​
A) Click on Auto Arrange to check it. (See sceenshot below)​
​
View.jpg​
​





OPTION THREE
Change the Desktop Icons Sort By Order
Note   Note

  • This will automatically align all of the icons starting at the upper left corner of the desktop according to what you select to sort them by below. (See bottom example at the top)
  • This will not set any View alignment settings in OPTION ONE above.

1. Right click on the desktop and click on Sort By. (See screenshot below )​
​
2. Click on a option to change the icons to be sorted by that order option.​
NOTE: These are the sort by Name, Size, Type, and Date modified options.​
​
Sort_By.jpg​
​

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

 

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Last edited:
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Shawn,
What have I done? Somehow I've shot myself in the foot and, despite being logged in, no .jpgs from the tutorial are visible. Just get that placeholder giving name, views, and size. Yes, I clicked and dbl-clkd on the placeholer to no avail.
karl
 

My Computer

System One

LOL, it's ok Karl. :)

You might not have checked the Rember me box at log in, or you do not have cookies enabled or enabled for this website (Sites button in Privacy).

Hope this helps,
Shawn
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2, 4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2, 8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system, Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam, HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn, APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI, Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
Shawn,
Right again. I'd blocked all cookies. Didn't realize that the vistax64 sites required cookies to be enabled. I'm sure that when I joined that was emblazed in reb and big letters. Must be old timer's disease.
Thanks and sorry for inconvenience.
karl
 

My Computer

System One

No problem Karl. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted out.

Shawn
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2, 4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2, 8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system, Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam, HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn, APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI, Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
hi Brink, i had problems with my folder settings and tried method 2 in this thread http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/70819-windows-explorer-folder-view-settings.html

after doing so, my folders are now ok but it somehow messed my icons in my desktop, it keeps on aligning them automatically to the left whenever i refresh my desktop, even if i unchecked auto arrange and auto align :(

any suggestions?

thanks.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Q6600
    Motherboard
    Asus Commando
    Memory
    4X1GB Corsair 6400C5DHX
    Graphics card(s)
    8800GT
    Hard Drives
    2x80GB Seagate RAID-0 1x250GB Seagate ES 1X500GB Seagate ES
Hi Voltsb333,

This is strange. I have not seen that happen as a result of that tutorial before. :huh:

Have you tried restarting the computer again to see if that may reset it?
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2, 4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2, 8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system, Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam, HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn, APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI, Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
yep, i thought it was strange too...

anyway i used system restore to get back the icons but now the "remember folder settings" does'nt work anymore, my windows explorer window goes to it's default size everytime.

i'll try the other manual method in your folder's tutorial and will update soon.

thanks.

***UPDATE: everythings ok now, i used the manual method :)
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Q6600
    Motherboard
    Asus Commando
    Memory
    4X1GB Corsair 6400C5DHX
    Graphics card(s)
    8800GT
    Hard Drives
    2x80GB Seagate RAID-0 1x250GB Seagate ES 1X500GB Seagate ES
Voltsb333, I'm happy to hear that it is working for you now.

Now that is strange. The REG download does exactly the same as the manual method, but automatically. Did you do anything different or skip any parts while doing the manual method?

Thank you for posting your results.

Shawn
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2, 4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2, 8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system, Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam, HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn, APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI, Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
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