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Best Windows 7 Explorer Tips and Tricks

Windows Explorer in Windows 7 has been significantly changed andimproved since the days of Vista and XP. This article provides some of the more useful tips and tricks for getting the most out of Explorer.

NOTE: Some of these tips require you to tweak the registry. Beforedoing so, be sure youback up the registry. We also

recommend creating a restore point you can use to restore yoursystem if something goes wrong.

Use the Backspace Key to Go Up Like Windows XP Did

Windows Explorer in Windows XP allowedyou to move up a folder using theBackspace key. If you got used to thatfeature, you’re probably frustrated that itwas removed in Windows 7. TheBackspace key in Windows 7 moves you

Back in the folder browsing history, not tothe parent folder of the current folder.

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Here’s a small program that allows you to use the Backspace key to goup a folder.

Make Backspace in Windows 7 or Vista Explorer Go Up like XP Did

If you would rather not change the behavior of the Backspace key,there is also a keyboard shortcut you can use to go up a folder: Alt +Up.

View Details and Previews for Files

When browsing through your folders and files in Explorer, it might be

helpful to be able to view the contents of the files without opening thefiles and to view details about the files. The Preview pane and theDetails pane allow you to do this. To turn on one or both of thesepanes, click Organize on the Explorer window and select Layout todisplay a submenu. If a pane on the submenu has a check mark nextto it, it is currently being shown in Explorer. Turn the panes on and off 

by selecting them on the submenu. You can also press Alt + P to turnthe Preview pane on and off.

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Disable Thumbnail Previews

If Windows Explorer seems to beoperating slower than usual, you can

speed it up by disabling the thumbnailpreviews.

This can be done by turning on the Always

show icons, never thumbnails option on the Folder Options dialog box,as we have previously shown:

Disable Thumbnail Previews in Windows 7 or Vista Explorer

NOTE: This tip works in Vista, as well.

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Choose a Different Startup Folder 

By default, Windows Explorer opens to the

Libraries view. If you use a specific folderoften, such as My Documents, you can

change a setting to open that folder whenyou open Windows Explorer.

We explain how to do this in the followingarticle:

Set the Windows Explorer Startup Folderin Windows 7

You can also set the startup folder to other locations if you know theGUID (Globally Unique Identifiers) for the object or location you wantit to default to. The following article provides more information onGUIDs:

Stupid Geek Tricks: Enable the Secret “How-To Geek” Mode in

Windows 7

Easily Take Ownership of Folders Using the Right-ClickMenu

If you need to replace or edit system

folders or files in Windows 7, you need totake ownership of them. This may occurduring the installation or usage of someprograms, among other times.

Taking ownership of a file or a folder is acomplicated task, requiring many steps.However, there is an easy method of taking ownership of files and

folders using the right-click context menu. The following article

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provides a downloadable registry hack you can apply that adds a TakeOwnership option to the right-click menu.

Add “Take Ownership” to Explorer Right-Click Menu in Win 7 or Vista

NOTE: Remember, it’s a good idea to back up your registry beforemaking any changes to it.

Prevent Explorer from MakingClick Sounds

If you have your sound turned on for

various reasons, such as watching amovie or listening to music, and you needto do something in Windows Explorer, aclick sound may interrupt your movie ormusic. However, you can turn off this clicksound.

The following

article describes how to silence Explorer.

Turn Off Windows Explorer Click Sounds in Windows 7 or Vista

You can use this method for turning off other sounds in Windows, aswell.

Add Applications to the Favorites

List in Explorer 

Windows 7 allows you to add your ownfolders to the list of Favorites in Explorer.What if you work in Explorer often and

would like to start applications directlyfrom the Explorer window? If you try to

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drag an application to the Favorites list, you get an error. However,there is an easy way around this.

The following article provides an easy method for adding applications

to the Favorites list:

Stupid Geek Tricks: Add Apps to the Windows 7 Explorer Favorites List

Access Hidden Options on the Right-Click Send To Menuin Explorer 

When you right-click on a file in Explorer,

the Send to submenu on the popup menuprovides options for taking action on theselected file. You can send the file to acompressed folder, create a shortcut tothe file on your desktop, fax or email thefile, or send it to another folder.

However, there are additional options available on the Send to menuthat are not visible by default. There is an easy way to view these

extra options. Simply press the Shift key while right-clicking on thefile.

See our article about this trick for information about adding your ownoptions to the Send to submenu.

Stupid Geek Tricks: Secret Items on the Windows 7 Send To Menu

Open a Command Prompt Window from a WindowsExplorer Folder 

If you use the command prompt often tomanage your files, there is an easy wayto open a command prompt in theworking directory you want from within

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Explorer. This is accomplished the same way as accessing additionaloptions on the Send to menu, as mentioned above.

To open a command prompt at a specific directory, hold the Shift key

down when you right-click on a folder and select the Open CommandWindow Here option. We wrote about this tip in the following article:

Use “Command Prompt Here” in Windows Vista

You can also go the other direction. If you have a command prompt

window open to a specific directory, you can open the same directoryautomatically in a Windows Explorer window. The following articleexplains how to do this:

Stupid Geek Tricks: Open an Explorer Window from the CommandPrompt’s Current Directory

Add the Copy To and Move To Commands to the Right-Click Menu

If you transfer a lot of files among

different folders, there are a couple of useful options you can add to the context

menu in Windows Explorer to make thistask easier.

We provided a downloadable registry hackthat adds a Copy To folder option and aMove To folder option to the context menuin Explorer. Selecting one of these optionsdisplays a handy dialog box allowing you

to select a folder to which you want tocopy or move the selected file or folder. See the following article todownload the registry hack:

Add Copy To / Move To on Windows 7 or Vista Right-Click Menu

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NOTE: We highly recommend that you back up the registry beforemaking any changes to it.

We also described how to add this hack to the registry manually in the

following article:

Add Copy To / Move To to the Windows Explorer Right Click Menu

NOTE: The article above about adding this registry hack manuallyshows this being done in Windows XP. This trick works in Windows XP,

Vista, and 7.

 

Quickly Resize Icons and Changethe View in Explorer 

Do you change the view in WindowsExplorer among the different sizes of iconsor to details or list view often? If so, thereis a shortcut that allows you to do this

quickly and easily using the keyboard andmouse.

Simply hold down the Ctrl key while

scrolling the mouse wheel in any folder inExplorer. We previously showed you this trick in the following article:

Resize Icons Quickly in Windows 7 or Vista Explorer

If you keep scrolling down, the icons get smaller until they switch toList, Details, Tiles, and then Content. This trick essentially scrollsthrough the options on the Change your view button in Explorer.

NOTE: This trick also works to change the size of the icons on thedesktop icons.

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Stay tuned for more useful tips on using Windows Explorer in Windows7 next week!

This article was originally written on 10/8/11Tagged with: Learning Windows 7, Windows 7, Windows

7 Tips

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Comments (20)1. October 8, 2011 12:07 pm

RobertOhh Man!! I can’t believe I missed that copy to/move to article!! Also thattake ownership has been a lifesaver transferring files for pc/laptopupgrades. Awesome article again!!

2. October 8, 2011 12:22 pm

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Rusty

One trick I learned the other day is if you right click on an office documentand choose new. It opens the same document but with a different file nameso that you can easily edit the new document and save it as a differentname.

3. October 8, 2011 1:22 pm

elazar55

What about explorer++?I find it very useful.

http://www.explorerplusplus.com/

4. October 8, 2011 1:23 pm

MJ

@Rusty You are indeed using the document as a template for a newdocument. This way you can even open .pps and .ppsx files in PowerPointinstead of starting directly the slideshow.

5. October 8, 2011 2:10 pm

Steve

Love it! Thanks for the tweaks. Many I’ve used before, but over timeforgotten as I reconfigure different machines. Good to recall and re-install.

6. October 8, 2011 2:18 pm

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MAK

very awesome stuff…nice tips and tricks…Thanks

7. October 8, 2011 10:42 pm

Robert

@Rusty an MJ Both of these are very helpful finds. Thanks.

8. October 9, 2011 2:57 am

tiago :D

So cool and usefull! thx

9. October 9, 2011 5:10 am

JK

you can also just type “cmd” in the address bar of any folder your in to startcomand promt in that spesific folder 

10.October 9, 2011 9:47 am

Jeimoi

Is there any way to “unsort” the order of files displayed in Explorer? Likedragging and dropping files and whatnot inbetween other files.

11.October 9, 2011 12:34 pm

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Stewart J. Miller

Because Microsoft did this “update,” is that why Explorer keeps crashingfor no reason? I do regular virus scans, run MalewareBytes regularly and Ihave done a complete scrub with Kaspersky’s Rescue disk, so tht cannotbe the “dafault” reason I am finding when I search for “reasons” for thecrash.

Please enlighten me, seeing that Microsoft seems not to be up to the task.

12.October 9, 2011 1:10 pm

KB Prez

Great Tips! I use the “copy to/move to” all the time. One of the best tipsever. Rusty’s tip about office documents also looks very useful!

13.October 9, 2011 1:44 pm

Jay Williams@S.J. Miller: I too have been having this problem for well over 2 months.[fyi folks: we are talking about WINDOWS EXPLORER file manager, NOTInternet Explorer here, I spent 20 minutes on the phone before realizingthe extremely hard to understand 'outsourced person' was telling me howto stop IE from crashing ... dur!] It started for me immediately after a MSissued ‘Tuesday’ update. And from what I read, so it has for a largenumber of people. I have tried every ‘remedy’ and ‘sure cure’ I could findon the internet, some quite elaborate, to no avail. I have gone to some very

extreme measures (a special MS issued system integrity scan app thattook over an hour to run), etc. etc. … ad nauseum. Finally MS assistancesaid I had a ‘conflicting 2nd-party program’. So I quite literally either uninstalled or disabled every single non-MS application or program on mycomputer [no easy or fun task!], I even disabled every Firefox add-on andplug-in just to be sure. As we used to say in the Air Force, NO JOY, whena mission objective was unsuccessful. I feel I am computer savvy, having

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repaired hardware and software problems and built-from-scratch probablya hundred computers in the past 18 years as a hobby. I’m no ‘noob’ at this.This problem is on a brand new, high-end Intel i-5 processor-based laptop.The only thing I haven’t done is a total ‘clean’ re-install of Win 7, which Iwould love to do at this point. So here’s the rub; I can only do a ‘back-up’re-install because 99% of manufacturers, for the past several years, do notsupply a physical, disc hard-copy of the OS with new machines. I havetried a ton of ‘forums’ to no avail, if any one reading this [shout out to fellowHow-toGeek fans and friends!], then PLEEEEZ reply. Admittedly, thewrong place to ask this. If the HTG admin will allow this, contact me atquagmire[dot]longshanks@gmail[dot]com … and thanks if ya lastedthrough my long-winded gripe session! – Jay

14.October 9, 2011 3:00 pm

Kevalin

@Jay and JS: Join the party! “Windows Explorer had stopped working/isnot responding” had been my bosom buddy for the last several MONTHS,especially with Windows x32. It did get better on the x64 side after scanning with Avira Rescue disk (which, unlike Kaspersky and BitDefender, updates at least daily and found a number of questionable files),but I’m still having issues with x32 if I try to work with more than three open

folders at a time.

My plan at this point is to strip and reload the OSes on both computers and AVOID adding Updates for awhile, since it seems to me that that’s whenthings really started going South with both computers. It’s time-consuming,but you can find sites where it’s possible to add Updates a few at a time; I’llgive that a try and see what there is to see. Wish me luck.

15.October 9, 2011 3:24 pm

adasd

is this all windows explorer have? i’ve been using this for years on other operating systems and desktop environments. this windows thing is fromthe 90′s right? right?

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16.October 9, 2011 6:19 pm

Ricardo Garcia Ramírez

I’ve never lost track of a file using ME, 2000, or XP, and I keep track of thousands of files in hundreds of folders.

With 7 I have to search through confusing layers of libraries and folderstrying to find what I want and often going around in circles.

Is there a way to force 7 to work like XP? I hate to lose the money I paid for 7, but I may have to.

17.October 10, 2011 1:19 am

philalethes

xplorer2 lite is free and full of features left out or never in Windoz Xplorer.

18.October 10, 2011 10:00 am

awsaf

Here is a easier way to open a folder with windows explorer by default:

In the “Target:” of the windows explorer properties type the following:%windir%\explorer.exe /n,/e,c:\windows

This will open the windows folder when you click on windows explorer.

19.October 10, 2011 4:28 pm

Donald Miller

To: Jay WilliamsI had issues with Windows 7 and Sony/Viao laptop.

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Using Viao software I made a recovery disk and backed up my Documentsto CD’s. An hour later my Windows 7 was humming. It was back in theshape it was when it left the store.

So, try whatever restore software you have for your unit. Viao was superb,

but obviously it has to be on the HD to begin with.Don

20.October 10, 2011 10:11 pm

Udosed

Sure MS would do an update to the search. I loved the search in XP. This

one is 7 is scappy and useless…..Anybody hear rather or not they aregoing to do something about the search. I use SEARCH alot.

.nl

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