View modes
There are four ways to look at the same folder: details, icons, columns, and gallery. This page covers what each one suits, and how to change the list's sorting, grouping, and what it shows.
Switching is instant, and each tab remembers its own choice for next time. Views are switched in the footer, bottom right: click the pill and a panel opens above it, then click the view you want.
The four views
| View | Good for |
|---|---|
| Details | Type, size, modified date; folders expand in place |
| Icons | Flipping through pictures and folder thumbnails; icon size is adjustable |
| Columns | Going down one level at a time, with a preview right beside it |
| Gallery | One big image with a strip of small ones below for flipping through |
The same folder in all four views (D:\Demo\Photos):
Hold a modifier and scroll to switch views or resize icons. Hold the modifier key and scroll the mouse wheel over the file list to move between views or make the icons bigger and smaller. Whether that affects just this tab or all of them is the View Scope setting.
Details
- The six columns are Name, Date Modified, Type, Folders, Files, and Size; click a column header to sort by it, and click again to flip the direction.
- Both the order and the width of the columns are yours to change — see Arrange the interface.
- Folders expand in place so you can see inside them.
- Colored tag dots appear to the right of the filename.
- With Calculate Folder Sizes Automatically on, the Folders, Files, and Size columns fill in for folder rows once the background scan finishes. Folders that are gated off read Not calculated; click that cell to scan just that one.
At the "This PC" level the columns change altogether, to Name, Type, File System, Free Space, Size, and % Used, matching Explorer's This PC view.
Icons
The view panel in the footer does not label this one "Icons": it shows the current step, Small Icons, Medium Icons, Large Icons, or Extra Large Icons. Only the New Tab View setting calls the four of them together Icons.
- Those four steps are the sizes; at the larger ones, folders show a thumbnail of what is inside.
- Hover a folder that has thumbnails and the stack fans out for a look. How it fans is the Folder hover spread setting: Arc, Deal, Row, Stair, or Off.
- Good for flipping through pictures and sorting through material.
Columns
- Go down one level at a time, left to right, and you can always see where you are.
- Select a file and the preview appears right beside it: images, text, PDFs.
Gallery
- One big image, with a strip of small ones underneath.
- Good for going through pictures one by one; drag the strip to move quickly.
- Two small controls sit at the bottom right of the preview: one toggles the filmstrip between docked and floating, the other opens and closes the info panel.
Sorting
Sorting has two independent parts: which column orders the list, and whether folders come before files.
| To change | Do this |
|---|---|
| Which column sorts | Click a column header, or right-click empty space → Sort by |
| Ascending or descending | Click the same header again; the right-click menu also has Ascending / Descending |
| Folders versus files | Click the footer's sort button to cycle Mixed, Folders first, Files first |
Grouping
Grouping splits the current list into sections, each with a collapsible header. Right-click empty space → Group by:
| Value | Sections you get |
|---|---|
| None | Grouping off |
| Type | Folders in one section, everything else by file type |
| Date modified | Today / Yesterday / Past 7 days / Past 30 days / Past 6 months / Older / Unknown date |
| Size | Empty / Tiny · <10 KB / Small · <1 MB / Medium · <128 MB / Large · <1 GB / Huge · ≥1 GB |
| Name | By first character; digits go to 0–9, the rest to Other |
| Extension | By extension, with No extension for the rest |
Grouping by Type, Size, or Extension puts every folder in the Folders section: folder sizes are computed in the background, and letting them take part in the bucketing would make rows jump around on their own.
A grouping badge sits in the footer at all times, naming the key in use, or None when grouping is off. It takes three gestures: hover it and the key panel opens so you can pick one; scroll the wheel while hovering to cycle through the keys; click it to toggle between None and the key you last used.
A three-state checkbox at the left end of each group header checks the whole section at once: an empty box when nothing in it is checked, a small square inside the box when some of it is, a tick when all of it is. Clicking fills in the rest of the section, or clears it if everything was already checked. The box is only drawn while the pointer is over the header, and collapsed sections do not get one — none of their rows are visible, and checking only ever applies to visible items.
The right-click menu also has Collapse all groups and Expand all groups.
Grouping and "folders first" are different things: the first cuts the list into sections, the second only decides who comes first within a section.
The footer switches
The footer carries a set of controls at each end. They all change what this list shows; none of them touch anything on disk.
Two at the left end, left to right:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Filter box | Type to filter the current folder; the box shows how many files are left |
| Recursive expand | Sits right beside the filter box; expands every subfolder under the current one at once, and collapses them when pressed again |
A cluster at the right end, also left to right:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Details panel toggle | Opens and closes the details panel at the side; only present in the details and icons views, see Preview |
| Folder visibility | Hides folders from the list, or brings them back; the button carries the current folder count |
| File visibility | Hides files, or brings them back; the button carries the current file count |
| Sort mode | Cycles Mixed, Folders first, Files first — the same button as the third row of the sorting table above |
| Grouping badge | See the section above |
| Sort badge | Names the column in use; click to flip ascending and descending |
| View switcher | Click for the panel, then pick one of the four views |
As the pane gets narrower the right-hand cluster drops its counts and view name down to bare icons, and narrower still the filter box shrinks to a magnifier square — but every button stays put, none of them fold away into an overflow menu.
On "This PC" and the Start Page there are no subfolders to recurse into, so the recursive expand button is greyed out and hovering it says Not available here — open a drive first.
Default view preferences
Several settings relate to views. Open Settings with Ctrl+Shift+P:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| New Tab View | Which view a tab opened with Ctrl+T starts in |
| New Tab Icon Size | Only shown when the above is Icons: how big icons start out |
| View Scope | Whether changing the view affects the current tab, the group's tabs, or all groups |
| Folder hover spread | How a folder's thumbnails fan out under the pointer |
| View | A page of its own: the zoom-step tables for each of the four views |
These settings are kept and still apply after a restart.