How to shorten folder Column widths?

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Is there simple some way to make the column headers (in a Win7/Win8 folder) shorter/narrower, like Date: ’05/31/13 14:02′ instead of ’12/24/2013 12:35 PM’ or Type: 3 character extension (instead of “PDF Document” and the like)?

I’d just like it to be a bit tighter, especially when I get an email with the title:
“New work request in your town, Anytown, TX, US {our file number} and [finally!] a street address”, which is how I would search it, but especially “simply click on it’ if the header weren’t either truncated (and address hidden) or need to be spread across most of the screen (covering up other valuable desktop real estate).

Truncating the time seems a bit sloppy (especially if you want the latest file), and you can’t (or at least I can’t) truncate much of Type labels.

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Are you referring to folder windows in Windows Explorer?

If so, click on View in the Menu bar. In the drop down menu, click Choose Details. If you don’t see the Menu bar, press F10

You will see a listing of column headings with the ones on the screen at the top of the list in the order from left to right. You can delete an entire column by clearing its check box. You can change the width by typing a new number in the width box (easier to do by dragging the column border with the mouse).

Another thing you could try is changing the view from Details to Content. Note that this will be effective for all folders.

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Thanks. Yes, Windows Explorer.

(I keep holding this mistaken fantasy that computers can make things easier, faster, and do things MY way. I want to go back to DOS, Basic, VisiCalc, and dBase, where at least the programs did things in a way that I understood and could make work.)

“Content” triples the height of the displayed info (working against my desire to minimize space), and from the Details box, the width box keeps reverting to the original number. I’m wondering if a RegEdit (or similar) fix exists that actually displays the file extension as one column option– i.e. .doc, .txt, .eml, … (and one that changes date format to m/dd/yy or mm/dd/yy).

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Open a folder, and if the ribbon is not visible click on the dropdown by the folder icon in the title bar and remove the check by “Minimize ribbon”. In the ribbon (middle right) click the dropdown beside “Add columns”. Click “Choose columns” at the bottom. From there you can choose which columns you wish to display, and the width (in pixels) you desire for each column.

If you want file name extensions displayed (there’s a checkbox for that in the ribbon), they will be displayed as part of the filename; “Filename.txt”.

— edit — I forgot which Windows I was booted into. The above is for Windows 8. For Windows 7, open a folder, click on View, then click Choose details. From there it’s pretty much the same. To show file extensions, use Tool > Folder options and the View tab.

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".

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