Set Thumbnail View (XP Home SP1)

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How to set the thumbnails view for a particular folder and all subfolders in it?

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1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. Click on View and then Customize This Folder.
3. Select the type of view you want to use. “Pictures” is the Thumbnail view, Photo Album creates a slide show type.
4. Check the box next to Also apply this template to all subfolders.
5. Click OK.

Your changes should be effective immediately. Enjoy!

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Mark,

Though Also apply this template to all subfolders box has been checked, all the subfolders do not display thumbnails.

The following is the View properties of the folder. The folder name is Pictures.

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Ah, you’re a victim of the sometimes-flaky behavior this “feature” has. Try changing the view setting, applying it to all subfolders, and then changing it back again. If that doesn’t work, I have one other trick that may help, I’ll dig for it. It requires a registry edit (seems like everything does these days).

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Mark,

Too bad, no improvement on it. I will dig into the internet to find the solution for it too.

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Dennis, I’ve found your answer. I don’t know if this is documented anywhere else, but it’s a common annoyance and I had (too much) time on my hands.

When you change a folder’s customization options, you’d think that little checkbox to apply the settings to subfolders would just work. Well, it does work – but not until you help it with a small change elsewhere first. I couldn’t believe the stupidity of this annoyance when I discovered its source.

Open Explorer, and go to Tools – Folder Options. Clear the checkbox next to Remember each folder’s view settings. Click Apply.

Next, follow the steps that you normally use to customize a folder: View – Customize This Folder. Select your view settings, tick the checkbox to apply to all subfolders, and apply. Then go back and enable Remember each folder’s view settings. Your changes should stick.

If you (or others) are curious….along the same lines is the problem Explorer sometimes has with view settings for individual folders. This includes window sizes and positions, among others. By default, Windows will remember view settings for up to 400 folders. These settings are all stored in the registry under the following keys:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Windows Shell Bags]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Windows Shell BagMRU]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Windows ShellNoRoam Bags]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Windows ShellNoRoam BagMRU][/list]Deleting these keys will wipe out any saved view settings (but the keys themselves will regenerate). Under Bags are a series of numbers which correspond to the folders whose settings are remembered. Now here’s the dumb part: the numbers aren’t assigned in a sensible order; they’re apparently assigned as you modify folder view settings – so customizing a particular folder requires you to use a tool like RegMon to track down which number refers to the corresponding folder.

You can configure for how many folders will remember customization by modifying or creating the following DWORD values (I don’t know if there’s an upper limit):

HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Windows Shell
BagMRU Size = 1000
HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Windows ShellNoRoam
BagMRU Size = 1000[/list]A note: Folders will only inherit a particular view type if you do not re-enable “Remember each folder’s view settings” before actually viewing the folders. This parameter/checkbox must remain cleared, and you must view the subfolders in order for them to inherit the proper setting – before re-enabling the tick in the checkbox next to that option. Once you have viewed the folders, you can then re-enable the “Remember” setting to ensure that they remain unchanged.

Hope that helps!

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Now it all makes perfect sense

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WyllyWylly, Your instruction does not work on my Windows Explorer. The subfolders still do not show thumbnails. This folder is located at D: which is not the system drive.

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Dennis, did you possibly re-enable “Remember each folder’s view settings” before actually viewing the folders? I believe that they will only inherit that particular view type if you view them with that parameter/checkbox cleared. After I tested this on my workstation, I then went and viewed two subfolders before re-enabling the tick in the checkbox next to that option.

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WyllyWylly, you are absolutly right! I need to view the folders/subfolders before enable Remember each folder’s view settings. Thank you very much.

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Mark–

Thanks for elucidating in more than one thread that in order to work with the close relationship between Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer for getting folder settings and views, window sizes, ect. to stick you often have to resort to the registry–and that sometimes what the contents of the Explorer registry keys really are can be tough to decipher. This is good info–and not easy to come by–but making these types of settings stick which are very common for people to want to control and tweak from the gui ought to be a priority for Microsoft.

SMBP

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>(I don’t know if there’s an upper limit):
Mine both are set at 5,000 decimal.

>Hope that helps!
More than you know. See also my post 578,817

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I read this post with interest as I am (suddenly) experiencing the same problem. I am using Wndows XP and it doesn’t seem to have a Folder Options under the Tools menu. What to do?

Thanks.

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Try looking in Windows Explorer. I’m betting that you are in Internet Explorer.

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Mark,
I am running XP Pro and do not see the “Customize This Folder” option under View in Windows Explorer. Is this option version specific? Here are the options I have when View is clicked.
Paul

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That’s because My Documents is the active folder. This is a folder that is managed by Windows. The same holds for folders such as My Pictures and My Music. If you select a folder you created yourself, you should see the “Customize this folder” option.

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Hans,
Right on! One learns something new each day around here. I had tried only two folders when I posted and they were My Pictures and My Documents.
Thanks,
Paul

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As you may have gleaned from Hans’ reply, it’s not version specific (all versions of XP share the same Explorer shell); however, it can be folder specific.

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Ok, a related question:
Is there a procedure that allows me to change or customize the icon for a Windows controlled folder?

Paul

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Activate the Display Properties control panel.
Activate the Desktop tab.
Click ‘Customize Desktop’.
Select My Documents.
Click ‘Change Icon’.
Select a different icon (you can click Browse to find other icon files).

For the other folders, such as My Pictures, it’s a bit more tricky. These folders contain a file Desktop.ini that is only visible if you display hidden files and folders and if you don’t hide protected operating system files. Desktop.ini is a plain text file that can be edited with Notepad. It looks like this:

[DeleteOnCopy]
Owner=
Personalized=39
PersonalizedName=My Pictures
[.ShellClassInfo]
InfoTip=@Shell32.dll,-12688
IconFile=%SystemRoot%system32mydocs.dll
IconIndex=-101

You can experiment with the IconIndex and IconFile values…

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Super!

Thanks,
Paul

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One way to make Explorer show a thumbnail version of bitmap files in the current folder previewing .BMP files without having to open them is by going to

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTPaint.PictureDefaultIcon] Modify the value of (Default) Data Type: REG_SZ (String Value) to equal “%1”. (Edited from 1%–SMBP)

SMBP

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Two drawbacks to that approach: 1) It only works with bitmap files, and 2) it slows down folder read time when there are a lot of files, even on fast machines. And, a potential third drawback is that it’s a system-wide setting and affects every folder.

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Agreed–good points. Will try to find a better way. Don’t understand why the steps in your post 252155 won’t hold–thought that was the way.

SMBP

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Hi Dennis ~

This will apply the setting to a folder, but not necessarily its subfolders:

• Open the folder
• In the menubar > ‘View‘ > ‘Thumbnails‘
• Shift+Close[/list] You can set the ‘Thumbnails‘ view to all folders once you select & enable it by:
  • ‘Tools‘ > ‘Folder Options…‘
  • ‘View‘ tab > ‘Apply to All Folders‘ button
  • ‘Yes‘ > ‘Apply‘ > ‘OK‘

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