Jan's Working with Windows 10:

Step-by-Step: Manage Details

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What you will learn:

to view properties with ScreenTip to view properties with Status Bar to use the Properties dialog to use properties in Details view to sort and group to customize Details view to use the Folder Options dialog

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Properties: ScreenTip

Start with , File Explorer window open

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1. If necessary, open a File Explorer window and select the Home tab (ALT + H)
2. Navigate back to the folder C:\Windows\Web\Screen
3. Hover over one of the files and wait briefly.
   A ScreenTip appears with the image's file type, dimensions, and file size.
   It does not matter what folder style view you are in. All show the ScreenTip.
4. Experiment: ScreenTip
   • Navigate to other folders and pick various view styles.
   • Hover over several different files and folders.

     What properties show for different kinds of files?

     Do you get a ScreenTip for a folder? a drive?
     What properties show in the ScreenTip?

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Properties: Status Bar

The Status bar shows the number of items selected and the total file size. In the Navigation pane you can only select one folder or drive at a time. The Status bar will show only the number of items in the top level of that folder or drive. So if a folder contains three folders and five files, the Status bar will show 8 items, even if each of the folders contains many items.

What the Status Bar tells you:          

• Number of items selected in the Navigation pane
• Number of items selected in the Contents pane
• Total size of selected files
• Whether or not the selected items are shared
  A Shared icon shows if another user on the computer or network has been allowed to access the selected file or folder.

1. Experiment: Status Bar
   • Select a file in the Contents pane and inspect the Status bar.

     What shows on the Status bar? Are these properties also shown in a ScreenTip or in the Details pane?

   • Change to a different type of file.

     Are the properties showing on the Status bar the same?

   • Select a drive, a folder, and then multiple files.

     What shows on the Status bar for each of these selections?

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Properties: Dialog

Every object within Windows has properties. The Properties dialog shows all of the properties.

1. Right click on a file in the Contents pane.

2. In the context menu at the bottom, click on Properties.
   (Your dialog will likely be for a different file than the one used for the illustrations.)

    

   The General tab is open by default and shows properties that all files have, like the file's location and size.
   

3. Click on the Details tab.

   This tab shows the other properties of the file. Some of these might be blank. Which properties show depends on the type of file.
   

4. Click on the tab Previous Versions.
   This is where you can find an earlier version of your file if you mess it up.

   Warning: Previous versions exist only if you have made changes in the past and have File History turned on or have restore points.

5. Click the OK button to close the dialog.

6. Experiment: Properties Dialog

   • Open the Properties dialog for a number of different kinds of files, folders, and drives.
     What properties show on the Details tab?

   • Find a file where the Details tab includes a section named Descriptions.
     This section has properties like Title, Subject, Tags, Categories, Subject. You can edit these right in the dialog.

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Details View: Sort

To sort means to display items in a particular order, such as alphabetically or numerically.

The Details view is the easiest folder view style to use for sorting the Contents pane. The column headings are actually buttons that can be used to sort the files, in order or in reverse order.

There is no such thing as 'unsorted' or 'remove all sorts'. The default sort is alphabetical on the file's Name property.

There is also a command 'Sort by' on the context menu as well as on the ribbon.

How the default columns sort:

Name: Alphabetically by name, with folders first.
Size: Numerically by file size, but leaves folders in alphabetical order at the top.
Modified date: Calendar order using the date the file or folder was last changed.
Type: Alphabetically by file type. However...
Some file extensions are treated as the same file type, so the display is not exactly alphabetical for extensions. For example, the extensions txt and log are grouped together because they are both plain text files.

Only one sort at a time can be applied using the column heading buttons.

1. Navigate to show the Windows folder in the Contents pane.
2. Change the folder style to Details view.
   The default columns are Name, Date modified, Type, and Size.

   

3. Scroll the Contents pane to see the files and their details.
   

   There are a number of different types of files.

4. Click on the property Name at the top of the column.
   The Contents pane rearranges the files and folders into reverse alphabetical order, with folders last instead of first.
5. Click on Name again.
   The Contents pane returns to the original order.

6. Experiment: Sorting

   • Click on a column heading button to sort the display.
   • Scroll the pane to see what changes occurred.
   • Click the same button again to reverse the display.

   • Sort with each of the properties.

   • Sort several folders that have different kinds of files.
     When you are finished with each folder, return the sort to Name, Ascending. Windows will remember how you left the folder, at least for a while.

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Details View: Group

To group means to display items in groups based on a particular property, such as names that start with the same letter or by file sizes or by the date modified. The default view for This PC is Tiles view grouped on type.

Examples of grouping:

Click the green links below to change the illustration at the right.

• Name -A-H, I-P, Q-Z
• Size - Gigantic, Large, Medium, Small, Tiny, Zero
• Type - Cascading stylesheets, configuration settings, HTML, images, folders, Word documents, Excel documents
• Date Modified - Today, Yesterday, Earlier this week, Last month, Earlier this month, Earlier this year, A long time ago

You cannot modify the way Windows groups.

1. With the Windows folder selected in the folder tree, right click the view to Details .
2. Right click in a blank area of the Contents pane. (This can be tricky depending on the current view!)
   A context menu appears.
3. Hover over View to expand the menu.
   A submenu appears listing all of the Views.
4. Click on Details.
   The Contents pane now use Details view.
   
5. Right click again in a blank area.
6. 

   Hover over Group by to expand the menu.

   A list of the properties that have columns in Detail view appears.
   

7. Click on Name.
   The window rearranges the files and folders into three alphabetical groups, A - H, I - P, Q - Z.

8. Collapse/expand each group by clicking the arrow to the left of the group title.
9. Scroll the window.
   Each alphabetical group has the folders first and then files, in alphabetical order within the group.
   

10. Open the context menu again and click on (None).
    This removes the grouping.
    Undo won't work for groups. Unexpected!

    The item (None) does not appear unless the view is grouped already.

11. Experiment: Groups
    • Try out the other choices for Group by.
      
    • Scroll to see the effect.
    • When you are finished, remove the grouping.

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Customize Details View

In Details View, you can resize the column widths, change the order of the columns, and add or remove columns. There is a long list of properties to choose from, but some properties only apply to certain types of files. For example, an image will have a Dimensions property (width x height) and a video has a Length property (how long the video lasts). Those properties would be blank for a document like a letter.

Resize Columns

In Details view, you may need to resize a column to show more of the data in that column.

1. With the File Explorer window showing the Windows folder, move the pointer to the boundary at the right of the Name column.
   The pointer changes to the Resize horizontally shape .
2. Drag to the left.
   The column gets narrower.
3. Drag to the right.
   The column gets wider.
4. Double-click the boundary between columns.
   The column adjusts to Best Fit, which makes it just wide enough for the widest item currently showing in that column.
   

Rearrange Column Order

1. Move the pointer over the middle of the Name button.
2. Drag to the right until past the second column.
   
3. Drop.
   The Name column shifts to the right and is now the second column.
   Sorting was not changed!
4. Drag and drop the column back where it started.
   

Choose Which Columns to Show

You can pick any of a long list of properties to show in the File Explorer window. Of course, some properties only apply to certain file types. Your choices will apply ONLY to the current folder.

1. Right click on the heading of one of the columns in Details view.
   A context menu appears, with a check mark by the properties that are currently showing as columns in Details view. You can easily have more columns than will fit inside the current window. In that case a horizontal scroll bar will automatically appear.

   Clicking a property in the context menu toggles the column to show or hide. The list closes immediately. To make several changes at once, you can use the Choose Details dialog.
   

2. Click on the command More... at the bottom of the context menu.
   The Choose Details dialog opens with a complete list of all properties that might be available.
3. Scroll the list of properties.
   Can you guess what kind of file each property would naturally go with? Some are clearly about music or videos or pictures or contact information. Others apply to just about any file.
   
4. Click on the box beside Company to put a check mark in it.
   This property will show as a new column when you close the dialog.
5. Click in the list on the property Type to select it, but leave the check mark in its box.
6. Click the Move Up button twice.
   The order of the properties is now Type, Name, Date modified, Size, and Company, but the listing is still being sorted on Name.
   
7. Click on OK to close the dialog.
   The columns are in the new order. The arrow on the Name heading shows that this column is sorted.
8. If necessary, widen the window enough to show the new column.

9. Scroll the window to look for any items that have an entry in the new Company column.

   

10. Right click a blank area to get the context menu again.
11. Click on Company to hide that column.

Special Folders: Some folders are recognized by Windows as being a special type, like Pictures, Music, or Video. These folders have a style that is automatically applied. Details for these folders are automatically selected to include columns that apply to those types of files.

• Find a folder of pictures or music or videos.
  If you do not have pictures of your own, try:
  C:\Windows\Web\Screen
  
  (The folder Screen holds the Lock Screen backgrounds that comes with Windows.)

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Dialog: Folder Options

The dialog Folder Options lets you customize the way the folders and files are displayed in a large number of ways. Most of the defaults are good to use, but not quite all. If the display of your folders and files is behaving in an odd manner, check first to see if the folder is sorted or grouped. Then check the Folder Options dialog for changes.

1. Open the dialog Folder Options:

   In a File Explorer window on the View ribbon tab, click the Folder Options button.
   The Folder Options dialog opens.

   The General tab is selected by default.

   There is a new drop list at the top where you can choose whether to show Quick Access or This PC by default in a new File Explorer window.
   

2. Click on the View tab and scroll to read the list of Advanced settings.
   The Restore Defaults button returns all of the settings on this list to the originals. Most of these can be left at the default setting.

   BUT - There are three settings that you will probably want to change.

   Turn on: Show hidden files, folders, and drives
     (often needed to fix problems)
   Turn on: Hide empty drives
      (Just annoying when nothing is in the drive!)
   Turn off: Hide extensions for known file types.
       (Extensions are important for identifying file types.)

Windows remembers folder choices: The arrangement that you choose for the icons applies to the open folder only. Windows can remember your choices for several recently viewed folders. There seems to be no way to make your choices stick permanently. Once the maximum number of remembered arrangements is reached, making more changes will replace the oldest choices. The maximum for Vista is supposed to be 5000 and for Win7 it is 20,000. How many can be remembered by other versions of Windows is not documented anywhere that I could find.

Apply folder choices to other folders: You can apply your choices for the current folder to all folders of the current type (Documents, Music, Pictures, Video) in the Folder Options dialog with the Apply to Folders button.