Can I change XP's Explorer 'Open' folder view from List to Detail?

When I click the Open command to open a new file (in a variety of programs) the Explorer Open box appears..... but it's always using the 'List' view when I nearly always would prefer to see the 'Details' view.

Is there a way to make the Details view automatic?

Thanks

 

Are you trying to see the preferences of a file ? I'm not qure I quite understand what you are trying to do . Are you trying to create a new folder or file or are you trying to 'open' an existing one ?

 

See if this works. In Explorer, change the view to Details then in Tools>Options select the view tab and click the "Apply to all Folders" button. Because you are using open in a program I am not sure if this will change the view to details or not.

 

I am trying to change the View settings of the folder (named Open) which appears for you to chose a file from a directory.

Say you are in Notepad and want to open a document. You click on the Open Icon and it opens an Explorer Window showing the contents of a Folder to choose a file from.

My xp always shows the files to choose from in the 'List' format. I want it to show the files in the 'Detail' format because I usually want to reopen a file i've used recently..and an alphabetical listing of files just makes me search more.

 

tgell...

As before, this "Open" folder doesn't seem to be changed when you do that. I've tried.

Is it just my machine? If you click the Open File icon from Notepad, do you get the directory listed in List View?

Just curious..

 

I am not on XP at the moment. I will check. But, in the mean time, make sure that in the options list you have "Remember Each Folder's View" checked.

 

you're in good hands with tgell ;-)

 

The Remember box has always been ticked.

 

Sorry,
I cannot seem to get this to work either. On my XP computer, opening Notepad always reverts to list. I am going to investigate and see if I can find a solution. Maybe somebody on the board has found a solution and will post it here.

 

It seems that details cannot be saved unless there is a tweak used.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/force-opensave-dialogs-to-use-details-mode-in-windows-xp/

 

I also prefer the Details view for Open and Save dialogs.

Unfortunately, there is no registry setting, in XP at least, that will change the default behavior to the desired format.

I used to use that little application OpenWide, and usually it did the trick.

However, I have found a much better replacement and have been using this for at least six months now.

I had planned on recommending this to Major Attitude for addition to the Major Geeks database but never got around to it.

This application not only lets you specify the default layout for Open and Save dialogs, but also lets you SIZE it to your preference.

Also, and even better, you can create your own Instant popup menu for all of your Favorite locations.
You can name the locations as you like, and they can be Any folder or Any drive.
You can separate and arrange your list by categories.
You can also specify an Alternate location that will be opened if you press the SHIFT key while clicking a location in the list.

It is immediately available by pressing Winkey + Q, although that can be changed.

There are other configuration options that make this a real gem!!

Direct Folders

For users of AVAST! antivirus:
If AutoSandbox is Enabled, you need to add the following to
Files that will be excluded to Automatic Sandboxing

C:\Program Files\Direct Folders\config.dll

Otherwise, configuration changes will not be saved.