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I have an external drive folder of pictures and videos set in Windows Explorer to be in Extra Large view, but sub-folders are in Details view. Rather than clicking into each sub-folder (some go many levels deep) and choosing this for each one, I want all of them to be in that view. However, the way I've read to do it appears to not be working consistently within Windows Explorer main panel or Navigation panel clicks (opens).
In the top folder, when I right-click a blank area and select "Customize this folder", which takes me to the Customize tab, then select Videos or Pictures, with checked box "Also apply this template to all subfolders", then click OK, it leaves the top-level folder as Extra Large, and then sets sub-folders to Large. I can't get sub-folders to all switch to Extra Large in one shot.
The closest I can do is set the top-level folder to Pictures or Videos, then switch its view to Large to match the sub-folders. This is really annoying. I need to see more details on the pics and video thumbnails, not see more folders on screen. Having to switch thousands of sub-folders to Extra Large would be a major waste of time.
Update: I forgot to mention, even if sub-folders change to Large view with Pictures and Videos (from Customize Apply all), clicking into them from the left-side Navigator panel shows the contents as Details!!! This is so frustrating. Now instead of being able to click once per folder in the left panel to view large thumbnails, I have to double-click every sub-folder in the main (left) panel to view Large thumbnails. This has now added thousands or more clicks to my research.
Update 2: If I right-click the top-level folder from within Navigator on the left, then Properties, the Customize tab shows General Items... so apparently the main panel and Navigator panel have their own settings for "Optimize". Wow. This is really strange. I can't tell if this is intentional behavior by Microsoft or not.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
The first way you described is exactly what I said I tried and didn't work.
Resetting the folders didn't change the behavior.
You don't know the answer apparently.
Maybe try it yourself sometime before replying.
Why does Microsoft waste money on people giving pointless answers?
It would be better if they just said "Windows doesn't do that".
Hi, my name is Kelly, and I'm an independent consultant and I'm here to help.
To apply the Extra Large icon view to all subfolders in Windows 10 Explorer and Navigator clicks, you can try the following steps:
Open the top-level folder in Windows Explorer and set the view to Extra Large icons.
Right-click on a blank area in the folder and select "Properties."
In the Properties window, click on the "Customize" tab.
Under "Optimize this folder for," select "Pictures" or "Videos" depending on the type of content in the folder.
Check the box next to "Also apply this template to all subfolders."
Click "OK" to save the changes.
This should apply the Extra Large icon view to all subfolders within the top-level folder. If this does not work, you can try resetting the folder view settings to the default by following these steps:
Open the top-level folder in Windows Explorer.
Click on the "View" tab at the top of the window.
Click on the "Options" button on the far right side of the toolbar.
In the Folder Options window, click on the "View" tab.
Click on the "Reset Folders" button.
Click "Yes" to confirm the action.
Click "OK" to save the changes.
This will reset all folder view settings to their default settings, which should allow you to apply the Extra Large icon view to all subfolders. If neither of these options work, you can try using a third-party file explorer such as XYplorer or Directory Opus, which may have more advanced folder view settings.
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Try this: WinSetView. More details here.
Hello I'm Greg, here to help you with this.
It sounds like it's not saving the Folder View settings properly which is a known issue with Windows 10 Explorer. Let's go over the procedure completely to make sure everything is covered and then the troubleshooting for the settings not saving:
Setting up how you want File Explorer to display is called Folder View. You can choose Group By and Sort By so you have two layers of choices, then save them for certain folder types or all folder types. Here is how:
Change the folder view layout:
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/34119-chang...
How to choose Group By:
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/34946-chang...
How to choose Sort by:
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/34895-chang...
Set this view for certain folders:
https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16694/customize...
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/35093-apply...
Set this view for all folders:
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/35192-set-d...
Troubleshoot folder view settings not saving:
https://www.kapilarya.com/fix-windows-10-wont-r...
https://techcult.com/fix-folder-view-settings-n...
Feel free to ask back any questions. Based on the results you post back I may have other suggestions if necessary.
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I'm sorry that this information was not useful to you, in which case I will release this question so that another specialist can try to help you.
