Windows 11 - how do I set default view for details (other thread solutions don't work or Windows 11)

Hi Jeffrey,

I am Dave, I will help you with this.

1

Open a folder, then set the view the way you like it to be.

Click the 3 dots at the top of File Explorer and select Options

On the resulting dialog, select the View tab and click the 'Apply to Folders' button.

That will set the view on all folders of that type.

2

There are a few folder types (Documents, Pictures, Mixed Items, Videos...etc.) in Windows and if you want to set the view for any folder type, perform the steps in 1 above for one folder and that will set the view for all folders of that type.

I unchecked the "Status" column too. Then used Options, View, Apply to Folders to apply to all folders. Doesn't work ... used to work before Microsoft messed something up here. In fact, after deselecting "Status" column, then it is removed, but if I close that folder and go back to the same folder the Status column returns. Basic Microsoft coding error in Windows. Pretty basic stuff Mircosoft. Fix it. (All Windows 11 updates are current on my PC.)

So your answer is no, there's no proper way to do it in Windows, but here's a third party hack that can do it.

I'd prefer to hack the registry myself, so I guess I'll be hunting for the right keys to modify.

Please see the documentation for details, but as a summary...

Explorer does support the concept of global settings for its folder views via the FolderTypes registry key. That protected key in HKLM contains all of the folder view defaults, but you can make a copy of that key to HKCU and edit the defaults there. The format of the settings, their interactions, and what settings need to be cleared for the new defaults to take effect is quite complicated. If you try to tackle it manually, you're likely to get frustrated and end up with a mess, as can be seen by old discussions online at places such as superuser.com.

Microsoft could have made an interface to let you edit the global defaults, but they chose not to. It's worked the same since Windows 7, so I would not expect that to change. That's why I wrote WinSetView. It fills that gap. It just edits those defaults. If you wish to call that a "hack", that's fine, but you're not going to find any other solution out there.

Please note that many people will claim that you can set the overall defaults via Explorer's "Apply to Folders" button, but that's a half-measure. It doesn't always work and when it does work it only catches the five main folder types. There are MANY hidden folders types it doesn't catch, but most importantly, it does not update your file open/save dialog views.

I was trying to avoid typing all this information yet again (this is the umpteenth time I've explained all this online) and I do have all the same info in the documentation, but there you are.

If you wish to see another place I've explained all this, please see:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/completely-disable-file-grouping-always-everywhere/ec6301fd-623c-412e-b047-e076f053084e

This:

https://lesferch.github.io/WinSetView/