Windows 8 show thumbnails in explorer and open desktop in folder view

Off-topic Chatter
1

I set my folders to all the same view (like in XP) (list, view by type) but i want to be able to manually select thumbnails (or even automatically if the folder is all pictures) when i am viewing picture folders, and i can’t find such an option, can it be done?

Also when i open a folder on the desktop in XP it would open a partial screen folder with only the folder i clicked on open, but now i get explorer full screen with all the folders on he lift side, is there a way to go back to how it used to work?

2

I don’t have Windows 8, but a quick Google turned up this (via Control Panel):

3

i already did those, those options are the same as XP

4

1. Bottom right on an explorer window, there is an option to switch between list view and thumbnails, you might want to check that out.

2. Go to the view tab, uncheck navigation pane. That will hide the folders on the left.

5

1. Didn’t work, i got large icons not thumbnails

2. Its a permanent change, all future folders appear that way unless i change it each time i want one or the other view.

6

For the first issue, I’m not sure what the difference between a thumbnail and an icon is, but you can change the sizes by holding down Ctrl and scrolling. Not sure about the second issue, I’m used to always seeing the navigation pane, haha.

7

an icon in windows 8 looks like an ocean with a mountain representing each file, a thumbnail is a small version of the image in the file

8

Weird, when I switch to thumbnail view, I get thumbnails, not icons.

I think this may occur when you haven’t installed GPU drivers, or when some graphic options are disabled due to low performance systems.

9

i’ve installed all drivers and its not a low performance system

10

Got a screenshot of what it looks like now?

11


right click view image for full size

12

Top left hand side click on view. Third button from left. That will give you your view options.

13

none of them have thumbnail view

14

Is this what your after? Sorry about the above.

15

excellent, thanks so much

next step is to figure out a way to have it show as list for files and automatically as thumbnails for pictures

16

All of my Windows 8 boxes preview the photos out of the box. You probably have an OEM install (which I blow out with my own copy the first day I get a prebuilt system) which deemed that setting the safest to use (lowest common denominator) or the system did something funny during install, maybe thinking you had a low-bandwidth internet connection or something.

On a new laptop, I re-install Windows before I even start using it. And now for machines that come installed with Windows 8, the CD Key is burned into the BIOS and when you re-install Windows, you don’t even need to dig up and type in that key—it’s totally painless and gets rid of all that bloatware that pre-installed systems come with these days.

17

its a retail copy, i built the computer myself, installing all the asus drivers is a headache figuring out which ones i need since they no longer just have one large installer that has everything

18

Hmm that’s interesting. I wonder what made it decide to set that setting at install time. Like I said, none of my copies do that and they are retail versions as well, though taken from our MSDN subscription.

19

i don’t know, but is there a way to have list view and large icons for folders that are mostly or all pictures?

20

Windows remembers the view you set to each individual folder. Set the data files folders to view ‘by detail’ and the photos to view ‘by large icons’.

Is there a universal way to set those folder views in one shot based on content? I don’t think so. You can universally set every folder to whatever view you want, but it’ll set every folder to that single view and won’t make any distinctions about folder content/file formats. Sounds like you should just be setting the folder views one-by-one by hand individually. That’s what I do. Windows aint psychic :wink: