Why Do Some Windows 10 Files and Folders Have Two Blue Arrow?

Posted on January 6, 2019 by Mitch Bartlett 1 Comment

Q: Why do some file and folder names show up in with a two blue arrows in the upper-right corner of the icon in Microsoft Windows 10?

A: If file names or folder names show up in blue, it is because file compression or encryption is enabled on that file or folder. Windows automatically compresses files that do not get used frequently, and displays those files in blue. You can change this behavior with the following steps:

1. Right-click the “Start” button, then open “File Explorer“.
2. Select the “View” tab, then choose “Options“.
3. Select “File Explorer Options” or “Folder Options“.
4. Under the “View” tab, uncheck the “Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color” setting in the “Advanced settings” area.
   

If you want to access the encryption and compression settings on a file or folder, you can right-click the file, then select “Properties” > “Advanced…”

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Filed Under: Windows Tagged With: Windows 10

Change the Colour of File Names in Windows

Windows Explorer has always been adapted to meet new expectations. From XP to 7, it would have been difficult to recognise, and 8 reinvented its interface entirely with the ribbon menus.

Despite these aesthetic changes, it lacks one feature Mac OS X has boasted for a long time: control over the colour of entities listed within it.

You may remember that we explained how to change folder colours using Folderico last year, and a reader asked at the time if it was possible to change the colour of the actual file name. This is possible, albeit limited.

The methodology is not our own – rather, the solution was first found by a user on Seven Forums, and it is more of a hack rather than an actual solution.

1. Open Windows Explorer and find the file or folder you wish to change the name colour for. This can include pictures or videos, and the change will be reflected in other programs as well.

2. Right-click the entity and select the “Properties” option from the pop-up menu. This should open another, smaller window featuring various details and buttons.

3. At the bottom of the Properties window, one button will read “Advanced.” If you do not see this, check which tab you are viewing: it should be the first, labelled “General.” Once you have found the “Advanced” button, click it.

4. Another sub-window will appear offering several more options. The bottom two are of particular interest, as they control how the file name displays.

5. Choose either to compress the entity and save disk space, or to encrypt the file. Encryption results in a slightly larger file, so if space is at a premium, compression makes more sense. If you choose to encrypt the file, it would be prudent to back up the encryption key. Confirm your intent via the prompt, then close the windows that opened until you are back at the Explorer session.

6. Depending on the options checked, the file name should be coloured. If you compressed it, then it will appear as blue. If it is encrypted, it will be green. It is not possible to check both boxes, nor is it possible to change the specific colours they display in.

It should be noted also that encrypting the file will prompt Windows to offer to encrypt the entire folder. Whether you choose to do so or not is entirely your own preference.

If you have explored the core folders in Windows prior to this, you may have noticed a few examples are coloured: these are compressed as standard, meaning the same principles hold true for both.

Compressing the file will not compromise your ability to access it, and it can be edited even after this. However, encrypting the file carries certain risk should you choose not to back up the encryption key.

We would be inclined to compress files, should you choose this route to colour file type names. Windows’ implementation of this functionality is clunky at best, though it is at least feasible and may benefit some readers.

Should you be prepared to use an alternative to Windows Explorer, XYplorer can accomplish this task, and three other Explorer alternatives have also been covered.

Paul is a Northern Irish tech enthusiast who can normally be found tinkering with Windows software or playing games.

Mysterious Blue Double-Arrows Added to Windows Desktop File & Folder Icons

Today blue arrows mysteriously appeared on my Windows 10 desktop folder and file icons, as well as my task bar and in explorer.

I assumed they may be a new visual cue for syncing with OneDrive or OneDrive for business, however, after spending the last hour searching the web I have not found any images/content that matches these same arrows.

Replies (66) 

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I will surely help you with this.

We had already seen this issue on computers with Norton Antivirus. If you have Notrton Antivirus installed on the computer then One of or forum member «lanedog33 » had found that the blue arrows are just indicators to let you know what has been backed up and what hasnt been.

To get rid of the arrows, open up Norton and go to settings. Then go to backup. There is an option that says «Backup Status Overlay«. If you uncheck this option then the arrows will no longer appear. It wont make your computer more vulnerable, it just removes the arrows.

Do let us know the result. We will be glad to help if you need further assistance.

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I dont have Norton, but i am also seeing the double blue arrow bs on all my files. How do i get rid of it?

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Hi Deepak, thanks for your reply.

I do not have Norton AV on my box, and I have also searched my PC to make sure.

BTW the Norton Icon arrows are bottom left corner, mine are top right corner.

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Hi Deepak and Jedipottsy , the blue-arrows are part of Windows 10 — they notify users which folders, sub-folders & files have been compressed.

Users can easily turn the blue-arrow indicator icons on/off simply by following these instructions:

Right-click the folder or file.

Choose Properties

C lick general

Click advanced

Check the box for compressed ( saves disk space) which displays the blue-arrow notification on the icon

Or. Unchecked for non-compressed and the blue-arrows are deactivated

Voila — you’re now the master of the mysterious icon blue-arrows.

STEP ONE

STEP TWO

STEP THREE

STEP FOUR

VOILA — Arrows On

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So, im finding these arrows on my files after i updated to the latest version of Windows, build 1511,10586.

I have a 750GB hard drive compressed with the BS icons on the folders and files. Whoever came up with this idea is a great guy.

«Let’s spam blue arrows on compressed items». Great thinking there buddy. NO. IT IS NOT.

I do not have Norton or other software that has this effect on file icons, neither in my 20 years of computers have i heard of this issue.

Oh, and by the way, uncompressing a whole drive to get rid of the icons!?

NO! That’s just wrong!

Who knows how to get rid of this bs?

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I also did not have this occur with the initial Win10, build 10240 upgrade. Only after the 1511 upgrade. Strange. And, lousy idea, agreed.

Also, think it is pretty sad that someone claiming to be a «Microsoft Support Engineer» was completely unaware of this. This is a by design addition to Windows 10. Not to mention, this info has been readily available online for at least a month. Yet it took one of us poor, simple ‘users’ to provide the correct answer. (Thank you rolandmorgan!)

I know that every «Microsoft Engineer» doesn’t know every single detail about Windows. (They do, however, certainly have more access to build info like this than those of us outside MS.) But, if you don’t know, then don’t send people down rabbit holes looking for unicorns. To show up here and provide a completely useless answer when you obviously don’t know what you’re talking about is NOT HELPFUL. Just sayin’.

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How to have multiple colors in a Windows batch file?

I was wondering if its possible to have different colored text on the same line in a Windows batch file, for example if it says

I want «hi» to be one color, and «world» to be another color. Maybe I could set the COLOR command as a variable:

and then deploy them both on the same line along with

but I don’t know how I would do that.

12 Answers 12

Actually this can be done without creating a temporary file. The method described by jeb and dbenham will work even with a target file that contains no backspaces. The critical point is that the line recognized by findstr.exe must not end with a CRLF. So the obvious text file to scan with a line not ending with a CRLF is the invoking batch itself, provided that we end it with such a line! Here’s an updated example script working this way.

Changes from the previous example:

• Uses a single dash on the last line as the searchable string. (Must be short and not appear anywhere else like this in the batch.)
• Renamed routines and variables to be a little more object-oriented 🙂
• Removed one call level, to slightly improve performance.
• Added comments (Beginning with :# to look more like most other scripting languages.)

PS. I’m having a problem with the output of the ! character that you did not have in the previous example. (Or at least you did not have the same symptoms.) To be investigated.

You can do multicolor outputs without any external programs.

It uses the color feature of the findstr command.

Findstr can be configured to output line numbers or filenames in a defined color.
So I first create a file with the text as filename, and the content is a single character (ASCII 8).
Then I search all non empty lines in the file and in nul, so the filename will be output in the correct color appended with a colon, but the colon is immediatly removed by the .

EDIT: One year later . all characters are valid

This uses the rule for valid path/filenames.
If a \..\ is in the path the prefixed elemet will be removed completly and it’s not necessary that this element contains only valid filename characters.

jeb’s edited answer comes close to solving all the issues. But it has problems with the following strings:

I’ve modified his technique to something that I think can truly handle any string of printable characters, except for length limitations.

Uses the %TEMP% location for the temp file, so no longer need write access to the current directory.

Created 2 variants, one takes a string literal, the other the name of a variable containing the string. The variable version is generally less convenient, but it eliminates some special character escape issues.

Added the /n option as an optional 3rd parameter to append a newline at the end of the output.

Backspace does not work across a line break, so the technique can have problems if the line wraps. For example, printing a string with length between 74 — 79 will not work properly if the console has a line width of 80.

UPDATE 2012-11-27

This method fails on XP because FINDSTR displays backspace as a period on the screen. jeb’s original answer works on XP, albeit with the limitations already noted

UPDATE 2012-12-14

There has been a lot of development activity at DosTips and SS64. It turns out that FINDSTR also corrupts file names containing extended ASCII if supplied on the command line. I’ve updated my FINDSTR Q&A.

Below is a version that works on XP and supports ALL single byte characters except 0x00 (nul), 0x0A (linefeed), and 0x0D (carriage return). However, when running on XP, most control characters will display as dots. This is an inherent feature of FINDSTR on XP that cannot be avoided.

Unfortunately, adding support for XP and for extended ASCII characters slows the routine down 🙁

Just for fun, I grabbed some color ASCII art from joan stark’s ASCII Art Gallery and adapted it for use with ColorPrint. I added a :c entry point just for shorthand, and to handle an issue with quote literals.