How to: Change Default Icon View in Windows 10 (for All Folders)

Infopackets Reader ‘Brad’ writes:

I just upgraded to Windows 10 and the File Explorer (previously Windows Explorer) looks much different than it did previously. I would like to know how to change the default settings in File Explorer so that my icon view is set for Large Icons. Before I upgraded to Windows 10, my folder settings all looked the same (using Large Icons). I want this setting so that when I view a folder full of images, I can see their thumbnails. Can you help? «

Generally speaking you can set 1 folder to view with the ‘Large Icons’ setting, and then tell File Explorer that you want all folders to look the same.

1. Click Start and then click This PC; this will open a File Explorer window.
2. Navigate to any folder on your C drive. If you have your picture files stored in a Pictures library, you can click that.
3. Once you are viewing a folder, right click an empty space within the File Explorer window and select View from the dialogue menu, then choose Large Icons. Alternatively you can use the following shortcut keys on the keyboard to change your view:

CTRL + SHIFT + 1 Extra Large
CTRL + SHIFT + 2 Large Icons
CTRL + SHIFT + 3 Medium Icons
CTRL + SHIFT + 4 Small Icons
CTRL + SHIFT + 5 List
CTRL + SHIFT + 6 Details
CTRL + SHIFT + 7 Tiles
CTRL + SHIFT + 8 Content

Once you have the view set, you can make it the default view for every folder you open from now on. To do so, click the File tab in File Explorer, then click on the «Change folder and search options» option.

The Folder Options window will appear. Click the View tab, then look at near the very top for the heading «Folder Views». Click the button that says «Apply to folders». This will set all your folders to open under the same view you just set in Step #3.

Click the Apply, then click OK, and the Folder Options window will disappear.

You can test your changes by viewing other folders on the C drive to see if they all look the same.

If you’ve followed the steps above but would then like at least one or two folders to look different than your main view, then simply follow the same steps above, omitting Steps #4 through #6. For example, I might want all my folders to view with Large Icons, but I don’t want «This PC» to have Large Icons; instead I want «This PC» to view with «Details». In this case, I would simply go to This PC and set the view as Details and leave the rest the same.

Viewing Thumbnails instead of Icons

If you are setting the view as Large Icons and you intend to view thumbnails (instead of icon placeholders which won’t show you a picture preview), then you will also want to ensure that your PC Performance Settings allows for thumbnail views.

1. Click Start and then right click This PC, and choose Properties.
2. The System window will appear; click the Advanced system settings link at the top left of the window.
3. The System Properties window will appear; look for the Performance heading and click the Settings button.
4. The Performance Options window will appear; under the Visual Effects tab, ensure that «Show thumbnails instead of icons» has a check mark beside it, then click Apply and OK to close the window.

I hope that helps.

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Set default in File Explorer to List View in Windows 10

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I have tried some thing and it seems to work.

Go to the folder that you want, click on View, click on Preview pane then on List.

Then shut down File Explorer and restart.

Get back in and pick the folder in File Explorer and it should be in list view.

This works on each folder by it self. Other folders can be different.

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I appreciate the answer. I’ve done that about 10,000 times. Yes it may work the next time, but then for reasons I don’t understand, I’ll open up another folder or come back to that folder later and it will be back to the details view. It is very irritating. I have been using Microsoft OS since the DOS days. I’ve seen this problem for decades. I work at a computer all day and have been wasting my time on this for a long time. 🙁

Thanks anyway. It was kind of you to try to help.

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set default folder view in Windows 10?

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How to reset folder view settings on Windows 10 File Explorer

On Windows 10, File Explorer includes five different templates to customize the view of folders, including «General items» (default for every new folder), «Documents,» «Pictures,» «Music,» and «Videos.» Each template provides a unique layout with icons as well as specific sorting and grouping depending on the folder’s content type.

For instance, the «Pictures» template view offer uses the layout with large icons, while the «Music» view applies the details layout that offers a list view sorting with the track number, title, artist, and additional information.

Although using any of the available templates for a particular folder, you can further customize the experience using the «View» tab. If you made a lot of changes in File Explorer, you can always reset the view to its original settings for one or all the folders using the same template with the «Folders options» settings.

In this Windows 10 guide, we’ll walk you through the easy steps to reset (or change) the folder view settings in File Explorer.

How to reset view settings for one folder in File Explorer

To restore the original settings for a particular folder in File Explorer, use these steps:

1. Open File Explorer.
2. Click on the View tab.

Click on the Options button.

Click the Reset Folders button.

Click the Yes button.

Click the OK button.

Once you complete the steps, the folder will reset to the default template settings.

Changing folder view template

If you’re using the wrong folder view template, use these steps to switch templates:

1. Open File Explorer.
2. Browse to the location of the folder that you want to customize.
3. Right-click the folder, and select the Properties option.
4. Click the Customize tab.

Use the Optimize this folder for drop-down menu and select the correct folder view template. Options include:

(Optional) Check the Also apply this template to all subfolders option.

Click the Apply button.

Click the OK button.

After you complete the steps, the view will be optimized for the content type that you specified.

How to reset view settings for all folders in File Explorer

To restore the default folder view settings for every folder using the same view template, use these steps:

1. Open File Explorer.
2. Click on the View tab.

Click on the Options button.

Click the Reset Folders button.

Click the Apply to Folders button.

Click the Yes button.

Click the OK button.

Once you complete the steps, all the folders using the same view template (for example, Documents view template) will reset to its default values.

More Windows 10 resources

For more helpful articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10, visit the following resources:

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