Apply Folder View to All Folders of Same Type in Windows 10  

I hope you have a great weekend as well.

TobyMeister said:

Hi Brink,
Sorry to bug you again, but I have two more Folder questions. On my Windows 10 PC, there are five (5) built-in Folder types: General Items, Documents, Pictures, Music, and Videos.

Q1: Is there a way to create a new custom folder type and save it to that drop-down list, so it's available to use when I need it? Let's say a custom folder view with several additional columns, saved in the list as "My Details."

If not, I guess I could just customize one of the built-in Folder types and use it when I need those settings.

Q2: What's the difference between General Items and Documents folder types? Their view settings look identical.

Thanks.

Hello Toby,

Q1) I'm not aware of a way to create a custom default template, other than just manually customizing an existing template as needed.

Q2) I haven't noticed any difference between the General Items and Documents templates either.

Change Folder Template in Windows 10 | Tutorials

@Brink I know that this was posted over 16 months ago but your explanation removed the wool from my eyes. Thank you.
As for the other commenters, Windows 10 Explorer options were not finalized at the beginning. Minor changes were constantly made even within the same release. I started with 1803 and now I am using 1809, and in both versions minor behaviour changes were installed, and probably tested.

I'm glad it could help @ineuw.

glentall said:

I found this thread while searching the internet on setting folder view options. The discussion is a bit old and I'm not sure if it is still active but I will ask my question anyway:

How can I set the view options on a "Search window"? When I do a search in Explorer, the resulting window displays the results using the "Content" view option. I really want the view option to be "Details" with a "Path" column that replaces the "Folder" column. When I modify the view to be what I want it to be and then click on "Options" and the "View" tab, the "Apply to Folders" button is greyed-out and I cannot select it.

I have read through this thread and know that there are items (This PC, libraries, etc) that also have the "Apply to Folders" button greyed-out, but it seems that is the case with those items because they are not really a "folder." Does that apply to the Search window also?

How can I change and set the view options on a Search window? Is it possible? Is there a way to set it in the Registry if it cannot be done in Explorer? I hate having to change the view settings every time I do a search.

Thanks in advance!

Hello glentall, and welcome to Ten Forums.


The default layout of a Search result window in File Explorer is indeed "Content" view.

The view setting for a search window will remember what you used last by default, but this only applies to that specific location you searched from. For example, searching "C" drive vs any other location (folder or drive).

You might see if the solution found in the thread below to set a default Search view may work for you as well. I would recommend to create a restore point first in case you may need to undo any mistakes or undesired side effects.

How to customize default search view ?

BRAC said:

Hello,

I would like to know if it's possible to apply Folder View options to a specific folder including sub folders/files than all folders...Say, when you group contents of any folder by File type the changes should reflect within the parent folder and all files in the sub-folders, if any, within the parent folder. Folders external to the parent folder should remain unchanged. Or, is this beyond Microsoft's grasp.

Hello BRAC,

I'm afraid we can only use "Apply to Folders" to all folders of the same type (template) in File Explorer, and not just subfolders.