Solved Problems with Sort by Date in Windows Explorer

ssfblue

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On my external hard drive, I have a ton of photos from different cameras that retain the weird file-naming scheme that the camera implements so the order is weird and out of whack. I've been wanting to organize these photos and thought the best way to do it would be to sort it by date; however, when I click the sort-by date tab, it takes FOREVER to sort it.

It's weird because this seems to only happen with certain folders and not others within the same drive so I'm pretty baffled as to why this happens and how to fix it.

I tried to do a search on the forum to see if anyone else encountered a similar problem by searching the word "sort" but I came up empty. Any help would be appreciated!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS One 27
    CPU
    Core i5-3450S
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia 640M
Well that was quick... of course I find the solution after I make a post.

I don't know if this solution is permanent but I hope it is. Basically, what I did was I optimized the folder for "General Files" after going to the folder's Properties and clicking the "Customize" tab.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS One 27
    CPU
    Core i5-3450S
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia 640M
Wow - thank you! I hate that in the File explorer - also in Win 10 - it doesn't sort automatically by date - I did what you said and it now does so right away - BUT when I went to insert a file into Outlook as an attachment I noticed I still had the problem IF I used the "quick access" icon on the left pane - I was happily surprised that is I instead clicked on the SAME main folder I wanted - still in the left pane - but not using the icon for the exact same folder under "quick access" I was good - although maybe I had to hit Fn-F5 to refresh the file explorer folder once - I'm not sure - but much happier now - thanks - I have deleted the duplicate "quick access" folder icons in the left pane since the File Explorer wouldn't behave using those icons - FYI.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10 64bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo W541
Wow - thank you! I hate that in the File explorer - also in Win 10 - it doesn't sort automatically by date - I did what you said and it now does so right away - BUT when I went to insert a file into Outlook as an attachment I noticed I still had the problem IF I used the "quick access" icon on the left pane - I was happily surprised that is I instead clicked on the SAME main folder I wanted - still in the left pane - but not using the icon for the exact same folder under "quick access" I was good - although maybe I had to hit Fn-F5 to refresh the file explorer folder once - I'm not sure - but much happier now - thanks - I have deleted the duplicate "quick access" folder icons in the left pane since the File Explorer wouldn't behave using those icons - FYI.
Thank you both! I discovered a way to sort all the folders you wish like this with one command! You add one more step to the directions above to sort 10 after 9 in as big a heirarchy of folders on your computer as you wish. Go to the TOP folder over any group of sub-folders you want sorted with 10 after 9 and right click. Choose Properties > Customize as directed above and set the pull down menu below "Optimize this folder for" to "General Items." Here's the magic; just under the Generalize items list there is a check box labeled "Also Apply This Template to All Subfolders." That let me apply the above procedure to the parent folder of my huge electronic filing cabinet with many hundreds of sub-folders of filed bills, etc., check that little magic box and, "Zap!" every file in my filing cabinet was immediately sorted 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 instead of 10, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
 

My Computer

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