"Chronological" Name Ordering In File Explorer

pepanee

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Hi, I find it kinda strange how files with a parenthesis after their name will go before a file with the same name. Refer to the picture. I want to arrange it so those parenthesis will show after the original, which is the way it should look in the first place.

Chronological Ordering.png
 

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Hey, thanks for the reply to the tutorial. I was so hoping that this type of modification would work, but it left those 4 files alone from my picture above. I created 3 new files in the same folder named 111, 22 & 3, just like in the tutorial. I disabled Numerical Ordering, and restarted the computer, they appeared just like they should like in the tutorial, but the 4 files from the picture above were left untouched. I reset that setting back to normal, and now the numbers show chronologically: 3, 22, 111.

Those 4 files from above's picture stayed the same. I'm starting to remember that there was actually a reason why that is designed like that maybe? I don't know if I'm remembering non-sense that my brain is making up, or if there actually is a reason why they're set up like that. Do you remember/know?
 

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I don't remember either, but I suppose you could rename the bottom one to included "(1)" at the end.
 

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Yea.. that's one solution that I know would work for sure. Yea.. I'll just keep that in mind for the time being. Okay thanks Shawn
 

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You might try a free File Manager that supports rules and scripting. I do not know if MultiCommander will do what you want. But it has to be more flexible than Explorer. Also it comes in 32 and 64 bit builds and is multi-threaded. It may be worth a look especially since it is completely free.

I have it but I wrote so many things that launch and arrange Explorer windows that I end up using Explorer rather than investing the time to learn other file managers. :)
 

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Thanks for the reply, yet your second paragraph is exactly what I will end up doing. I want something built into Windows, no separate 3rd party program that I have to get used to. That is inconvenient for me.

I am looking for some sort of Registry edit that I can do, or
Some sort of extension that can run with Explorer that will allow this, or
Any type of similar idea.
 

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If you use only one PC, then maybe re-writing the way the OS does business is OK, but for some of us with multiple PC's, like I have 20 of them, (with several different OS's), then some other gimmick needs to be applied to getting things in the order in which you want them.

For instance: I keep a folder on my desktop(s) with links to the forums that I work each day. The names of the different Forums would normally be shown in alphabetical order, but, I don't want them in alphabetical order. No, I want them displayed in the order of importance to me. I may also copy that folder of links to another computer, like my backup PC, or my portable PC, etc.

So here's what I do. I give them numbers, according to their importance to me. Like this

1 Windows 10 Forum
2 Windows 8 Forum
3 Kia Soul forum
4 All You Like

So regardless of the actual name of the link, they always remain in the order that I want.
I've actually done that in other places, with other files, for the same reason.
Someone, at Microsoft, years ago, decided it would be nice if every folder would display its files in Alphabetical order, regardless of the age of the file.
Or course, you can change that order within any Folder, by just clicking on the header of any column....like if you click on the Date column, all the files will be re-ordered by the date that they were created. Click it again and the order will be reversed.

That even carries over to programs that create lists, like Windows Mail, where you can change the order in which the email is presented, new ones first or the oldest ones first.

Some things in Windows, I do change to suit myself, but many things I just deal with, the way the Windows programmers designed it.
Just browsing through the registry, you'll find many things that the programmers set one way, but they left you the ability to set them another way to suit yourself. Many of the things that they set a particular way, can be called "Safe Defaults". Yes they're SAFE, but not necessarily the most efficient for speedy operation.

As a "For Instance".... back in the early days of Windows design, manufacturers were putting a bare minimum of RAM Memory in their PC's, because RAM was still very expensive. (at one time, ram memory could cost as much as $1 per megabyte.)
So Windows was programmed to leave its "Kernel" on the hard drive, because it was thought to be too large to fit in RAM and still leave enough room for programs to run. But as time went by, and we started adding more and more RAM to our PC's, it was no longer necessary to have the critical part of the OS, called the Kernel, left on the slow running hard drive.
Thanks to those foreseeing programmers, we have the ability to tell Windows to load the Kernel into RAM Memory on boot-up, for a much faster and more efficient running system. That's one tweak I install on every system that I have to set up.

So, Windows is not carved in stone, but written in one's and zero's that can be easily modified. But it helps, if a person knows what to safely change and what to leave alone. Eh?

Cheers mate!
TechnoMage :cool:
 

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Cool. Thanks for the responses.
MilesAhead: Yea I was hoping there's somebody out there that might know of something that can slightly edit the way Explorer sorts that specific rule. It would've been nice to technically have it where when you have the same name for a file, it would be listed as the second entry instead of the first. And if you have multiple same-named files, they would show as the first, then (2), then (3), etc.. instead of (2), (3), (4), then the first one. It's nothing too bad, just would been more Proper that way. And ya, I'm aware of the ASCII table deal. Check out the image I attached. It took FOREVER to find characters to sort it this way, by name.

TechnoMage: I thought I was reading a book bro =D
I see what you mean by your method of sorting things, and how there are constraints how Explorer does things.. yet would be nice for Microsoft to let us "edit" Explorer's ways of things, and if ever needed, restore all rules to default Explorer rules. (I like how you mention the Kia Soul thing in a lot of your posts; you sure love your car).

Anyways, maybe some programmer will see this and be like, that makes sense (of what I said above about the first, (2), (3) , etc, rule.)

Character Ordering.png
 

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@pepanee one way to "cheat" may be to look for a "touch" utility that will update the modification dates of files according to some rule or look for an AHK program that can do it. Then just hit the Last Modified column to sort.

@TechnoMadge A dollar per MB? I think I paid $20 to get a set of 9 16 KB memory chips to bring my XT Clone from 512 KB to the full complement of 640 KB. The 9th chip was in case the system required a parity chip. Fortunately mine did not since I bent one of the legs on one of the chips. The spare 9th chip saved me another trip to the EggHead shop. :) The Leading Edge Model D had a hole underneath the front bezel just large enough to squeeze my hand through without ripping the entire system apart. Having to insert the ships by feel is why one got bent. But I remember my older brother, when he worked for DEC talking about a new super mini-computer that would have a GB of main system ram. The idea was to suck the entire database from disk into ram for super fast queries. heh heh heh

On the filename numbering bit, my old Philips MP3 player insisted on "sorting" files in the order originally written to the flash memory. So I would prefix them with 01_ 02_ etc. then run FatSorter utility to set the file creation dates to force the player to comply.
 

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Yeah, I remember the horror stories, that came from friends who wanted to add ram to their Trash 80. You almost had to mortgage the farm to buy ram in those early days.

:cool:
 

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MilesAhead: I want to keep the folder sorting method by name. Date Modified will mess up the order of everything else in there.
Anyways, no worries about this. I just thought it would be slightly more convenient if that 'rule' existed.
Thanks all.
 

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MilesAhead: I want to keep the folder sorting method by name. Date Modified will mess up the order of everything else in there.
Anyways, no worries about this. I just thought it would be slightly more convenient if that 'rule' existed.
Thanks all.


Sorry we did not come up with anything. When you think about it, there are so many user written modules hooked into Explorer now you would think there would be a hook for a user written compare method to feed to the shell for custom sorting. 21 years since W95 and still no go. Not likely to see it now as the desktop fades away.
 

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Yea.. you're right. It'll probably never catch on. But who knows, maybe the this 'fad' of the Desktop style computing will come back in the future.. just like how you hear all these techno 8-bit remixes of songs that show up every now and then.
 

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Yea.. you're right. It'll probably never catch on. But who knows, maybe the this 'fad' of the Desktop style computing will come back in the future.. just like how you hear all these techno 8-bit remixes of songs that show up every now and then.

I just hope I don't have to use 8 track tape to back up my data on "the desktop of the future." ;)
 

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    Built in
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    640 GB (spinner) Sata II
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Touch pad
Yea.. you're right. It'll probably never catch on. But who knows, maybe the this 'fad' of the Desktop style computing will come back in the future.. just like how you hear all these techno 8-bit remixes of songs that show up every now and then.

I just hope I don't have to use 8 track tape to back up my data on "the desktop of the future." ;)

HAH
 

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    Nvidia GeForce 8400GS
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    ASUS VS247
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 720
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