Desktop Icons - Change Horizontal and Vertical Spacing in Windows 8

How to Change Desktop Icon Horizontal and Vertical Spacing in Windows 8 and 8.1

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Icon horizontal spacing is for how wide (left/right) the desktop icon will be. The wider it is, the more text that will display for the icon's name without it having to be highlighted.

Icon vertical spacing is for how much vertical (up/down) empty space there is inbetween the icons on your desktop to separate them with.

This tutorial will show you how to change the horizontal and vertical spacing of the icons on your desktop to what you want in Windows 8.


EXAMPLE: Desktop Icon Horizontal and Vertical Spacing
NOTE: This is just an example to help show what your desktop icons can look like with different horizontal and vertical spacing settings when highlighted and not highlighted. The settings you use below will determine how much more or less space your icons will have.
Default.jpg
Max-Horizontal.jpg
Max-Vertical.jpg


Here's How:

1. Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog, type regedit, and click/tap on OK.

2. If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes.

3. In regedit, navigate to the location below. (see screenshots below steps 4A and 5A)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics

4. To Change the Desktop Icon "Horizontal" Spacing
A) In the right pane of WindowMetrics, double click/tap on IconSpacing to modify it. (see screenshot below)​
IconSpacing.jpg
B) Type in a value between -480 to -2730, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)​
NOTE: The default setting is -1125. The minimum amount of space is -480, and the maximum is -2730.
Reg-H.jpg

5. To Change the Desktop Icon "Vertical" Spacing
A) In the right pane of WindowMetrics, double click/tap on IconVerticalSpacing to modify it. (see screenshot below)​
IconVerticalSpacing.jpg
B) Type in a value between -480 to -2730, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)​
NOTE: The default setting is -1125. The minimum amount of space is -480, and the maximum is -2730.
Reg-V.jpg

6. When finished, close regedit.

7. Sign out and in of your user account to apply.

8. You may need to repeat the tutorial a few times until you have each of the desktop icon horizontal and vertical spacing values set just how you like it.


That's it,
Shawn


 

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Last edited:
Hello gayxq,

I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what you are referring to since you would just need to sign out and sign in to apply the tutorial. Could you please clarify? :huh:
 
Hello Brink,
Thank you for your reply.
For example change the IconSpacing value to -2730, then log off (sign out), sign in to the Desktop, the icon space keep the original space, only the icon highlight zone become large. If hold down Ctrl key, then roll the mouse scroll wheel, the icon space will take effect. I can insert the screen shots if you want.
 
Ah, ok. This tutorial doesn't affect the size of the icon itself. Only the spacing like in the example screenshots.

The hold down Ctrl key, then roll the mouse scroll wheel is not related to this since it's just a way to set a custom size of the icon itself. :)

Desktop Icons - Custom Size - Windows 7 Forums
 
Yep, that's how it should be. :)

No.2 just has increased horizontal spacing around the icon.

You can refresh the desktop, or temporarily "Auto arrange icons" to have the other icons align up real quick.
 
icon.pngI couldn't get it to work . I still have ...... I've tried difrent values, but it only overlaps. won't start another line.
 
View attachment 13290I couldn't get it to work . I still have ...... I've tried difrent values, but it only overlaps. won't start another line.


Hello Clint,

Could you post screenshots showing your complete desktop along with the different values you tried like in my example screenshots in the tutorial? :)
 
I think I have now. Instead of having a long one line name. I wanted 3 lines so I could place them closer together.
Like

Microsoft
Power Point
2010

What does the Icon TitleWrap do?

reg.JPG
Desktop.png
 
Yeah, it will take some playing with values to get it exactly for what you like.


I haven't tested "IconTitleWrap" in Windows 8 yet, but this is what it's suppose to be for:

This will change the icon title text to either be one long line or in multiple lines.

open up regedit and expand the trees to find the following key(s)

0 (zero) = disable
1 = enable

Exit regedit, and you may need to restart or sign out of Windows for the change to take effect.​
 
Thanks Brink. Mine is set to 1. So I get multiple lines. I wish I could get them shorter.
 
You could play with the values a bit more to get the horizontal shorter and vertical taller to see if that may help force more text lines for the icon name.
 
hi

is the 1125 the default for all resolutions ???

because now that i checked my registry it says 1395... why is it like that??

My resolution is 1366 x 768 and i noticed by checking some screenshots from others (my friend included) with the same resolution, and they can have 7 icons in a column on desktop (on my pc only 6), on both windows 7 and 8... and I dont think my friend changed anything because she doesnt know much about computers.
 
Hello Mikey,

On all my systems with different resolutions, 1125 is the default setting for them. Not sure why yours' would be different unless changed by something.
 
Hello Mikey,

On all my systems with different resolutions, 1125 is the default setting for them. Not sure why yours' would be different unless changed by something.

Hi Brink,

I think it is because my OS is in spanish. all my pcs at home have 1395 as default. I wonder why microsoft made it different for us lol ;)
 
Not sure, but it would be interesting to know what the reason was.
 
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