Folder View - Apply to Folders in Windows 8

How to "Apply to Folders" a Custom View to All Folders with Same Template in Windows 8​

   Information

This tutorial will show you how to "Apply to Folders" the view you set for one folder to be applied to all folders that use the same folder template in only your user account in Windows 8 and 8.1.

   Note

The folder view settings of Computer, Favorites (Navigation pane), and library folders cannot be applied to all folders. The Apply to Folders button will be grayed out if Folder Options is opened in these folders.

   Tip

Windows Update Issue Notice:

Folder's view settings continuously changes between different folder types in Windows

Here's How:

1. In File Explorer, open the folder that you want to use to apply it's folder view settings set in step 2 below to all folders using the same template. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: For example, the C:\Users\Public\Public Pictures folder that is optimized to use the Pictures template by default.

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2. Make any changes you like to the Group by, Sort by, Arrange by views , Icon size and view, add or remove columns, column width, and/or column order folder view settings. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: For example, I changed the folder view settings to Group by -> Type.

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3. When finished, open Folder Options (Option Two at link) from within this folder in File Explorer. (see red box in screenshots above)
NOTE: This will not work if Folder Options is opened from any other way than from within this opened folders window.

4. In Folder Options, click/tap on the View tab, and click/tap on the Apply to Folders button. (see screenshot below)

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5. Click/tap on Yes to confirm. (see screenshot below)

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6. The folder view settings applied in step 2 has now been applied to all folders optimized to use the same template (ex: Pictures) at the folder in step 1.

7. Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below step 4)

   Tip

If you like, you could use OPTION TWO in the tutorial below to only reset the folder view settings back to default for folders optimized to use the same template in only your user account.

How to Reset Folder View Settings Back to Default in Windows 8

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

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• How to Back Up and Restore Your Folder View Settings in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8
• How to Set a Default Folder View for All Folders in Windows 8
• How to Add or Remove Columns in Windows 8 File Explorer
• How to Change the Width of Columns in Windows 8 File Explorer
• How to Change the Order of Columns in Windows 8 File Explorer
• How to Sort, Group, and Arrange Items by a Column in Windows 8 File Explorer
• How to Change the Template of a Library, Folder, or Drive in Windows 8
• How to Set a Default Folder Template for All Folders in Windows 8
• How to Disable Auto Arrange in Windows 8 Explorer to have Free Sorting
• How to Change Icon Size and Layout Folder View in Windows 8 File Explorer
• How to Reset Folder View Settings Back to Default in Windows 8

 

[Tim B]

How do you UNdo this option if you have accidentally set it? I have a multitude of family pictures sorted in dozens of sub folders inside one main picture folder. If I want to see thumbnails of the pictures I set the view to large icons. Everything is great so far. When I go up one level to the main picture folder that contains the dozens of sorted picture folders then my folder icons have changed from list view to large icon view. If I change it back to list view then the pictures in the folders also go back to list view instead of the nice big thumbnalsl I had set earlier. ARRRGH! aggravating. I want to set one type of view for the main picture folder (list view) to show just a list of the sub folders and then set the contents of each sub folder (the actual pictures themselves) to show as thumbnails (large icons.) How do I do this?

 

[Brink]

Hello Tim, and welcome to Eight Forums.

You could use this below to reset all folder views back to default.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/9282-folder-view-settings-reset-default-windows-8-a.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Tim B]

Okay, I ran the bat file to let it reset the folders but the problem persists. If I change the pictures to large icons it changes all other folders as well. How can I make the settings apply only to the folder I am in so that my picture files are large icons and the list of folders is is list format?

 

[Brink]

Are you doing this in a library by chance?

If so, then that's why. All added folders in a library share the same folder view.

 

[Tim B]

Okay, that was it. I moved the main folder somewhere else and now I can adjust the thumbnails in each folder of pictures like I want while retaining the list view in the main folder. Thank you very much.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome.

 

[nabilalk]

Folder Thumbnails lost after applying this

After doing this, many of my folders that contain videos have lost their thumbnails, and when you highlight over a folder, it says that the folder is empty, when in fact it is not. I should mention that the thumbnail loss and empty folder messages only occur on folders that existed prior to my applying step 4 of this post. Lastly, not only are the thumbnails lost in the folders, but they are also lost in the folders within folders.

I tried this: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/9282-folder-view-settings-reset-default-windows-8-a.html hoping that it would reverse those changes but it hasn't. How can I rebuild the thumbnails and fix this issue? Thanks.

 

[Brink]

Hello Nabilalk,

It sounds like you may have disabled your thumbnail previews. Check using the tutorial below to make sure they are enabled.

Thumbnail Previews - Enable or Disable - Windows 7 Help Forums

 

[nabilalk]

Hello Nabilalk,

It sounds like you may have disabled your thumbnail previews. Check using the tutorial below to make sure they are enabled.

Thumbnail Previews - Enable or Disable - Windows 7 Help Forums

Unfortunately not, thumbnail previews are in fact enabled. If you look at the screenshot you will see that Vids 1 which existed before the original Apply to All folders was done, shows no thumbnail. But, Vids 2 which was created after that time, does show a thumbnail preview of the folder. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough in my original post.


Update: I deleted the thumbnail cache + renamed all of the folders, and that seems to have fixed things. I still don't understand why this happened, but, at least it is fixed.