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So I have a folder within which new folders containing images are frequently created. These images are frequently updated, and I prefer to set them to sort by "date modified" so the most recently changed images are on top.

The trouble is, every time a new folder is created, I have to enter the folder, right-click > Sort by > More... , then find and select "date modified". THEN I have to right click again to actually select the newly enabled sort option.

The result:

enter image description here

Is there a way to set things so that these folders will automatically inherit this sort mode when they are created? I'm aware of the following option, but does that apply the setting to all folders or just the child folders, or have I completely misunderstood what it does? I didn't want to click it and confuse the folder defaults for my whole PC...

enter image description here

sylverone
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  • Explorer (for years) is too variable to satisfy your requirement. You need a 3rd party Explorer replacement. xPlorer2 (zabkat) is good for this. – John May 27 '23 at 23:20
  • @John Thank you for the info, I wasn't aware such replacements existed. I may look into that in the future. For the moment, in a roundabout way your comment got me poking around some more, and I seem to have found a solution for my case. I'll post the whole thing as an answer, but... If I set parent folder to type:pictures, and set child folders to inherit the type, while in a "pictures type" folder I can "Apply to Folders" as in the 2nd picture above, to apply my "view" settings to all "picture type" folders. – sylverone May 28 '23 at 01:31

1 Answers1

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So in response to a comment on the main post, I went looking around some more, and realized the hidden desktop.ini files might hold a clue... if there were a way to edit the desktop.ini to set the sort method, I could just copy a .ini file into each new folder, and save lots of clicks...

So I did a search for "edit desktop.ini sort date modified" , which landed me here:

How to sort by date modified ascending ALWAYS in Windows?

This post answered the question pretty much for my specific case. It technically doesn't answer the title question, though, for all cases:

INSTRUCTIONS

NOTE: This solution requires that you be willing to set all folders of the type in question to these same sort settings. I was willing to do this for Picture folders.

  1. Navigate to parent folder which does or will contain the folders you want to inherit the sorting.
  2. Set your view/sort settings as desired by right clicking the folder background.
  3. In my case that meant....

First... View > Large icons

Display large icons.

Then... Sort by > More...

Sort by > More...

Find and checkmark Date modified > OK

Choose Details > checkmark Date Modified > OK

Then... Right click folder again > Sort by > Date modified + Descending (i.e. recent at top)

Sort by > Date Modified + Descending

  1. Right click background > Customize this folder... > Customize tab > "Optimize this folder for..." > click (Pictures) > click checkbox; [Also apply this template to all subfolders] > click Apply/Okay

Customize this folder... Optimize this folder (and child folders) for Pictures

  1. Return to the same parent folder as in step 1.
  2. Now press Alt + V,Y,O to bring up the Folder Options window.

Alternately, you can click the following to do the same thing:

View > Options > Change folder and search options

View > Options > Change folder and search options

  1. In the View tab > Apply to Folders > in the pop-up, click Yes

View > Apply to folders > Yes

sylverone
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