Windows 10 file selector: How to specify details view as the default

default settingswindows 10windows-explorer

Whenever the user needs to select a file – for loading into a program, or saving, or any other reason – the file selector dialog ensues. In Windows 10, it is like a miniature Windows Explorer (or File Explorer as it used to be called) with a filename mask (e.g., *.txt) and a filename field.

The bulk of the dialog shows the files in the current folder in Medium icons view. I prefer the Details view, so the files can quickly be sorted by clicking on one of the column headings. To change the view, I have to pull down a menu and drag a slider – additional mouse clicks that I'd rather avoid. However, my choice will be forgotten next time a file selector is open.

Can I change the file selector default view to Details or anything else?

Best Answer

Just like folders in Explorer, the first time a folder's contents are displayed in a Common Dialog (Open/Save/SaveAs), the icon mode and other view settings are determined by the default view for the FolderType assigned to the folder. This may be the standard Windows defaults or custom defaults set via Apply to Folders. Those view settings (and any modifications) are then saved alongside the saved folder view used by Explorer: enter image description here The saved views are specific to a single folder, so the icon mode could change if you navigate from a folder that saved an Icon view to a folder that saved a Tiles view. If folders don't seem to retain their views, you may have hit the max (5000) and need to delete all saved views to restore normal behavior. This PowerShell code can be copied to a PowerShell window to query the number of saved views:

((gp "HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMRU").Nodeslots).count

So if your dialogs are defaulting to icon view, I'm guessing they might be using the Pictrues FolderType. If you don't want to set the default view for all folders uisng the Pictrues FolderType, you're stuck with changing the dialog to Details after it's opened. But:

  1. You might find it quicker to right-click in the background and select View > Details:enter image description here
  2. Once you've set a folder's dialog view to Details, it should be remembered.

A small PowerShell script could modify existing saved views to ensure they're in Detials mode, but since you said your changes don't seem to be remembered, I'm waiting to hear your reply regarding the saved view count.

EDIT:

The following code will list the FolderTypes that have had a custom view set via Apply to Folders:

$Defaults = 'HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams\Defaults'
$FT      = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderTypes'
(gi $defaults).Property | Select @{N = 'ID'; E = {$_}}, @{N = 'Name'; E = {(gp "$FT\$_").CanonicalName}}

Here's a list of the FolderType IDs that Explorer queries under HKCU...\Streams\Defaults:

HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams\Defaults
ID                                     Name
--                                     ----
{885A186E-A440-4ADA-812B-DB871B942259} Downloads
{5C4F28B5-F869-4E84-8E60-F11DB97C5CC7} Generic
{7D49D726-3C21-4F05-99AA-FDC2C9474656} Documents
{94D6DDCC-4A68-4175-A374-BD584A510B78} Music
{B3690E58-E961-423B-B687-386EBFD83239} Pictures
{5FA96407-7E77-483C-AC93-691D05850DE8} Videos
{4F01EBC5-2385-41F2-A28E-2C5C91FB56E0} StorageProviderGeneric
{DD61BD66-70E8-48DD-9655-65C5E1AAC2D1} StorageProviderDocuments
{672ECD7E-AF04-4399-875C-0290845B6247} StorageProviderMusic
{71D642A9-F2B1-42CD-AD92-EB9300C7CC0A} StorageProviderPictures
{51294DA1-D7B1-485B-9E9A-17CFFE33E187} StorageProviderVideos
{DB2A5D8F-06E6-4007-ABA6-AF877D526EA6} AccountPictures
{DE2B70EC-9BF7-4A93-BD3D-243F7881D492} Contacts
{24CCB8A6-C45A-477D-B940-3382B9225668} HomeFolder
{C4D98F09-6124-4FE0-9942-826416082DA9} UsersLibraries
{D674391B-52D9-4E07-834E-67C98610F39D} Programs
{CD0FC69B-71E2-46E5-9690-5BCD9F57AAB3} UserFiles
{0B0BA2E3-405F-415E-A6EE-CAD625207853} Searches

This code will list the FolderTypes that are being used by the Common Dialogs. That may help you determine where the icon view is coming from:

$Bags = 'HKCU:\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags'
$FT   = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderTypes'
gci $Bags -recurse  |
    Where PSChildName -like '{*}' |
    Where PSParentPath -match 'ComDlg' |
Select -expand PSChildName -unique |
Select @{N = 'ID'  ; E = {$_}},
       @{N = 'Name'; E = {(gp "$FT\$_").CanonicalName}}
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