Published by

**Brink** · 03 Feb 2008

How to Change the Desktop Icons View Alignment and Sort By Order in Vista

Information

This will show you how to hide or show all icons on the desktop, or change how all of the icons are aligned (View) and sorted (Sort By) on the desktop to how you want them displayed.

EXAMPLE: View Before (Everything Unchecked), Align to Grid, and Auto Arrange

OPTOIN ONE

Hide or Show All Desktop Icons

1. Right click on the desktop and click on View. (See screenshot below step 3)

2. To Hide All Desktop Icons

A) Click on Show All Icons to uncheck it. (See screenshot below step 3)

3. To Show All Dekstop Icons

A) Click on Show All Icons to check it.

OPTION TWO

Change the Desktop View Alignment Settings

1. Right click on the desktop and click on View. (See screenshot below step 4)

2. To Have the Icons Stay Where Placed on the Desktop

A) Click on Align to Grid and Auto Arrange to uncheck them. (See screenshot below step 4)

3. To Have the Icons Align to a Grid
NOTE: The icons will still basically be left where placed on the Desktop, but they will be moved slightly to keep them aligned to a grid on the desktop. It keeps the icons from overlapping each other. (See the middle Example above)

A) Click on Align to Grid to check it. (See screenshot below step 4)

4. To Have the Icons Automatically Align
NOTE: The icons will be automatically aligned starting at the upper left corner of the desktop to a grid. (See the bottom Example above)

A) Click on Auto Arrange to check it. (See sceenshot below)

Click image for larger version.

Name: View.jpg
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ID: 2624

OPTION THREE

Change the Desktop Icons Sort By Order

Note

This will automatically align all of the icons starting at the upper left corner of the desktop according to what you select to sort them by below. (See bottom example at the top)
This will not set any View alignment settings in OPTION ONE above.

1. Right click on the desktop and click on Sort By. (See screenshot below )

2. Click on a option to change the icons to be sorted by that order option.
NOTE: These are the sort by Name, Size, Type, and Date modified options.

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

**Karl Snooks** · 19 Jun 2008

Shawn,
What have I done? Somehow I've shot myself in the foot and, despite being logged in, no .jpgs from the tutorial are visible. Just get that placeholder giving name, views, and size. Yes, I clicked and dbl-clkd on the placeholer to no avail.
karl

**Brink** · 19 Jun 2008

LOL, it's ok Karl.

You might not have checked the Rember me box at log in, or you do not have cookies enabled or enabled for this website (Sites button in Privacy).

Hope this helps,
Shawn

**Karl Snooks** · 19 Jun 2008

Shawn,
Right again. I'd blocked all cookies. Didn't realize that the vistax64 sites required cookies to be enabled. I'm sure that when I joined that was emblazed in reb and big letters. Must be old timer's disease.
Thanks and sorry for inconvenience.
karl

**Brink** · 19 Jun 2008

No problem Karl. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted out.

Shawn

**voltsb333** · 05 Oct 2008

hi Brink, i had problems with my folder settings and tried method 2 in this thread http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/70819-windows-explorer-folder-view-settings.html

after doing so, my folders are now ok but it somehow messed my icons in my desktop, it keeps on aligning them automatically to the left whenever i refresh my desktop, even if i unchecked auto arrange and auto align

any suggestions?

thanks.

**Brink** · 05 Oct 2008

Hi Voltsb333,

This is strange. I have not seen that happen as a result of that tutorial before.

Have you tried restarting the computer again to see if that may reset it?

**voltsb333** · 05 Oct 2008

yep, i thought it was strange too...

anyway i used system restore to get back the icons but now the "remember folder settings" does'nt work anymore, my windows explorer window goes to it's default size everytime.

i'll try the other manual method in your folder's tutorial and will update soon.

thanks.

***UPDATE: everythings ok now, i used the manual method

**Brink** · 05 Oct 2008

Voltsb333, I'm happy to hear that it is working for you now.

Now that is strange. The REG download does exactly the same as the manual method, but automatically. Did you do anything different or skip any parts while doing the manual method?

Thank you for posting your results.

Shawn

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