If you work with Windows Explorer you notice that it uses a layout with two columns by default. The left column contains links to favorites, the computer’s drive letters, special folders like the desktop, libraries and network folders. Selecting a folder on the left does not change the folder structure on the right which is something that makes it difficulty to navigate through a folder structure as it is only possible to use the back button to go back one level.
Some users might find it easier to access the opened folder structure in the left column which would provide better and more comfortable options to navigate in Windows Explorer.
Windows Explorer contains settings that can be used to change the display of the folder structure so that the structure in the left column is always in sync with the selected folder in the right column.
The settings can be found by clicking on the Organize menu in the top bar of Windows Explorer and selecting Folder and Search options from the menu.
A checkmark needs to be placed in the two options Show all folders and Automatically expand to current folder. The changes are immediately active and Windows Explorer will from then on automatically display the selected folder both in the left and right column in Windows Explorer.
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But there’s still one scenario where the left pane will not follow the right one: if you use the search box in the upper right corner of Explorer (Win7) and double-click a result that’s located in a sub folder the left pane will not display the folder you just navigated to. Does anybody have a solution for this?
Georg
Nice tip, thanks!
Maybe in W7, but not earlier