Library and favorite folders of Windows 7 have additional folder display options that standard folders do not offer.

Windows 7 users need to locate the Arrange By menu at the top right of the Windows Explorer window when a library or favorites folder is selected to access those additional options.

The folder display mode is the default mode for all library and favorites folders. This is the standard mode that all other folders on the system make use of as well.

Switching the arrange by mode to one of the other modes will fundamentally change the way files are displayed in the selected folder. Name for instance displays all files of all folders in the structure directly. This basically means that Windows arranges all files of a library in the root folder sorted by their name.

Here is a quick overview of all folder arrangement options:

• Author: Lists documents by author folders (and one unrecognized folder for all files and documents without author)

• Date Modified: Sorts all files by their modification date in the root folder structure

• Tags: All files are sorted by their tags

• Type: All files are sorted in file extension folders.

As you can see, there are numerous options to display files of all folders of a library or favorites folder in the root directory. Some options have likely been added as extra features for specialized folders. Tags for instance can be useful for files in the Music or Pictures library folder, author for the documents folder.

The different display arrangements work best for those specialized folders, and not so good if a folder contains lots of different file types and extensions.

Did you know that you can change the folder arrangement in Windows 7?

Start by opening Windows Explorer. In the address bar, enter %userprofile%\Links or C:\Users\[username]\Links and then press enter.

This opens the Links window and you will see the basic shortcuts that are set there by default. Now the limitation has been removed for the specific user. You can drag and drop a program shortcut from the Start menu, Desktop, or any other location where you may have shortcuts stored. The PC used in this example has a desktop file with dozens of shortcuts in it so that the desktop will remain uncluttered. By moving some of the more frequently used shortcuts to the Link folder in Windows Explorer, access is simple.

Notice that all of the added links are now listed in the Favorites list in the left pane of the Windows Explorer window. Single-click the link to open any of these programs and they will open immediately. If you want to change the order in which they are listed in the Favorites list, drag and drop from the left pane, not the right pane, to any position in the list. As you drag you will see a black line that reads “move here” when you have reached the desired location in the list.

To remove links, highlight the link and press delete. This will remove the link from the Links folder, but not from the original link location (Desktop, folder, etc…). You may sort the list of shortcuts alphabetically by name if you want to. Right-click Favorites in the left pane and select “Sort by name” from the menu and this will arrange the list of links alphabetically.

If you do not have many shortcuts that you use on your computer, this is not necessary at all. This is mainly for users who have many, many different programs that are utilized frequently. Adding these shortcuts to the Links library in Windows Explorer makes this multiple application use easier. Remember, you can also add shortcuts from the Start menu.

Task Manager, Command Prompt, Snipping Tool and Sticky Notes were added from the Start menu with the same drag and drop method. This is terribly easy to do, so if you want to do it, it takes no time at all and can ease application access considerably.

This guide shows you how to add program links to the Windows Explorer Favorites group. Take a look at the following screenshot to see how this looks like.

It is possible to drag folders but not applications to the Favorites group. That’s a limitation that some users want to override. If you try to drag a program to the Favorites group you get the notification that it cannot be placed in Favorites.

Here is how you can bypass this restriction. Open C:\Users\username\Links in Windows Explorer, or press Windows-R, type %userprofile%\Links and hit enter. It is surprisingly possible to place program shortcuts in that folder in Windows Explorer. All you need to do to add programs to the Favorites group is to drag and drop program shortcuts from the start menu, desktop or another Windows Explorer location to the folder.

The program links appear right away in the sidebar, so that the programs can be launched directly from within Windows Explorer. This works for all program links and even standard files. The perfect place to add a document or file that you work with on a regular basis. (via Add Programs To The Windows Explorer Favorites Group)

The sidebar has its purposes. It can be used to quickly navigate to any folder on the computer, or to access folder contents quickly by double-clicking the listed folders.

windows explorer sidebar

The sidebar items are also accessible in Save windows, if those dialogs use the standard Windows way of saving files.

There are two possibilities to add new folders to the Windows Explorer sidebar; as a new Library or a new Favorite. Favorites are often the better choice, as they are easier to create and maintain.

To add any folder to the favorites open the new folder’s path in Windows Explorer, and drag and drop it into the Favorites location in the sidebar.

windows explorer new folder

All folders under Favorites can be rearranged by dragging and dropping them to their new location. A click on a folder opens the folder path in the right Windows Explorer section. Another option to add folders to the Favorites in Windows Explorer is to left-click Favorites in the sidebar. This opens all folders currently stored under Favorites in the right section. Now new folders can be created or dragged and dropped into the area.

Some folders that might be worth adding to the sidebar are the User folder, a Downloads folder to quickly load and save files or the program files folder to start programs faster.

A page is usually displayed from the top on which is problematic on very long pages. Maybe the relevant information are stored somewhere in the middle instead of the beginning. It could also be that you were not able to work yourself through all of the page and bookmarked the page to continue reading at a later time. You would need to scroll and search for the place where you stopped in both scenarios.

Page Bookmarks aid Firefox users by providing the means to save a bookmark that does not only remember the url of the page but also the position of the scroll bar on the page. All functions are available through the right-click context menu. Whenever you want to save the position simply right-click that page and select the Page Bookmarks entry from the menu. The extension does not only save the position of the website but also the zoom level which is great for users who regularly zoom in and out of websites.

One of the current limitations is that you cannot open the paged bookmarks unless you are on the same page. That’s a serious problem which is somewhat reduced by the Bookmark’s Manager that lists all the stored page bookmarks. This manager can be used to open the bookmark at the exact location.

The software developer could add value to the extension by providing the means to open bookmarks easier from any page. The add-on is an experimental add-on which means that you have to log into the Mozilla website before you are able to download and install it.

An alternative to share bookmarks is the software Transmute. Transmute relies on the Microsoft .net Framework and comes with an installer and as a portable edition. It supports the four popular web browsers Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Google Chrome. Firefox users will be delighted to hear that both Firefox 3 and earlier versions of Firefox are supported. The same is true for the Google Chrome browser where Chromium, developer builds and the official Google version are supported.

Transmute displays a source and target area in the interface. The user can pick a browser from a drop down menu and edit the browser’s path if that is required. This is for instance mandatory for portable browsers that might be used on a computer system.

Additional options are available which can be expanded in the main interface. The bookmarks will be added in their own folder in the target browser by default. The name of the folder and the timestamp can be changed in the options. They also provide options to import the bookmarks in the root folder instead, to overwrite existing bookmarks and to create a backup before doing so.

The target browsers need to be closed for the process which is also true for some source browsers like Firefox 3 which locks the bookmark database when it is running. Transmute provides an easy way to share bookmarks across browsers. Support for Safari and an option to schedule bookmarks would be nice additions to the software program.

Del.icio.us is a online bookmarking service where users can add websites to. A small description and tags can be added to those websites and an account is required to store them online.

To import all Delicious bookmarks into Firefox do the following. Head over to Delicious and select settings > export/backup to save all bookmarks in an html file. Make sure to include the tags. A click on Export To HTML starts the process.

Now export all bookmarks of Firefox 3 as a JSON file as well. This can be done in Bookmarks > Organize bookmarks and there by clicking on the Import and Export button.

Now that you have both files saved go to the website that combines both bookmarks and merges them so that only one bookmark file is left in the end that can be imported into Firefox again. The new file is in JSON format as well, the format that is the default Firefox format for storing bookmarks. The import of that merged bookmarks file is done in the same menu as the export mentioned above.

The bookmarks are then displayed in the usual order including submenus. A left-click on a bookmark opens that bookmark. The real beauty of Links 2 Tray is that it provides access to bookmarks of all three major browsers. The configuration provides settings for Internet Explorer’s Favorites, Firefox’s Bookmarks.html file and Opera.

Firefox changed the way bookmarks are handled with Firefox 3 which means that the user should export the bookmarks into html format once in a while to be able to use them in Links 2 Tray.

Firefox is not explicitly mentioned but it’s possible to add its executable in the Netscape field. One set of bookmarks will be the primary set which is immediately available after left-clicking the system tray icon while the other two are available in folders in that menu. Make sure you set the primary to the bookmarks you use the most.

Bookmarks were opened in Internet Explorer by default but I was able to change that by exchanging the Internet Explorer url with the Firefox one. From then on the bookmarks were opened in Firefox by default. If you prefer Opera just add the Opera executable in that field.

It’s probably no problem to add any other browser instead of the three ones mentioned by simply replacing their executables.

The software tests each link of the favorites displaying the favorite folder structure and all links. Links that are still pointing to a valid url get a green icon while dead links are shown as red icons. The problem that I had with the application was that it is not possible to edit or delete entries from within the program.

I had to open Internet Explorer or the folder containing the favorites to delete the dead links. The program requires the .net framework 2 from Microsoft.

The current release of Faves Analyser is a beta version. Future releases will most likely contain more functions including one to delete dead links directly.

A far better way to edit Internet Explorer 7 Favorites would be to hold the shift key when clicking on Organize Favorites. This can only be done if the menu toolbar is displayed in Internet Explorer 7 so make sure it is. Pressing the shift key while clicking on Organize Favorites opens the favorites which are located in your Windows profile folder allowing you to edit them in fullscreen and without hassles.

A major advantage of that view is that you can sort the favorites by name or date making it much easier to sort them quickly. It is also possible to select more than one favorite at once and move it into a new folder which is not possible in Internet Explorer.

It is possible to access the folder where the Internet Explorer 7 favorites are saved directly. You can find it in your Documents and Settings \ profile name \ Favorites folder.

I was a bit puzzled because I never heard about something like that before. After searching for several minutes I found a solution. The antivirus application Antivir is apparently causing the problem and there are several fixes for this issue. The first fix is to download a patch from Microsoft
which apparently fixes the issue.

A second solution would be to download a fix provided by the developers of Antivir which switches the filters in Antivir to avoid the problem that urls are removed in Internet Explorer in the future. I hope I was able to help other users who have the same problems and don’t know what is causing it.

All bookmarks in that account at del.icio.us will be analyzed and added to a list of bookmarks. A green background color means that the link is correct and working, a red one that an error happened while trying to connect to the website. This does not necessarily mean that the link is broken. It could mean that the site is currently down for instance.

A view only filter displays only certain bookmarks if activated. It is possible to set the filters that way that only links are displayed that were not working at the time of the check. A manage wrong posts button makes it easy to delete erroneous bookmarks after x tries of connecting to the server.

source: genbeta (Spanish)

This worked for some time but not anymore. To much sites, compressed text everywhere and I had the same problem again. I knew that firefox was highly customizable and I began searching for a way to alter the style for the bookmarks toolbar and quickly found it. Now, to change the style which includes reducing or increasing font size, changing the font type, changing colors on that font and much more you need to open userchrome.css which should be in your firefox profile folder.

Paste the following line of code at the end of this file:

.toolbarbutton-text {
font-size: 9px !important;
}

This changes the default font size to 9px which is what I’am currently using. To increase it just increase the value. Some other settings that you could try:

Change the font color of the bookmarks:

font-color: blue !important;

Change the font itself:

font-family: Verdana !important;

Change the background color – this example changes it to blue.

background-color: blue !important;

Creates a border around the bookmarks.

border: 1px solid !important;