Personalization Add or Remove Gallery in File Explorer Navigation Pane in Windows 11

ThrashZone · Apr 14, 2023

Hi,
Dang why do they keep adding garbage to the navigation pane :ffs:

CornishRattler · Apr 18, 2023

Vivetool 41040327 enabled it for me. Registry method above didn't.

Brink · Apr 18, 2023

CornishRattler said:
Vivetool 41040327 enabled it for me. Registry method above didn't.

Nope. The tutorial will not enable it if you don't already have it starting with ~~Windows 11 build 23435~~.

Windows 11 version 22H2 KB5030310 Build 22621.2361

yousaf465 · Jul 15, 2023

not enabled for me even with this reg. key method.

Brink · Jul 15, 2023

yousaf465 said:
not enabled for me even with this reg. key method.

Sorry mate, but it's only available on build 22631.2048 instead for the Beta channel.

Build 22631.2048 = New features rolling out.
Build 22621.2048 = New features off by default.

Daz1967 · Sep 26, 2023

Is there any information on how to repair the Gallery as this was added for me in the last cumulative update but is currently not displaying correctly as I see this:

This clearly isn't how it is meant to look from the previews I've seen.

Also, the Photos app works perfect and displays my images in date order from earliest to latest at the top with a date bar on the right. This is how the Gallery is supposed to look, presumably, but, for whatever reason, it appears corrupted on my system and there is no way (that I am aware of) to reset or fix it. There is also very little information about this feature with it being so new.

My Pictures library is stored in OneDrive on the C drive so if it works for the Photos app then one would expect it would also work fine for File Explorer > Gallery too.

Is anyone able to help with this please or do I need to request support from Microsoft? Thanks.

Brink · Sep 26, 2023

Daz1967 said:
Is there any information on how to repair the Gallery as this was added for me in the last cumulative update but is currently not displaying correctly as I see this:

This clearly isn't how it is meant to look from the previews I've seen.

Also, the Photos app works perfect and displays my images in date order from earliest to latest at the top with a date bar on the right. This is how the Gallery is supposed to look, presumably, but, for whatever reason, it appears corrupted on my system and there is no way (that I am aware of) to reset or fix it. There is also very little information about this feature with it being so new.

My Pictures library is stored in OneDrive on the C drive so if it works for the Photos app then one would expect it would also work fine for File Explorer > Gallery too.

Is anyone able to help with this please or do I need to request support from Microsoft? Thanks.

Hello,

Using option one in the tutorial below to reset folder views to default will also include Gallery.

Reset Folder View Settings to Default in Windows 11 File Explorer Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to reset folder view settings to default for your account in Windows 11. You can change the folder view settings in Windows 11 to what you want for each separate folder. Folder view settings include the File Explorer window size, template, columns, column width...

www.elevenforum.com

OAT · Sep 26, 2023

Daz1967 said:
Is there any information on how to repair the Gallery as this was added for me in the last cumulative update but is currently not displaying correctly as I see this:

This clearly isn't how it is meant to look from the previews I've seen.

Also, the Photos app works perfect and displays my images in date order from earliest to latest at the top with a date bar on the right. This is how the Gallery is supposed to look, presumably, but, for whatever reason, it appears corrupted on my system and there is no way (that I am aware of) to reset or fix it. There is also very little information about this feature with it being so new.

My Pictures library is stored in OneDrive on the C drive so if it works for the Photos app then one would expect it would also work fine for File Explorer > Gallery too.

Is anyone able to help with this please or do I need to request support from Microsoft? Thanks.

I can confirm that using the .bat file will fix the issue.
I had the very same sad gallery view and thanks to @Brink's script , it is now fixed.
I still would like to know how we got to get that weird icon view though.

hollidayjr · Sep 29, 2023

This .reg file to remove gallery does not work for my two computers. Gallery still shows after restart. The dword is changed to "0" in the registry but it makes no difference. What could be wrong?

Brink · Sep 29, 2023

hollidayjr said:
This .reg file to remove gallery does not work for my two computers. Gallery still shows after restart. The dword is changed to "0" in the registry but it makes no difference. What could be wrong?

Hello, and welcome.

I just tested on my system to see if something changed, but it still works for me.

Go ahead and post screenshots showing this in Registry Editor and File Explorer to see if anything may stand out.

If you turn on Show all folders in the navigation pane, Gallery will always show in the navigation pane.

Are you using any 3rd party custom UI software that may be causing an issue with this?

hollidayjr · Sep 29, 2023

Show all folders is turned on- that was the trick. Thank you.

Brink · Sep 29, 2023

hollidayjr said:
Show all folders is turned on- that was the trick. Thank you.

Great news. :shawn:

Brink · Oct 3, 2023

Tutorial updated to add option 2 to add/remove Gallery for all users.

Ten Forward · Oct 6, 2023

Thank you for these reg files. The new gallery would show all pictures, but not in the right order and without any data labelling. I actually don't use the feature anyway. If I want, I can use the photos app, which does display everything correctly. I wonder why this feature in file explorer was needed at all.

Brink · Oct 6, 2023

Ten Forward said:
Thank you for these reg files. The new gallery would show all pictures, but not in the right order and without any data labelling. I actually don't use the feature anyway. If I want, I can use the photos app, which does display everything correctly. I wonder why this feature in file explorer was needed at all.

Daz1967 · Oct 9, 2023

I haven't checked this thread since my post (#7) on 26th September but I can confirm that I managed to fix it by resetting the folder views.

However, while this works, it means that it is not possible to, say, change the General view to Medium icons sorted by Type as I prefer for all non-media folders such as C:\Program Files etc and then apply that template to all folders with that view as doing so causes Gallery to bug out again as shown in my image. You cannot even set Sort by to Type and then apply that template to all folders either as it still bugs out.

You can set them individually for each folder and that works fine but it is counterproductive to have to keep doing this when a global option exists.

It's frustrating but it looks like I'll either have to choose between a broken Gallery with a customised General view or have a working Gallery and stick with the default Detail view for non-media folders.

Can anyone else confirm this behaviour please? Seems like a bug or an oversight at the very least.

Brink · Oct 9, 2023

Daz1967 said:
I haven't checked this thread since my post (#7) on 26th September but I can confirm that I managed to fix it by resetting the folder views.

However, while this works, it means that it is not possible to, say, change the General view to Medium icons sorted by Type as I prefer for all non-media folders such as C:\Program Files etc and then apply that template to all folders with that view as doing so causes Gallery to bug out again as shown in my image. You cannot even set Sort by to Type and then apply that template to all folders either as it still bugs out.

You can set them individually for each folder and that works fine but it is counterproductive to have to keep doing this when a global option exists.

It's frustrating but it looks like I'll either have to choose between a broken Gallery with a customised General view or have a working Gallery and stick with the default Detail view for non-media folders.

Can anyone else confirm this behaviour please? Seems like a bug or an oversight at the very least.

As a workaround to minimize manually setting as many folder views, you could use this below to apply a folder view to all folders using the same template. Just don't apply to the same template "Gallery" is using.

Apply Folder View to All Folders of Same Template Type in Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to apply view settings of a folder to all folders of the same template type for your account in Windows 11. You can change the folder view settings in Windows 11 to what you want for each separate folder. View settings for a folder include the template, columns...

www.elevenforum.com

Daz1967 · Oct 9, 2023

Brink said:
As a workaround to minimize manually setting as many folder views, you could use this below to apply a folder view to all folders using the same template. Just don't apply to the same template "Gallery" is using.

Apply Folder View to All Folders of Same Template Type in Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to apply view settings of a folder to all folders of the same template type for your account in Windows 11. You can change the folder view settings in Windows 11 to what you want for each separate folder. View settings for a folder include the template, columns...

www.elevenforum.com

Thanks Brink. I'll try that but I am not sure it will work because the Gallery appears to use the General folder view and it is that one which I prefer to have display Medium icons sorted by Type for all non-media folders.

The weird thing is that I would have expected the Gallery to use the Pictures folder view but this doesn't seem to be the case. I'll play around with the folder views later and try and pinpoint what works okay. I think changing the Pictures/Videos/Documents/Downloads/Music folder views and apply the templates for all folders of that type works fine but not the General folder view.

That is why I was asking for confirmation on whether anyone else had come across this bug (or oversight) in the way the Gallery is designed.

cvhmanchester · Nov 25, 2023

Thank you for the useful hacks to REG. I have been adding many.
Although you state, the above hack will work only >=Windows 11 build 23435,
I have 22631.2715, and this worked fine.