Manual Arrangement of Icons in Folders

Hi to everyone !

Is there any information that Microsoft will ever bring back the option to disable the "auto arrange" / "align to grid" feature to folders?

I still do not understand why they have it built in for the desktop but not individual folders!

Is there any new information on a work around , registry hack that could allow it ?

Thank you in advance for any insight!

I'm not aware of any announcement that MS plans to allow the user to disable the default organization of the folders in alphabetical order and manually arrange files and folders in Windows Explorer. .According to the Windows Club, the workaround that once worked does not anymore. How to disable Auto Arrange in folders in Windows Explorer

I still use the different arrangements of icons on the right-click of the Desktop for View and Sort by but in File Explorer, Details view I toggle the view of each of the different columns in the right pane for Ascending or Descending order as I need at the time.

glasskuter said:

I'm not aware of any announcement that MS plans to allow the user to disable the default organization of the folders in alphabetical order and manually arrange files and folders in Windows Explorer. .According to the Windows Club, the workaround that once worked does not anymore. How to disable Auto Arrange in folders in Windows Explorer

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Thank you to all for your reply and help! Much appreciated. Maybe someone will come up with a hack in the future.

You can enable this feature for temporary use via WinSetView. It sets the registry settings for you correctly. It's not simple to get this one right manually. In the Options menu, check "Legacy row and icon spacing". You can also optionally check "Disable full row select".



Checking "Legacy row and icon spacing" enables free arranging of files in Details and Icon views, but it's only temporary. The arrangement is not saved. Microsoft removed that capability from Explorer back when Windows 10 1703 came out in 2017. So, the arrangement will only be permanent if you're running Windows 7, 8.x, or 10 with a build number lower than 1703.

Also note that this feature is NOT dark mode compatible. You will have black text on a dark background. The feature is not show in WinSetView if you're in dark mode.