Saving Location Of Desktop Icons

HDL · Mar 25, 2024

Not sure how others use their computers, but I run my programs from desktop icons. For a long time, as far as I can remember, Windows seems to forget and sometimes moves these icons, at least when you have as many as I do. Does anyone have a suggestion of a program I can use to keep track of my desktop icons and allow me to easily return them to the location I want if they should happen to move for one reason or another?

Porthos · Mar 25, 2024

How to Restore Your Desktop Icon Positions on Windows

Are your desktop icons a mess? Restore order with these third-party apps.

www.makeuseof.com

allan · Mar 25, 2024

Download and use iconoid: Download Iconoid - MajorGeeks

It's been around forever and works flawlessly on all versions of Windows, including W11. I've been using it on all of my systems for as long as I can recall.

andrew129260 · Mar 25, 2024

HDL said:
Not sure how others use their computers, but I run my programs from desktop icons. For a long time, as far as I can remember, Windows seems to forget and sometimes moves these icons, at least when you have as many as I do. Does anyone have a suggestion of a program I can use to keep track of my desktop icons and allow me to easily return them to the location I want if they should happen to move for one reason or another?

I haven't used desktop icons in years. I use the start menu and the search to quickly launch programs. But that's just me. I did notice for others though in general windows 11 does seem to work better on remembering monitor positions and desktop icon positions. Make sure these options are checked under display settings:

The top and bottom setting seem to not be anything about desktop icons, but I notice it does help them stay where they are supposed to if enabled.

HDL · Mar 25, 2024

allan said:
Download and use iconoid: Download Iconoid - MajorGeeks

It's been around forever and works flawlessly on all versions of Windows, including W11. I've been using it on all of my systems for as long as I can recall.

Do you use the 32 or 64 Bit version? I ask this because I can't seem to get to the 64 Bit site and not at all sure which version I downloaded from the Major Geek's site.

Sorry, I keep adding to this but I seem to only be able to download the 32 Bit version. Is that maybe what you use?

Try3 · Mar 25, 2024

I've seen several recommendations for DesktopOK.
Including this thread Desktop icons keep rearranging -TenForums

I hope it does what you need. Its description certainly makes it sound like it does.

All the best,
Denis

IanMosley · Mar 25, 2024

HDL said:
Not sure how others use their computers, but I run my programs from desktop icons. For a long time, as far as I can remember, Windows seems to forget and sometimes moves these icons, at least when you have as many as I do. Does anyone have a suggestion of a program I can use to keep track of my desktop icons and allow me to easily return them to the location I want if they should happen to move for one reason or another?

Follow these instructions -

Position your desktop icons where you want them.
Take a full screen print - WIN+PRTSCN
You will find this image in the folder Username/Pictures/Screenshots - use this image as your desktop wallpaper,
You will always be able to reposition your desktop icons to the original positiion.

allan · Mar 25, 2024

I use the 64 bit version (Iconoid (64-Bit) - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download), which I believe is required for more recent versions of Windows (I seem to recall the 32 bit version didn't work well after W7). Also, I tried Desktop OK years ago and recall that I didn't care for it, but don't remember why.

HDL · Mar 25, 2024

IanMosley said:
Follow these instructions -

Position your desktop icons where you want them.

Take a full screen print - WIN+PRTSCN

You will find this image in the folder Username/Pictures/Screenshots - use this image as your desktop wallpaper,

You will always be able to reposition your desktop icons to the original positiion.

I'd rather have one of the above mentioned programs that does that for me. Thanks for the suggestion though.

HDL · Mar 25, 2024

allan said:
I use the 64 bit version (Iconoid (64-Bit) - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download), which I believe is required for more recent versions of Windows (I seem to recall the 32 bit version didn't work well after W7). Also, I tried Desktop OK years ago and recall that I didn't care for it, but don't remember why.

Thank you. I was able to get it from your link.

HDL · Mar 25, 2024

HDL said:
Thank you. I was able to get it from your link.

OK, I have to ask a question. I, for years had used a program called WinTidy and it always worked well. Some of my icons didn't show up in WinTidy's window when it was opened so I assumed it was defective. However, when I installed Iconoid it said that some of my icons were off the screen and did I want to continue, I chose Yes. My screen display settings are 2880 x 1620 resolution, which is the recommended setting. I tested moving an icon on each side of the monitor and when I chose from Iconoid to restore my settings, the icons returned to where they were supposed to be. So any idea why the warning?

safron · Mar 25, 2024

Almost every day after waking, desktop icons on my devices become jumbled. I use a bat file (which I likely got from someone in this forum) to restart Explorer which restores icon placement. I then created a desktop icon to call the bat file. It's worked flawlessly for me - no 3rd party apps necessary. Hope this helps!

Steve C · Mar 26, 2024

Try3 said:
I've seen several recommendations for DesktopOK.
Including this thread Desktop icons keep rearranging -TenForums

I hope it does what you need. Its description certainly makes it sound like it does.

All the best,
Denis

I use DesktopOK on all PCs which works fine.

allan · Mar 26, 2024

HDL said:
OK, I have to ask a question. I, for years had used a program called WinTidy and it always worked well. Some of my icons didn't show up in WinTidy's window when it was opened so I assumed it was defective. However, when I installed Iconoid it said that some of my icons were off the screen and did I want to continue, I chose Yes. My screen display settings are 2880 x 1620 resolution, which is the recommended setting. I tested moving an icon on each side of the monitor and when I chose from Iconoid to restore my settings, the icons returned to where they were supposed to be. So any idea why the warning?

I get that on some of my systems too. I always guessed that some of the icons were too close to the edge of the screen for iconoid's liking, so it offers the warning. But it's a benign warning and if you say yes (as you did) it makes no difference. It will always return the icons to where the user wants them.

I assume you know there is a setting in iconoid which will return the icons to the user-chosen positions when Windows loads - it doesn't have to be a "manual" operation. And be sure to use the context menu option so that you can dynamically save / restore icon positions by right-clicking on the desktop and using the "manage desktop icons" item.

HDL · Mar 26, 2024

safron said:
Almost every day after waking, desktop icons on my devices become jumbled. I use a bat file (which I likely got from someone in this forum) to restart Explorer which restores icon placement. I then created a desktop icon to call the bat file. It's worked flawlessly for me - no 3rd party apps necessary. Hope this helps!

If I knew the steps in your bat file, it may help a lot more. Thank you for the reply.

HDL · Mar 26, 2024

allan said:
I get that on some of my systems too. I always guessed that some of the icons were too close to the edge of the screen for iconoid's liking, so it offers the warning. But it's a benign warning and if you say yes (as you did) it makes no difference. It will always return the icons to where the user wants them.

I assume you know there is a setting in iconoid which will return the icons to the user-chosen positions when Windows loads - it doesn't have to be a "manual" operation. And be sure to use the context menu option so that you can dynamically save / restore icon positions by right-clicking on the desktop and using the "manage desktop icons" item.

Thank you for the reply. I am going to have to look more closely at the settings you mentioned. As for now, since just installing it, I am using it like I did the WinTidy program I mentioned. By that I mean, I am opening it, saving any new layout, and then closing it, only to reopen it if and when I need to have the icons return to where I want them.

I am glad to hear that the warning we are speaking about means very little. In WinTidy it actually had a window that opened and showed your icon placement. In that window, on the new machine that started this thread, there are actually icons that do not show up. They do return to where I wanted them, but I always used that window to show me if I had arranged them in perfect horizontal and vertical alignment. So far I do see any such window in Inonoid, so I just have to trust my eyes on the actual screen instead of a small WinTidy window to help me.

I may be way off base, but I am thinking that the high resolution, 2880 x 1620, may be the culprit. Not sure why that is my default resolution but maybe it's because my screen is only about 16.25" diagonally. I think that is small compared to other laptops I looked at. I know none of my other machines use that high of a resolution and WinTidy works perfectly on them.

allan · Mar 26, 2024

These are the settings I use:

HDL · Mar 26, 2024

Thank you for all that information. I looked at my installation and the only thing I found that was a lot different was the first Tab, Colors. Possibly the difference is your setting for Drop Shadows is Enabled where mine is Disabled, which was the default apparently because I didn't change it. Not sure what it does , but please see the attachment.