Choose Thumbnail Folders


THE ANNOYANCE: I'd like Windows to show thumbnails of all the photos in a particular folder, as well as the contents of all subfolders. Is there a way to set this as the default view?

THE FIX: Not really. Windows Explorer has two ways of remembering your settings: you can set defaults for all folders, and you can save the specific settings you choose for any individual folder. While there's no way to set the view settings for, say, a single folder branch on your hard disk, there are a few workarounds.

First, Windows Explorer should always show the contents of your My Pictures folder (and all its subfolders) as thumbnails, so you can get the desired result by storing all your digital photos in My Pictures.

Alternatively, you can use a dedicated image viewer, such as ACDSee to view your photo folders. It'll display the contents of all your folders as thumbnails, meaning that you no longer have to worry about how and when Windows Explorer turns photos into thumbnails.