I\u2019ve been looking forward to the libraries feature in Windows 7. For example, on my desktop PC I keep some downloads in my personal download folder – under c:\\users\\[username]\\Documents\\Downloads \u2013 while others are in a download folder on drive E. It makes sense to treat this as one location, rather than two. Libraries let you view these two folders together, without physically merging them.<\/p>\n
That said, Windows 7 tripped me up. I created a new library, called Downloads. I added the two folders. I was annoyed though to see that I had two separate lists of folders in the new library, not one. I wanted a single, merged list.<\/p>\n
I clicked around to see if there was a way of merging the lists. I tried the Arrange by menu. If you arrange by Name, you get a single merged list but without folders at all \u2013 in my case, thousands of files. Arranging by folder got me back to the separate listings. I tried the Organize menu, but that didn\u2019t help. I tried right-clicking, with promising options like Expand group and Expand all groups, but these were simply different ways of viewing the location groups.<\/p>\n
Then I noticed that the default Documents library had exactly the view I wanted, merging the personal and public Documents folders. Had Microsoft included some magic for the built-in libraries, or was I missing something?<\/p>\n
I was missing something. I found out what when I clicked Organize \u2013 Layout \u2013 Menu bar. Of course this is off by default, because someone at Microsoft has a religious aversion to menus; they have been removed entirely from most of Office. But once I had the menu bar, I found the View \u2013 Group by option. If I select View \u2013 Group by \u2013 None, then I get the merged folder list that I want. <\/p>\n
In fact, all the Group by options seem to work on a merged list, which leads to strange fact number two: once I had the merged list, it was not obvious how to get back to the non-merged list. It is as if there is a Group by Location which is not on the menu. I did eventually work it out. To get back to the non-merged list, choose View \u2013 Arrange by \u2013 Clear changes. Obvious, eh?<\/p>\n
Incidentally, there is a way of using Group by without displaying the menu bar. You have to right-click in the left margin of the right-hand pane of the library listing. Easy when you know how.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been looking forward to the libraries feature in Windows 7. For example, on my desktop PC I keep some downloads in my personal download folder – under c:\\users\\[username]\\Documents\\Downloads \u2013 while others are in a download folder on drive E. It makes sense to treat this as one location, rather than two. Libraries let you … Continue reading Windows 7 tip: use Group by to merge and manage library views<\/span>