Windows 7: Library Lunacy

I almost always run the Windows 7 File Explorer in Details view, with a customized selection of columns.

One day, when I was browsing a directory into which I had navigated from a Windows 7 library, I noticed that a column that I expected to see, and needed to inspect, was missing. What happened to the Attributes column, I wondered. Then, it occurred to me that this session had begun in a library. The view looked like Figure 1.

Figure 1 is a subfolder of my personal Documents library.

When the File Explorer displays a library, one of the options on the context menu of any file is “Open File Location,” shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 is the context menu of a file in my Documents library, displayed by highlighting the file to select it, and pressing the right  mouse button.

Invoking the selection shown in Figure 2 updated the File Explorer window as shown in Figure 3, revealing the missing column.

Figure 3 is the updated File Explorer, showing the file location, including the missing Attributes column.

On further investigation, I discovered that when the File Explorer displays a library, the Customize This Folder option is absent from the View menu. Switching to a file location view, I could display the Customize This Folder dialog box, shown in Figure 4, Absent from the list of folder types is Library. Testing the five views indicates that none of them corresponds to the layout shown in Figure 1.

Figure 4 is the Customize This Folder property sheet, with the “Optimize this folder” combo box expanded to reveal the five available views.

Thankfully, further experimentation confirmed that details selected when a folder is displayed as a library apply to all library views, and are apparently stored in a sixth view that isn’t shown in the user interface.

Distinguishing Library Views from File System Views

Many times, Windows gives subtle clues, and this is no exception. Carefully comparing the address bars shown in Figures 1 and 3 reveals that the first breadcrumb in Figure 1, a library view, is the name of the library (Documents), while the first breadcrumb in Figure 3, a file system view, is a user name (DAVE). In this case, the second and subsequent breadcrumbs are the same, because the top folder in the Documents library is also called Documents, corresponding to its name in the file system, directly off the user folder, DAVE.

Lessons Learned

1. You cannot directly apply one of the standard views (General Items, Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos) to a library.
2. One combination of selections applies to all Library views.
3. This one combination is fully configurable, as are the five standard folder views.

One more of the little mysteries and annoyances of Windows 7 is finally solved!