Expanded view of drives & folders

christheCADCAMman

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Apr 11, 2007, 9:08:01 AM4/11/07

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Hello,
I would like Explorer to open to a custom default view. I don't want to
have to use several Explorer icons to do this. I would prefer to edit a
series of commands in the Target path in Windows Explorer Properties.
So every morning I come into work and open Explorer. I have access to
several network drives of which I regularly access 7 to 10 places on the
network throughout the day. So I first expand my folder tree in the left
pane so I can see all of the places I work from regularly. Some on the C
drive, some on mapped network drives.
The following is a set of example folders that I would like Explorer to open
and expand folders to each time I open Explorer.
C:\pwrpcb\cam\
C:\panelCAM350\
C:\Program Files\sdocs\checkedoutfiles\
H:\servername\users\cbedard\
T:\manufacturing team\mechanical parts\ fabrication drawings\032\
T:\manufacturing team\mechanical parts\ fabrication drawings\035\
V:\engineering\panels\

It takes me several minutes to expand all of the folders that I want.

Can Exporer expand my folder tree to view all of the places by default when
I open it? Or can this only be done using individual explorer short cuts?

( I would prefer to "browse" through my folder tree rather than organizing
several explorer short cuts on my desktop or in my quicklaunch toolbar.)

TIA for any info!!
Chris

Keith Miller MVP

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Apr 11, 2007, 12:35:59 PM4/11/07

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To the best of my knowledge, there are no command line parameters for
Explorer that will expand multiple branches of the folder tree.

But how would you feel about a folder tree like this:

You could accomplish this with Folder Shortcuts. They aren't .lnk files.
They are folders that, via a trick of explorer, display the contents of a
different folder. But they behave like 'real' folders -- they show in the
folder tree, they sort with folders in the right-hand pane of Explorer, etc.

To create a Folder Shortcut, do the following:

Open two Explorer windows. One to your Start Menu, & one to the folder
containing the target folder.

Right-click & drag the target folder to your Start Menu folder -- when you
release the mouse button, choose 'Create Shortcut'

A Folder Shortcut can be distinguished by two things: it will show a type of
'Folder' in a detail view and its Properties dialog will only have a single
tab -- 'General'.

Once you've created the shortcut, it can be moved to wherever you like. So
you could gather them all into a folder on the desktop as shown above.

--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

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christheCADCAMman

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Apr 11, 2007, 1:24:03 PM4/11/07

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Hi Keith,

Thanks for the information. I had not considered doing this. I did look
through all of the Explorer threads but only found info about command line
switches.
Your solution does work for the most part.
The only down side is that (to continue your use of folder names) the
Frequently Used folder does not show a + sign so that it can be expanded on
the left hand pane.
Also, when I double click on the folder short cut Explorer takes me to that
place in the folder tree on the left hand side. So if I get to the point
where I've gone to all of my short cut places I now have a huge folder tree
again. (I know i didn't ask to solve this orrigionally but it makes sense to
ask now...) Is it possible to "mirror" the folder locations? So that
instead of taking me to the real folder when I double click on the folder
short cut, when I click into the "folder short cut" I'm actually there
without Explorer having to navigate through the folder tree to get there?

I know, now I am pushing my luck! :) Thanks for the information! It's
been very helpful so far!!

Chris

Keith Miller MVP

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Apr 12, 2007, 9:25:19 AM4/12/07

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Your reply describes ordinary .lnk shortcuts to a 'T', not folder shortcuts.

>> A Folder Shortcut can be distinguished by two things: it will show a type of
>> 'Folder' in a detail view and its Properties dialog will only have a single
>> tab -- 'General'.

Did you check the type in a details view? Bet you see 'Shortcut', not 'Folder'.

Did you look at the Properties dialog for one of your shortcuts? Bet they have 3 tabs, including
'Shortcut', not just one.

ONLY THE START MENU (and its subfolders) CREATE FOLDER SHORTCUTS VIA DRAG-AND-DROP. Drag-and-drop
to other folders creates ordinary .lnk shortcuts.

So try this again:

>> Open two Explorer windows. One to your Start Menu, & one to the folder
>> containing the target folder.
>>
>> Right-click & drag the target folder to your Start Menu folder -- when you
>> release the mouse button, choose 'Create Shortcut'

Then check the Properties of the shortcut you just created.

--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

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christheCADCAMman

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Apr 12, 2007, 10:54:02 AM4/12/07

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Awesome, totally Awesome! lol. hehehe, thanks. Just goes to show you I
can't follow directions.
It works perfectly.

This little "Gold Nugget" of info is NOT in any of the KB's or news group
info that I found anywhere. It seems like a great piece of information that
lots of people would want to know about.
But my opinion is biased! :)

Thanks again!!

Keith Miller MVP

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Apr 12, 2007, 1:19:21 PM4/12/07

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You're welcome. I knew you'd love it once you got it right! ;-)

It is hard to find in a search. Folder & shortcut aren't very unique search
terms :-)

--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

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