Windows 7 / Getting Started

---

Changing the display of an Explorer window

You can control how the information returned to any Explorer window is displayed through the use of the Layout item found on the Organize button's dropdown menu in combination with the pop-up slider attached to the Change Your View pop-up button on the window's toolbar. (This pop-up button is the third one in on the right side of the toolbar, and its icon changes to match the type of folder and file view currently selected in the window.)

The Layout item on the Organize button's drop-down menu contains the following submenu:

• Menu Bar: Turns on and off the display of the menus File through Help.
• Details Pane: Turns on and off the display of the Details pane along the bottom of the window. The Details pane gives you information about the currently selected item in the window and often enables you to add searchable information through the use of its Edit link.
• Preview Pane: Turns on and off the display of the Preview pane on the right side of the window. The Preview pane displays a live view of whatever folder or file is currently selected in the window.
• Navigation Pane: Turns on and off the display of the Navigation pane on the left side of the window. You can use the Navigation pane to open new folders on your computer system.
• Library Pane: Turns on and off the display of the Library pane immediately above the file display of the files in one of your libraries (Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos). The Library pane shows you information about the library's contents and also enables you to change the order in which its files are displayed.

The pop-up slider attached to the Change Your View drop-down button contains the following view options (you can also toggle through the Large Icons, List, Details, and Tile options in succession by repeatedly clicking the Views button):

• Extra Large Icons: Displays the folders and files in the window as really huge icons with their names displayed as captions beneath the icons.
• Large Icons: Displays the folders and files in the window as fairly large icons with their names displayed beneath the icons.
• Medium Icons: Displays the folders and files in the window as mediumsized icons with their names displayed beneath the icons.
• Small Icons: Displays the folders and files in the window as fairly small icons with their names displayed as captions to the right side of the icons.
• List: Displays icons followed by the folder names and filenames in a singlecolumn list.
• Details: Displays information about the folders and files in the window in a strict columnar format that includes Name, Date Modified, Type, Authors, and Tags. Note that you can widen and narrow these columns as needed by dragging the borders of their labels to the left and right.
• Tiles: Displays the folders and files in the window as icons with text giving their names and file sizes arranged in one or two vertical columns.
• Content: Displays the information about the folders and files in a twocolumn format, the first of which contains an icon or thumbnail identifying the type of file and the second of which displays file information: the date modified and file size in the case of text files, date taken and file size in the case of photos, and the length and file size in the case of music and video files.

Remember Keep in mind that when selecting any one of the Icons options, you can use the Change Your View drop-down button's slider to select sizes in between the preset sizes utilized by selecting the Extra Large Icons, Large Icons, Medium Icons, or Small Icons option.