Changing the View

The icons in Windows Explorer's content area can be viewed in no less than eight different ways, which seems a tad excessive, but Windows has never been about restraint when it comes to interface choices. To see a list of these views, either pull down the Views button in the task pane or click View in the menu bar. You get four choices for icon sizes: Extra Large Icons, Large Icons, Medium Icons, and Small Icons. You also get four other choices:

• List-This view divides the content area into as many rows as will fit vertically, and it displays the folders and files alphabetically down the rows and across the columns. For each object, Windows Explorer shows the object's icon and name.
• Details-This view displays a vertical list of icons, where each icon shows the data in all the displayed property columns (such as Name, Date Modified, Type, and Size).
  TIP The default property columns you see depend on the template that the folder is using. To change the folder template, right-click the folder, click Properties, and then display the Customize tab. In the Optimize This Folder For list, choose the type you want: General Items, Documents, Pictures, Music, or Videos.
• Tiles-This view divides the content area into as many columns as will fit horizontally, and it displays the folders and files alphabetically across the columns and down the rows. For each object, Windows Explorer shows the object's icon, name, file type, and (for files only) size.
• Content-This view, new to Windows 7, displays a vertical list of objects, and for each object it displays the object's icon, name, last modified date, size (files only), and any metadata associated with the object, such as author names and tags; the album name, genre, and track length; and the dimensions and date taken (for photos).