Friday, November 21, 2008

Computer tips: file opening dialog

Many times I've been bothered when opening files in MS-Office: I'll seek to open a recently-used file and rather than guess at its name with alphabetic access, I go to view details, date (sort descending). My problem has been the small dialog box, the need to move everything to the right to find the date tab (thus losing sight of the filenames), and the need to hit date perhaps a few times to find descending (subfolders further confuse all of this). I've thought: "there's probably a better way..." but because the file editing regularly has taken precedence, only now the solution is at hand.

Give up on bloody computers? No.

First, the assorted tabs showing file details are all useful to some extent, but the name & date are typically most critical. The date column can be dragged to the left so it becomes the second column. Neat! I've read that pushing Ctrl key on closing a dialog box saves the settings. Nice! To get default view with Details, go to Desktop (first close all windows) open My Computer and set the View to Details (or other desired setting or sort layout). Then click Tools - Folder Options - View and click "Apply to all folders" Click OK and the world is slightly better. Use the energy saved (& unmanifested angst) being friendlier & helpful to others.