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93-428: Alt + Tab ↹ orders windows by most recently used , thus repeated Alt + Tab ↹ keystrokes will switch between the two most recent tasks. It can also be used alternate between a full-size window and the desktop. The window environment maintains a Z-order list of top-level windows (tasks) with the most recently used tasks at the front and the desktop at the bottom, so the most recently used tasks can be switched to

186-546: A different cursor and procedure to move the window with. Some applications customize the system menu, typically through the GetSystemMenu WinAPI function. The Win32 console , used e.g. by the Command Prompt ( cmd.exe ), is an example of this and offers the user an ability to change its preferences through its system menu (other applications typically offer the user to change their preferences through

279-627: A document is selected using Alt + Tab ↹ : first an icon representing the main Reader window and then an icon for the individual document. While in Adobe Reader, pressing Alt + Tab ↹ one time selects the second item in the list, which is the icon for the PDF document. Adobe Reader remains the current task when Alt + Tab ↹ is released. Thus it is demonstrated that the correct operation of Alt + Tab ↹ , like some other aspects of

372-438: A fast Alt + Tab ↹ with all keys released immediately) is precisely a special case of the above behavior. Suppose the windows are A B C and we want to alternate between A and B . Hold Alt while pressing and releasing Tab; continue holding Alt. The list will show A B C and the cursor will initially be over B . When Alt is released B will be selected, Tab having been pressed a total of 1 time, and zero attention to

465-626: A folder and hit "Search" was removed in Windows Vista Service Pack 1. Users must open the folder they wish to search in and enter their keywords in the search field located on the top right corner of the window. Alternatively, users can specify other search parameters through the "Advanced Search" UI, which can be accessed by clicking on the Organize Bar and selecting Search Pane under the Layout submenu. Pressing F3 also opens

558-410: A folder on the local network, publish files or folders to a website, and other common tasks like copying, renaming, moving, and deleting files or folders. File types that have identified themselves as being printable also have an option listed to print the file. Underneath "Other Places" is a "Details" pane which gives additional information – typically file size and date, but depending on the file type,

651-464: A folder one can open a command-line prompt in that folder. Windows Explorer also contains modifications in the visualization of files on a computer. A new addition to Windows Explorer in Vista and Server 2008 is the details pane, which displays metadata and information relating to the currently selected file or folder. The details pane will also display a thumbnail of the file or an icon of the filetype if

744-645: A helper application such as bbkeys . Compiz Fusion (aka Beryl , Compiz ) has similar functionality, but displays a preview of the window as well as its icon (Present in Windows Vista and above, with DWM enabled). It also makes use of Alt-Shift-Tab by moving backwards through the displayed programs, and it is possible to activate a Windows Flip 3D alternative using the Windows key and Tab. The Metacity window manager has similar functionality to versions of Windows released before Vista, but it only displays

837-475: A list of all windows in a fixed order, or opening a task applet in which one has to use arrow keys or the mouse to select a task and then click or push Enter. Some window managers such as WindowLab forego the onscreen window list and simply bring each window to the front in turn as Alt + Tab ↹ is pressed. Not all window managers provide this functionality as a core feature. For example, Blackbox does not; users desiring this behavior can add it by running

930-612: A low-level keyboard hook. Such a technique is used by applications such as the Virtual Network Computing (VNC) viewer to pass Alt + Tab ↹ keystrokes to the remote desktop when the VNC window is active. Under Windows XP , the Tweak UI PowerToy, can adjust the number of rows and columns in the task list window, or it can be adjusted via a registry edit. This is helpful if there are so many windows that

1023-493: A new feature of the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Explorer's search box. When the user clicks in the search box, a menu shows up below it showing recent searches as well as suggested Advanced Query Syntax filters that the user can type. When one is selected (or typed in manually), the menu will update to show the possible values to filter by for that property, and this list is based on the current location and other parts of

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1116-457: A new layout. The task panes from Windows XP are replaced with a toolbar on top and a navigation pane on the left. The navigation pane contains commonly accessed folders and preconfigured search folders. Eight different views are available to view files and folders, including extra large, large, medium, small, list, details, tiles, and content. In addition, column headers now appear in all icon viewing modes, unlike Windows XP where they only appear in

1209-451: A properties page is a panel of information in the file properties dialogue (accessed from the File menu , context menu , or by typing alt-Enter, or alt- double-clicking .) It can be a built-in feature of Windows Explorer (for example, the file sharing page), or created by a shell extension (for example MP3ext or WinRAR )) The system menu (also called the window menu or control menu)

1302-513: A set of XML files that define what these file types are. The Search Companion can be disabled in favor of the classic search pane used in Windows 2000 by using the Tweak UI applet from Microsoft's PowerToys for Windows XP , or by manually editing the registry. Windows XP improves image preview in Explorer by offering a Filmstrip view. "Back" and "Previous" buttons facilitate navigation through

1395-518: A slider or by holding down the Ctrl key and using the mouse scrollwheel. Live icons can display the content of folders and files themselves rather than generic icons. With the release of Windows Vista and Server 2008 and Windows Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP, Internet Explorer is no longer integrated with Windows Explorer. In Windows Vista and Server 2008 (and in Windows XP as well if IE7 or 8

1488-415: A special NTFS stream, if the file is on an NTFS volume, or from a COM Structured Storage stream, if the file is a structured storage document. All Microsoft Office documents since Office 95 make use of structured storage , so their metadata is displayable in the Windows 2000 Explorer default tooltip . File shortcuts can also store comments which are displayed as a tooltip when the mouse hovers over

1581-486: A switcher dialog similar to that in XP, one can keep Left- Alt pressed, tap on Right- Alt and then press Tab ↹ . There is a common problem associated with the use of Alt + Tab ↹ . It is very easy for the user to mistakenly use Alt + ⇧ Shift instead, changing the system language through the use of a default keybind. To solve this issue, go into Control Panel/Regional Settings/Languages/Details and there

1674-522: A thumbnail preview, author, image dimensions, or other details. The "Folders" button on the Windows Explorer toolbar toggles between the traditional tree view of folders, and the task pane. Users can get rid of the task pane or restore it using the sequence: Tools – Folder Options – General – Show Common Tasks/Use Windows Classic Folders. Microsoft introduced animated "Search Companions" in an attempt to make searching more engaging and friendly;

1767-404: A user could type in directory paths directly, and be taken to that folder. Another feature that was based on Internet Explorer technology was customized folders. Such folders contained a hidden web page that controlled the way the Windows Explorer displayed the contents of the folder. The "Web-style" folders view, with the left Explorer pane displaying details for the object currently selected,

1860-465: A way to switch out of a full-screen application, since the desktop is no longer a window. If the user prefers the smaller XP icons over the larger Vista "thumbnail" icons, they can change the functionality by: The user may also stop the Dwm.exe process via Windows' Task Manager . In Windows 7 Alt + Tab ↹ , after a one-second delay, displays the full-sized application window immediately each time

1953-483: Is a file manager application and default desktop environment that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user interface for accessing the file systems , as well as user interface elements such as the taskbar and desktop . The application was renamed from "Windows Explorer" to "File Explorer" in Windows 8 ; however,

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2046-459: Is a popup menu in Microsoft Windows , accessible by left- clicking on the upper-left icon of most windows, or by pressing the Alt and Space keys. This menu provides the user with the ability to perform some common tasks on the window, some in atypical ways. For example, normally a user would move a window by dragging the title bar of the window - but with the option in the system menu the user gets

2139-421: Is a button that allows the user to configure the shortcuts to switch languages - he/she can disable it or change it to something harder to press by mistake. This problem is reported on Windows XP and Windows 7. Similar functionality exists on macOS using ⌘ Command instead of Alt , and switching between applications rather than windows. The Mac's switcher has the additional capabilities of pointing at

2232-401: Is also a shortcut key combination: Windows key + E . Successive versions of Windows (and in some cases, Internet Explorer ) introduced new features and capabilities, removed other features, and generally progressed from being a simple file system navigation tool into a task-based file management system. While "Windows Explorer" or "File Explorer" is a term most commonly used to describe

2325-563: Is also hidden by default but is still available by pressing the Alt key or changing its visibility in the layout options. Several other features are removed such as showing the size on the status bar without selecting items, storing metadata in NTFS alternate data streams , the IColumnProvider interface which allowed addition of custom columns to Explorer and folder background customization using desktop.ini. The ability to right-click

2418-526: Is altered by the creation and destruction of windows, programmatic hiding, showing, raising, and lowering of windows, and alterations to the window z-order . The order of the Alt + Tab ↹ list corresponds directly to the z-order, once the windows have been sorted according to 'always-on-top' status. Alt-Shift-Esc is equivalent to one Alt-Shift-Tab except that minimized windows are selected without being displayed. Alt + Tab ↹ works even if Windows Explorer

2511-426: Is fairly similar to Windows ME and Windows 2000, with one major addition: Search can also be instructed to search only files that are categorical "Documents" or "Pictures, music and video"; this feature is noteworthy largely because of how Windows determines what types of files can be classified under these categories. In order to maintain a relevant list of file types, Windows Explorer connects to Microsoft and downloads

2604-411: Is installed), Windows Explorer no longer displays web pages, and IE7 does not support use as a file manager, although one will separately launch the other as necessary. When moving or copying files from one folder to another, if two files have the same name, an option is now available to rename the file; in previous versions of Windows, the user was prompted to choose either a replacement or cancel moving

2697-452: Is no longer running. On Windows NT 3.51 and prior, Alt + Tab ↹ is managed by CSRSS (Client/Server Runtime Subsystem). On Windows NT 4.0 and later, it's handled by the kernel mode windowing system driver (win32k.sys). It works even when Ctrl + Alt + Del and Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + Esc ( Task Manager ) (which are managed by Winlogon ) do not. Alt + Tab ↹ may be intercepted (or effectively disabled) by means of

2790-411: Is pressed twice, and so on for all tasks. The priority of a window in terms of Alt + Tab ↹ accessibility is how recently it was used. If A is now minimized, the list will become E U W Z B C A , and if Z is minimized the list becomes E U W B C A Z . Thus minimizing a window mimics the effect of not using it for a long time. The commonplace alternation between the 2 most recent tasks (using

2883-429: Is to download and run a program which will remove these flags. download To show the XP icons in Windows 7 advanced users can add a new DWORD value AltTabSettings in the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ and set its value to 1. Using Windows 7 the additional key combination Ctrl + Alt + Tab ↹ brings up the switcher dialog and it remains on screen after all

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2976-624: Is turned on by default. For certain file types, such as pictures and media files, a preview is also displayed in the left pane. The Windows 2000 Explorer featured an interactive media player as the previewer for sound and video files. However, such a previewer can be enabled in Windows ME through the use of folder customization templates. Windows Explorer in Windows 2000 and Windows ME allows for custom thumbnail previewers and tooltip handlers. The default file tooltip displays file title, author, subject and comments; this metadata may be read from

3069-478: Is visible, windows can be selected and made active by clicking on them with the mouse, and the list can be scrolled forward or backward using the mouse scroll wheel. If there is only one window on the system, Windows does not show a selector dialog at all when Alt + Tab ↹ is pressed; the key sequence will simply restore or give focus to that window in case it is minimized or not focused. This means that under Windows 10, Alt + Tab ↹ no longer functions as

3162-522: The Image Mastering API , as well as Live File System support was added. If a file is in use by another application, Windows Explorer tells users to close the application and retry the file operation. Also, a new interface IFileIsInUse is introduced into the API which developers can use to let other applications switch to the main window of the application that has the file open or simply close

3255-402: The "Advanced Search" interface. Windows Explorer in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 supports libraries, virtual folders described in a .library-ms file that aggregates content from various locations – including shared folders on networked systems if the shared folder has been indexed by the host system – and present them in a unified view. Searching in a library automatically federates

3348-404: The Alt key was released. An example of a program that violates the expectation that pressing Alt + Tab ↹ one time will switch to the previous application is Adobe Reader 7.0.x. Like newer versions of Microsoft Word it attempts to give a separate icon in the Alt + Tab ↹ task menu to each MDI document. However, unlike Word, it brings two items to the front of the list whenever

3441-631: The Command button. This will restore the most relevant window in the application. There was no default key binding for application switching in Classic Mac OS . Third party control panels (such as ApplWindows and LiteSwitch ) provided this behavior. iOS adds comparable functionality using ⌘ Command instead of Alt , as with macOS. The iOS switcher allows the user to move between recently used applications (nine in landscape, six in portrait), as opposed to "open" applications, since

3534-510: The Shell Technology Preview, and often referred to informally as "NewShell". The update was designed to replace the Windows 3.x Program Manager/File Manager based shell with Windows Explorer. The release provided capabilities quite similar to that of the Windows "Chicago" ( codename for Windows 95) shell during its late beta phases, however was intended to be nothing more than a test release. There were two public releases of

3627-568: The Shell Technology Preview, made available to MSDN and CompuServe users: May 26, 1995, and August 8, 1995. Both held Windows Explorer builds of 3.51.1053.1. The Shell Technology Preview program never saw a final release under NT 3.51. The entire program was moved across to the Cairo development group who finally integrated the new shell design into the NT code with the release of NT 4.0 in July 1996. With

3720-530: The Window Explorer pane is in Details view mode showing a property contained within the metadata (for example Date, Length, Frame Height), Windows Explorer might have to search the contents of the whole file for the meta data. Some damaged files can cause a prolonged delay as well. This is due to metadata information being able to be placed anywhere within the file, beginning, middle, or end, necessitating

3813-592: The Windows environment such as the Clipboard chain, depends on individual applications being written correctly. Common menus in Microsoft Windows#Most Recently Used menu This is a list of commonly used Microsoft Windows menus . A Most Recently Used (MRU) menu lists the programs or documents that were last accessed. It allows users to quickly see and access the last few used files and documents. In Microsoft Windows ,

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3906-506: The associated program from the temporary location when opened, to make the appearance that the ZIP file is a real directory. Windows Explorer includes significant changes from previous versions of Windows such as improved filtering, sorting, grouping and stacking. Combined with integrated desktop search, Windows Explorer allows users to find and organize their files in new ways, such as stacks. The new Stacks viewing mode groups files according to

3999-503: The complete list is A W Z E U B C . The selection cursor will initially be on W . Suppose we want to switch to window U . Without releasing Alt, press Tab three more times and then release Alt. Then hold down Alt and press-release Tab once leaving Alt down. The window list will now show U A W Z E B C . Then Tab over to E and release Alt, selecting window E . Press and hold down Alt and press-release Tab once leaving Alt down. The window list will now show E U A W Z B C . Note that

4092-558: The concept of an open application is considerably less clear on iOS than other desktop operating systems. ⌘ Command + ⇧ Shift + Tab ↹ cycles backwards, as in OS X. Unix-like desktop systems such as fvwm , KDE , Xfce , and GNOME have added a compatible function. On some systems including Sun's CDE and old versions of fvwm , the Alt + Tab ↹ key combination is mapped to less sophisticated functionality such as only alternating between two windows, cycling forward or backward in

4185-1108: The criterion specified by the user. Stacks can be clicked to filter the files shown in Windows Explorer. There is also the ability to save searches as virtual folders or search folders. A search folder is simply an XML file, which stores the query in a form that can be used by the Windows search subsystem. When accessed, the search is executed and the results are aggregated and presented as a virtual folder. Windows Vista includes six search folders by default: recent documents, recent e-mail, recent music, recent pictures and videos, recent changed, and "Shared by Me". Additionally, search operators for properties were introduced, such as kind:music . Since at least Windows 7, comparison operators "greater than" and "less than" are supported to search for any supported attribute such as date ranges and file sizes, like size:>100MB to search for all files that are greater than 100 MB. Attributes sortable and searchable in Windows Explorer include pictures' dimensions, Exif data such as aperture and exposure, video duration and framerate and width. When sorting items,

4278-407: The current folder in a simple editable combobox, this new style structures the path into clickable levels of folder hierarchy (though falls back to the classic edit mode when a blank area is clicked), enabling the user to skip as many levels as desired in one click rather than repeatedly clicking "Up". It is also possible to navigate to any subfolder of the current folder using the arrow to the right of

4371-648: The cursor position changes, hiding all other windows. This is a part of Aero Peek feature, new in Windows 7. This behavior can be disabled along with Aero Peek: Control Panel - Performance Information and Tools - Adjust visual effects - uncheck Enable Aero Peek. Delay is adjustable by setting the LivePreview_ms value in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AltTab registry key. Some users report that

4464-600: The default character is a puppy named Rover (previously used in Microsoft Bob ), with three other characters (Merlin the magician, Earl the surfer, and Courtney) also available. These search companions use the same technology as Microsoft Office 's Office Assistants , even incorporating "tricks" and sound effects, and they can be used as Office Assistants if their files are copied into the C:\Windows\msagent\chars folder. The search capability itself

4557-506: The desired icon with the mouse (also present in Windows Vista and above), and dropping files on applications' icons. Selected application can be hidden or closed using H or Q keys without closing the menu. ⌘ Command + ` works similarly to switch between windows within the same application. Once ⌘ Command + Tab ↹ has been invoked, ⌘ Command + ` changes behavior to mimic ⌘ Command + ⇧ Shift + Tab ↹ (i.e. it cycles backwards). Using ↑ or ↓ allows

4650-457: The details icon viewing mode. File and folder actions such as cut, copy, paste, undo, redo, delete, rename and properties are built into a dropdown menu which appears when the Organize button is clicked. It is also possible to change the layout of the Explorer window by using the Organize button. Users can select whether to display classic menus, a search pane, a preview pane, a reading pane, and

4743-827: The file does not contain visual information. Furthermore, different imagery is overlaid on thumbnails to give more information about the file, such as a picture frame around the thumbnail of an image file, or a filmstrip on a video file. The details pane also allows for the change of some textual metadata such as author and title in files that support them within Windows Explorer. A new type of metadata called tags allows users to add descriptive terms to documents for easier categorization and retrieval. Some files support open metadata, allowing users to define new types of metadata for their files. Out-of-the-box, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 supports Microsoft Office documents and most audio and video files. Support for other file types can however be added by writing specialized software to retrieve

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4836-596: The file from the "File in Use" dialog. If the running application exposes these operations by means of the IFileIsInUse interface, Windows Explorer, upon encountering a locked file, allows the user to close the file or switch to the application from the dialog box itself. Windows Vista introduced pre-included support for the Media Transfer Protocol . The ability to customize the layout and buttons on

4929-618: The file management aspect of the operating system, the Explorer process also houses the operating system's search functionality and File Type associations (based on filename extensions ), and is responsible for displaying the desktop icons , the Start Menu , the Taskbar , and the Control Panel . Collectively, these features are known as the Windows shell . File Explorer is the default user interface for accessing and managing

5022-517: The file systems, but it is possible to perform such tasks on Windows without File Explorer. For example, the File ;▸ Run menu option in Task Manager on Windows NT or later functions independently of File Explorer, as do commands run within a command prompt window. After a user logs in, the explorer process is created by the userinit process. Userinit performs some initialization of

5115-445: The file. Also, when renaming a file, Explorer only highlights the filename without selecting the extension. Renaming multiple files is quicker as pressing Tab automatically renames the existing file or folder and opens the file name text field for the next file for renaming. Shift+Tab allows renaming in the same manner upwards. Support for burning data on DVDs (DVD±R, DVD±R DL, DVD±R RW) in addition to CDs and DVD-RAM using version 2.0 of

5208-451: The following ways: There are many subtleties to the behavior of Alt + Tab ↹ , and they have remained mostly unchanged over the years. The behavior follows these rules: The rules have the following consequences: When the task list is initially activated by pressing Alt + Tab ↹ , the list is populated in this order: The task list does not change order while it is open, but the order of tasks can change between invocations of

5301-491: The gadgets), the problem disappears. After restarting sidebar the problem appears again. This bug also happens when ipoint.exe, the Microsoft Intellipoint mouse driver, is running. Other programs causing this behaviour were reported as well. The actual reason this problem occurs is because [zero-sized always-on-top windows at (0,0)] cause Windows Explorer to set the alt-tab properties incorrectly. The solution

5394-401: The keys have been released. A user can move through the dialog in any direction using the arrow keys, or Tab ↹ through in a linear manner, wrapping at the end of the list back to the beginning. In this mode, the ↵ Enter key or a mouse click selects the desired window which gains the focus and the dialog is dismissed; Esc dismisses with no change of focus. In Windows 7 , to use

5487-422: The last item. The menu bar is now hidden by default but reappears temporarily when the user presses Alt. Check boxes in Windows Explorer allow the selection of multiple files. Free and used space on all drives is shown in horizontal indicator bars. Icons of various sizes are supported: 16 x 16, 24 x 24, 32 x 32, 48 x 48, 64 x 64, 96 x 96, 128 x 128 and 256 x 256. Windows Explorer can zoom the icons in and out using

5580-548: The libraries special folder, which allows them to be displayed on the navigation pane. By default, a new user account in Windows 7 contains four libraries, for different file types: Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos. They are configured to include the user's profile folders for these respective file types, as well as the computer's corresponding Public folders. In addition to aggregating multiple storage locations, Libraries enable Arrangement Views and Search Filter Suggestions. Arrangement Views allow users to pivot their views of

5673-545: The library's contents based on metadata. For example, selecting the "By Month" view in the Pictures library will display photos in stacks, where each stack represents a month of photos based on the date they were taken. In the Music library, the "By Artist" view will display stacks of albums from the artists in their collections, and browsing into an artist stack will then display the relevant albums. Search Filter Suggestions are

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5766-610: The list would spill over into multiple pages. Another Microsoft PowerToy, Alt + Tab ↹ Replacement , is available for Windows XP that displays a screenshot of each application in the task list rather than just its icon, and allows the user to use the mouse to select the desired application. A more advanced version of this functionality, named Windows Flip, is built into Windows Vista . A number of third-party tools, similar to Alt + Tab ↹ Replacement, are also available that add additional functionality to Alt + Tab ↹ . Additionally, Windows Vista and Windows 7 allow

5859-472: The metadata at the shell's request. Metadata stored in a file's alternate data stream only on NTFS volumes cannot be viewed and edited through the summary tab of the file's properties anymore. Instead, all metadata is stored inside the file, so that it will always travel with the file and not be dependent on the file system. Windows Explorer in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 also introduces

5952-435: The minimized program. Failures such as this can result in a frenzied reordering of the Alt + Tab ↹ list by means of several Alt + Tab ↹ - Tab ↹ - Tab ↹ ... sequences to compensate for the program misbehavior. The algorithm for this reshuffling is intuitive after using for a long time. If the user attempts to switch to an application using Alt + Tab ↹ but the application fails to update its place in

6045-436: The most quickly. The Alt + Tab ↹ keyboard combination has also been incorporated in other operating systems and desktop environments such as KDE , Xfce , and GNOME . iOS and macOS have similar functionality by pressing ⌘ Command + Tab ↹ but that switches applications rather than windows . The use of the modifier key Alt in using Alt + Tab ↹ differs from typical modifier key use in

6138-412: The navigation pane. The preview pane enables users to preview files (e.g., documents or media files) without opening them. If an application, such as Office 2007 , installs preview handlers for file types, then these files can also be edited within the preview pane itself. Windows Vista saw the introduction of the breadcrumb bar for easier navigation. As opposed to the prior address bar which displayed

6231-590: The normal menu below their window's title bar). Windows Explorer 24H2 (10.0.26100.2454) (November 21, 2024 ; 3 days ago  ( 2024-11-21 ) ) [±] 23H2 (10.0.22635.4515) (November 22, 2024 ; 2 days ago  ( 2024-11-22 ) ) [±] 24H2 (10.0.26120.2415) (November 22, 2024 ; 2 days ago  ( 2024-11-22 ) ) [±] 10.0.27754.1000 (November 20, 2024 ; 4 days ago  ( 2024-11-20 ) ) [±] File Explorer , previously known as Windows Explorer ,

6324-480: The old name of "Windows Explorer" can still be seen in the Windows Task Manager . Windows Explorer was first included with Windows 95 as a replacement for File Manager , which came with all versions of Windows 3.x operating systems. Explorer could be accessed by double-clicking the new My Computer desktop icon or launched from the new Start Menu that replaced the earlier Program Manager . There

6417-448: The options to display these pictures as a slide show, to print them out, or to go online to order prints. Conversely, a folder containing music files would offer options to play those files in a media player or to go online to purchase music. Windows XP had a Media bar but it was removed with SP1. The Media Bar was only available with Windows XP RTM. Every folder also has "File and Folder Tasks", offering options to create new folders, share

6510-495: The outline of the currently selected window on the screen. Windows, on the other hand shows the whole selected window, which helps the user to pick the correct window from multiple windows with a similar title or icon. The Alt + Tab ↹ key combination to switch between windows has been present in all versions of Windows since Windows 1.0 . However, there was no visual indication of the list of windows available when switching between windows until Windows 3.1 , when this feature

6603-523: The pictures, and a pair of "Rotate" buttons offer 90-degree clockwise and counter-clockwise ( lossy ) rotation of images. Aside from the Filmstrip view mode, there is a 'Thumbnails' mode, which displays thumbnail -sized images in the folder. A Folder containing images will also show thumbnails of four of the images from that folder overlaid on top of a large folder icon. Web sites that offer image hosting services can be plugged into Windows Explorer, which

6696-450: The query already typed. For example, selecting the "tags" filter or typing "tags:" into the search box will display the list of possible tag values which will return search results. The metadata written within the file, implemented in Vista, is also utilized in Windows 7. This can sometimes lead to long wait times displaying the contents of a folder. For example, if a folder contains many large video files totaling hundreds of gigabytes, and

6789-470: The query to the remote systems, in addition to searching on the local system, so that files on the remote systems are also searched. Unlike search folders, Libraries are backed by a physical location which allows files to be saved in the libraries. Such files are transparently saved in the backing physical folder. The default save location for a library may be configured by the user, as can the default view layout for each library. Libraries are generally stored in

6882-500: The release of the Windows Desktop Update (packaged with Internet Explorer 4 as an optional component, and included in Windows 98 ), Windows Explorer became "integrated" with Internet Explorer, most notably with the addition of navigation arrows (back and forward) for moving between recently visited directories, as well as Internet Explorer's Favorites menu. An address bar was also added to Windows Explorer, which

6975-451: The separate search dialog found in all previous Explorer versions. Search capabilities were added, offering full-text searches of documents, with options to filter by date (including arbitrary ranges like "modified within the last week"), size, and file type. The Indexing Service has also been integrated into the operating system and the search pane built into Explorer allows searching files indexed by its database. The ability to customize

7068-428: The shortcut. The right-hand pane, which usually just lists files and folders, can also be customized. For example, the contents of the system folders aren't displayed by default, instead showing in the right pane a warning to the user that modifying the contents of the system folders could harm their computer. It's possible to define additional Explorer panes by using DIV elements in folder template files. This feature

7161-437: The sort order no longer remains consistently Ascending or Descending. Each property has a preferred sort direction. For example, sort by date defaults to descending order, as does size. But name and type default to ascending order. Searching for files containing a given text string became problematic with Vista unless the files had been indexed. An alternative is to use the findstr command-line function. After right-clicking on

7254-540: The standard buttons was also added. There were significant changes made to Windows Explorer in Windows XP , both visually and functionally. Microsoft focused especially on making Explorer more discoverable and task-based, as well as adding several new features to reflect the growing use of a computer as a digital hub . Windows Explorer in Windows Server 2003 contains all the same features as Windows XP, but

7347-412: The switcher dialog does not stay on top while it is displayed, but one can navigate through this dialog using mouse even if it is completely overlapped by some window. This bug is reported to be user profile specific. Some user profiles on the same machine may encounter this bug, some not. As discovered, the problem is sometimes caused by desktop gadgets system. After killing sidebar.exe process (which hosts

7440-448: The task list window can be observed to flicker for a split second, so . If the user has been switching among 3 applications and wants to dispense with one of them by minimizing, one of the remaining ones will be on top immediately after minimizing, and ordinarily Alt + Tab ↹ will alternate between the 2 remaining windows. If a program fails to move to the end of the list when minimized, pressing Alt + Tab ↹ once will return to

7533-460: The task list. Windows Vista changed the default behavior (under most default installations) with its Flip interface. The six most recently used items in the Flip order work as described, then remaining windows are ordered alphabetically by application path (and optionally grouped, depending on the 'group similar taskbar buttons' setting which is enabled by default). Windows 10 removed the desktop from

7626-417: The task list. Windows may be divided into two categories, 'always-on-top' and ordinary. When a task is switched to, it is moved to the head of its category. For the following example, suppose there are no 'always-on-top' windows. Let A be the current window title. Hold down Alt and press and release Tab once, leaving Alt pressed. The window list comes up. A is guaranteed to be first in the list. Suppose

7719-410: The task panes and search companion are disabled by default. The task pane is displayed on the left-hand side of the window instead of the traditional folder tree view . It presents the user with a list of common actions and destinations that are relevant to the current directory or file(s) selected. For instance, when in a directory containing mostly pictures, a set of "Picture tasks" is shown, offering

7812-410: The task selection cursor having been necessary. Again, press and release Tab while holding Alt. The list will show B A C and the cursor will initially be over A . When Alt is released we have switched back to A . Displaying the list again, the order has returned to A B C and this sequence can recur. On close inspection, in the course of typing Alt + Tab ↹ and releasing both keys quickly,

7905-506: The toolbars has been removed in Windows Vista's Explorer, as has the ability to add a password to a zip file (compressed folder). The Toolbar button in Explorer to go up one folder from the current folder has been removed (the function still exists however, one can move up a folder by pressing Alt + ↑ ). Although still fully available from the menus and keyboard shortcuts, toolbar buttons for Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo, Delete, Properties and some others are no longer available. The Menu Bar

7998-435: The user can use to select images on their computer, and have them uploaded correctly without dealing with comparatively complex solutions involving FTP or web interfaces. ZIP and CAB files are integrated into the user interface so they can be browsed as if they were ordinary folders. Given that files contained inside ZIP files can not be opened directly, they are automatically extracted to a temporary location and launched with

8091-469: The user environment (such as running the login script and applying group policies) and then looks in the registry at the Shell value and creates a process to run the system-defined shell – by default, Explorer.exe. Then Userinit exits. This is why Explorer.exe is shown by various process explorers with no parent – its parent has exited. In 1995, Microsoft first released test versions of a shell refresh, named

8184-462: The user to navigate through the Alt + Tab ↹ menu using mouse or arrow keys. When the Aero Glass theme is enabled, Windows Vista also offers a 3D view of the windows themselves that animates as the user cycles through it. The behaviour is very similar to Alt + Tab ↹ and is accessed by holding down the ⊞ Win key instead of Alt while pressing Tab ↹ . While this view

8277-479: The user to select the window to focus on. The ← and → arrow keys may also be used to navigate the application switcher. This functionality does not automatically restore windows from an application in which all windows been minimized. To restore a window, one needs to press ⌘ Command + Tab ↹ as many times as necessary to choose the desired application, and hold the Option key just prior to releasing

8370-411: The windows switched to with Alt + Tab ↹ ( E , U , A ) are in order of how recently they were switched to. Now Tab over to A and release Alt. Press and hold down Alt and press-release Tab leaving Alt down. The window list will show A E U W Z B C . The effect of this most-recently used behavior is that to return to the most recent task, Tab is pressed once, for the second most recent task Tab

8463-402: The z-order (for example, if its window procedure is hung), then the next time Alt + Tab ↹ is invoked, the task selection cursor may initially point unexpectedly far into the list of icons, just past the application in question, which will not have been moved to the head of the list. Applications have some say in where they are located in the Alt + Tab ↹ order. The list of windows

8556-412: Was abused by computer viruses that employed malicious scripts, Java applets, or ActiveX controls in folder template files as their infection vector. Two such viruses are VBS/Roor-C and VBS.Redlof.a. Other Explorer UI elements that can be customized include columns in "Details" view, icon overlays, and search providers: the new DHTML-based search pane is integrated into Windows 2000 Explorer, unlike

8649-476: Was introduced as the 'Fast "Alt+TAB" Switching' checkbox in the Display control panel applet, internally known as "CoolSwitch". Before CoolSwitch, the Alt + Tab ↹ combination was similar to the Alt + Esc combination (which also switched windows), but Alt + Esc redrew each window immediately on each stroke, while Alt + Tab ↹ brought the windows to the top but did not redraw them until

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