41

Is there a keyboard shortcut to switch to a specific view in windows 7 explorer, e.g. "details", "list", "large icons" etc?

Or do I have to use the mouse to change the view via dropdown menu "Change your view" / toggle views by clicking the icon (which does not toggle through all of the views).

Why I want this: if I navigate to a folder Windows guesses which view might be the best. Sometimes it is right, sometimes it is wrong. Then I want to quickly change, e.g. to "list" to see more files, or to "details" to see columns, or "to extra large icons" to get thumbnails. I think this is quicker via keyboard than via mouse.

Edit

I have accepted the sort of obvious answer, using multiple shortcuts to remote control the hidden menu. Currently I am using an AutoHotkey script, inspired by an answer to a related question:

#IfWinActive ahk_class CabinetWClass
; alt+1 list
; alt+2 details
; alt+3 large icons
; alt+4 extra large icons
!1::Send !v{down 5}{enter}
!2::Send !v{down 6}{enter}
!3::Send !v{down 2}{enter}
!4::Send !v{down 1}{enter}
#IfWinActive

With this I can switch the views I use with alt+1 to alt+4. (Note that the script in the linked answer makes Explorer look for files containing the 'v' character. I fixed that.)

Both solutions have one disadvantage in common: showing and hiding the menubar leads to visible flickering. To fix this the menubar would have to be displayed permanently. Or maybe AutoHotkey knows some tricks to execute a menu command without making the menubar visible first. But I don't know about that.

2
  • Answer in Windows 10 19041: Ctrl + Alt + 1. Use 1..6 for every type of view. Jan 29, 2020 at 13:01
  • @JesusIniesta Doesn't work for me in Win v2004 (Build 19041.388). However, for me, Ctrl+Shift+# (# = 1..8) as mentioned in another comment is working...
    – suamikim
    Aug 14, 2020 at 7:00

6 Answers 6

18

What about ALT + V + D for details, ALT + V + L for list, etc?

3
  • 1
    For international users, replace the V and the D in Alt, V, D by the first letter of View and Details in your language. In French, the shortcut is Alt, A, D
    – Clément
    Oct 28, 2012 at 15:29
  • 2
    it's a shame but i don't think it works for windows 8
    – RoboShop
    Apr 27, 2013 at 13:11
  • 2
    Doesn't work for Win 10 either Feb 18, 2019 at 1:28
62

In Windows 8 (And later versions) you can use the following shortcuts for View modes:

CTRL + SHIFT + 1 Extra Large
CTRL + SHIFT + 2 Large Icons
CTRL + SHIFT + 3 Medium Icons
CTRL + SHIFT + 4 Small Icons
CTRL + SHIFT + 5 List
CTRL + SHIFT + 6 Details
CTRL + SHIFT + 7 Tiles
CTRL + SHIFT + 8 Content

In Windows 7 for English exhibition language you can use the the following:

ALT (Left) + V + X = Extra large icons
ALT (Left) + V + R = Large icons
ALT (Left) + V + M = Mediom icons
ALT (Left) + V + N = Small icons
ALT (Left) + V + I = List
ALT (Left) + V + D = Details
ALT (Left) + V + S = Tiles
ALT (Left) + V + T = Content

5
  • 13
    It is Ctrl + Alt + [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8] for me on Windows 10.
    – Omar Tariq
    Oct 20, 2015 at 5:33
  • @OmarTariq, I'm on Windows 10 and neither Ctl+Shift+[1–8] nor Ctrl+Alt+[1–8] work :(
    – jimjamslam
    Jul 23, 2018 at 5:23
  • 1
    @OmarTariq How weird, it's Ctrl-Shift-# for me on Windows 10. What W10 version are you on? Surprising that MS would change this suddenly. Mar 15, 2021 at 5:17
  • @Coldblackice I can't confirm this at the moment as I do not actively use Windows 10 any more, only Mac and Linux, sorry guys.
    – Omar Tariq
    Mar 15, 2021 at 22:16
  • It is CTRL + SHIFT + [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8] for Windows 10 Pro, 20H2 too.CTRL + SHIFT + 6 for "Details", CTRL + SHIFT + 2 for "Large Icons" as Ricardo Bohner says in his answer for Windows 8 (and later versions).
    – PeterCo
    Mar 21, 2021 at 11:08
4

There's a lot of confusion in the answers and comments to this question, but hopefully this will be a somewhat definitive answer for Windows 10.


Windows 10 keyboard shortcuts for folder views

The weird truth seems to be that across editions/versions/builds of Windows 10, there are two different keyboard shortcuts for folder views in active use:

CtrlShiftNUMBER

or

CtrlAltNUMBER

Most tech blogs tend to list the Shift variant, making it the de-facto "official" one, while many commenters exclaim that the Alt variant is the only one that works for them. It's hard to tell exactly what factor is responsible for the issue, since many users on the same editions and versions report needing to use different shortcuts.

Unfortunately, since Windows 10's own "full list" of keyboard shortcuts doesn't even include the folder view shortcuts, it seems that the most definitive evidence of this phenomenon is the following brief note from a TenForums guide, which lists the "official" shortcut before adding:

Some people report they must press Ctrl + Alt instead of Ctrl + Shift.

There's also this answer in a Microsoft Community question, which to date has about 40 other users in agreement:

I'm having the same problem on one of (the many) Windows 10 machines I work on. I have found that Ctrl + Alt + Numbers works like Ctrl + Shift + Numbers should but this makes things very confusing when moving between machines.

For the record I personally had to use the Alt variant, running Windows 10 Enterprise, version 20H2.


Full list of Ctrl+Alt+NUMBER shortcuts

CtrlAlt1 - Extra Large view
CtrlAlt2 - Large Icons view
CtrlAlt3 - Medium Icons view
CtrlAlt4 - Small Icons view
CtrlAlt5 - List view
CtrlAlt6 - Details view
CtrlAlt7 - Tiles view
CtrlAlt8 - Content view

1
  • Really helpful background info, thanks for sharing. It's bizarre how split this seems to be, however, making me wonder if there's some sort of geographic modifier switch, like perhaps some languages need differing keyboard modifier access, and thus W10 dynamically chooses which modifier route based on that. I wonder if it could also be some sort of A/B testing by Microsoft. Mar 15, 2021 at 5:19
2

You can use Strg (Control on US keyboards) + Scrolling Wheel. With this combination you can switch between the views. It isn´t a keyboard shortcut, I guess, because you need to use the mouse but maybe it will do the trick.

3
  • 1
    Thanks for the suggestion. Not really what I am looking for though: it takes many spins of the wheel to get to a specific view (which is what I asked). Also, if I already use the mouse I might just as well select the view directly ;-)
    – deepc
    Sep 6, 2010 at 2:29
  • Note that ctrl+scroll does not allow switching to detail view, only from it. I ended up here because I wanted a fast way to switch back to detail view when I accidentally do just that. Jun 14, 2017 at 7:22
  • @MahmoudAl-Qudsi Regarding a fast way to switch, see my answer if you're on Windows 10. With regards to Ctrl+scroll though, I can confirm it does scroll through and back the whole range of folder views so it is possible to use it to switch from and to detail view, although it is cumbersome. Dec 10, 2020 at 23:15
0

In Win 8 : ctrl + Alt + <1,2,3,4,5,6..etc> will change the file explorer view.

In win 8.1, 10 : ctrl + shift + <1,2,3,4,5,6..etc> will change the file explorer view.

I learnt this from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxVo8chgq6A

Thanks!

4
  • 2
    This duplicates another answer and adds no new content. Please don't post an answer unless you actually have something new to contribute.
    – DavidPostill
    Apr 20, 2016 at 20:18
  • 1
    While I'm fine with you posting a duplicate answer. This is someone just trying to help DavidPostill, the answer doesn't work in Windows 10. At least not Windows 10 1809 :( Apr 3, 2019 at 13:32
  • @selva - The question was about Windows 7 not Windows 10.
    – Ramhound
    Oct 9, 2019 at 17:42
  • It's Ctrl + Alt for me on Windows 10 v1909 in agreement with a comment to Ricardo's answer.
    – divenex
    Nov 15, 2019 at 15:08
-1

For me, on the Surface I bought in January 2018, it is CTRL-SHIFT-#, where # is 1, 2, 3, 4... etc. When # is 1, it is Extra Large, and then it goes down in size from there. I guess you have to do some trial and error depending on what machine and OS you're using.

4
  • How is this better than Ricardo Bohner's answer?
    – Toto
    Feb 6, 2018 at 17:55
  • Ricardo did not refer to Win 10. Omar T. commented on Ricardo's answer but gave a different key combination. Only my post tells users that CTRL-SHIFT-# is a potential key combination for Win 10. Specifically on the Surface.
    – Larry
    Feb 7, 2018 at 18:45
  • This doesn't work in Windows 10 1809 Apr 3, 2019 at 13:33
  • Works for me in Win v2004 (Build 1904.388) whilst the above mentioned Ctrl+Alt+# doesn't work for me...
    – suamikim
    Aug 14, 2020 at 6:57

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