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In XP Explorer you could drag column widths to any size you wanted. However, annoyingly Vista does not allow you to set them to less than 80 pixels, losing valuable screen real estate.

I have asked this question on a few tech sites - this is the last time I will ask it. Hope someone can help.

Dell Inspiron 1501, Vista Business SP2

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Damn that's a tough question! – Ivo Flipse♦ Aug 19 '09 at 7:29
Not really sure it helps so comment and not answer. You can always hide the column if you don't want to see it - However obviously if you just want it small, this is not really a good solution. – William Hilsum Sep 16 '09 at 9:03

3 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

I have found a solution! Well, kinda...

I've just tried this so I can confirm it works, but I have Windows 7 so unsure if this will work on Vista too.

Right-click on a column header and select 'Size (All) Column(s) to Fit'. This seems to overrule the 80px limit, at least on columns that have this little data in them.

The only problem is that if you try to resize any other columns after this, it re-enforces the 80px rule again and any smaller columns expand back to 80px.

Could I ask why this is a problem though? Unless you have an extremely low res screen I cant see how saving say 20 extra pixels is going to be benificial.

Anyway, hope that can solve your problem.

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up vote 0 down vote

I fear the 80 pixels really is as low as Vista will go, I was unable to find the registry key that determines the lowest width

The sad thing is, Windows 7 has the same limitation...

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Thanks for your effort Ivo, appreciated. Perhaps MS can be persuaded to include the option to narrow column width in the next incarnation of Windows. Though by then I expect to have converted to Linux. – jonrichco.yahoo.com.au Aug 22 '09 at 12:28
Your welcome, I looked very hard, but most people were complaining that the 80 pixel limit is indeed a hard coded limit. Though I hoped there would be a reg fix for this... – Ivo Flipse♦ Aug 22 '09 at 19:06
up vote 0 down vote

Thanks Connor

My screen is 1280 by 800. I always keep two explorer windows open (like the old Norton Commander or now Total Commander) with some space between them so I can drop files into other applications. Thus tight for space.

What I could do in XP but not in vista or 7 was to drag any column to the width I wanted. For example in relation to size, I really do not need to see KB or MB - it is obvious what it is, so I prefer to drag the column width to hide this information. Also the Type column, one only needs a few pixels width to allow you to sort by type, 80 pixels is a waste of space.

By limiting to 80 pixels, Mr Gates is limiting the amount of space I can allocate to eg, Name. Sorry I can't add a shot of my desktop to clarify what I mean.

Thus apart from moving to Total Commander I don't see any option. At least on my system, the option you recommend does not work, or at least doesn't allow me to hide the KB, MB part of the size column. But thanks anyway. Hopefully Windows 8 will address the issue.

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By the way, when you think you have an answer, mark is as the accepted answer by clicking the hollow green tick next to the question. It gives credit to people with good answers. – Connor W Jan 7 '10 at 9:02

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