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Is there a way to sort folders and files by their name all mixed together in Windows 7?

It would be easier to understand if you look at this page.

I want my folders and files arranged like the BEFORE situation of the first screenshot.

If there is no way to do that with Windows Explorer, is there any file management programs that I should try?

I've already tried Total Commander.

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4 Answers 4

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Apparently there is no way to do this in Windows Explorer that I can see, other than having the folders first. One third-party program that lets you mix files/folders is Xplorer2: http://www.zabkat.com/x2lite.htm

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    Xplorer2 worked like a charm! Thank you!
    – JWoo
    Aug 28, 2011 at 22:41
  • 2
    I've looked through all the options in xplorer^2, and I don't see that option anywhere. Please describe how you enabled it. Thanks!
    – iconoclast
    Dec 24, 2013 at 16:41
  • Same issue here. How to sort it in that way? Nvm found it. The 8.3 Name extention did it.
    – kwoxer
    Mar 6, 2016 at 17:32
  • Just wrote a German Tutorial about this and xplorer² (kwoxer.de/2016/03/08/…). It should easy to understand also for non-Germans. ;)
    – kwoxer
    Mar 8, 2016 at 20:46
  • @kwoxer can you elaborate on this? How exactly did you enable this setting? Dec 15, 2017 at 19:11
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EDIT: This may only work on Win10 in classic theme. I no longer have a machine that I can test this on. I can't change my theme on the server I'm on.

Tested in Win7 & Win10. In the Explorer search field (upper right). Use the "folder:" filter and then use the full path to the target folder in double quotes. By target folder, I mean the one that you would like to view with folders mixed with files. i.e. Your current directory.

folder: "<full path to target folder>"

e.g. folder: "C:\Users\bgrupczy\Downloads"

You can then sort by name or even date modified and they will be mixed.

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To sort by name irrespective of type, select "8.3 names" as a column header, and sort by that - now files and folders will be mixed. An 8.3 name is MS-DOS-compatible, it seems. Select all files/folders and go to "Copy Names" on the Edit menu, now you can pop the results into a text file. Very handy program.

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  • Can you elaborate? How can I select 8.3 names?
    – Micromega
    Aug 16, 2014 at 14:41
  • @Phpdna I think the answer is thought to be used with the tool Xplorer2 (from the selected answer). There you can right-click on the column headers and select an additional column "8.3 Name"
    – Slizzered
    Apr 16, 2015 at 9:53
  • Just wrote a German Tutorial about this and xplorer² (kwoxer.de/2016/03/08/…). It should easy to understand also for non-Germans. ;)
    – kwoxer
    Mar 8, 2016 at 20:47
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Another third-party program that does this is FreeCommander XE at:

Configuration / View / File-Folder list / Sorting

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