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Many tools raise a common Windows XP file chooser dialog. This dialog offers various views: Thumbnails, Tiles, Icons, List, Details.

By default, I always get the List view, however, I almost always want the Details view.

Is there a way to make Details the default view for this dialog across all my applications?

Since the windows explorer method (shown below) of doing this does not affect these dialogs, perhaps there is a registry entry that can be changed to get the desired behavior?

Oliver Salzburg
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WilliamKF
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  • There is a utility called "OpenWide" that accomplishes this. Search for "OpenWide Utility" It works on XP. Not sure about others. –  Mar 25 '15 at 03:48

2 Answers2

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  1. Double click on My Computer or use any existing Windows Explorer Window
  2. Change the current view to DETAILS or whatever view you would like to make your default.
  3. Go to Tools -> Folder Options
  4. Click on the View Tab
  5. Click on the button that says "Apply to All Folders"

Here you can find some screenshots and instructions on how to do it.

Edit

As stated in the comments the steps given are for Windows Exporer, not for the Open / Save Dialog.

The Open/Save As default view type can't be changed, unless its done from the actual source code in the way the file dialog is invoked. A workaround could be something like this http://www.file-ex.com/welcome.html

Dave
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nmuntz
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    Right, I had previously done that, but it does not appear to apply to dialogs. For example, in Firefox, raise the Open File dialog, notice that the default view is not affected by the above preference. – WilliamKF May 12 '10 at 20:14
  • Firefox is not a "Windows XP file chooser". Regards, – Xavierjazz May 12 '10 at 20:40
  • So this is a bug with Firefox? – WilliamKF May 12 '10 at 21:42
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    My apologies, now I see what you meant. The Open/Save As default view type can't be changed, unless its done from the actual source code in the way the file dialog is invoked. A workaround could be something like this http://www.file-ex.com/welcome.html – nmuntz May 13 '10 at 14:20
  • Putting the real answer in a comment makes it hard to find. Why not edit your answer to say this instead of something slightly off-topic? – Hugh Allen May 24 '10 at 04:17
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To make it easier for others, I'm putting the real answer here:

The Open/Save As default view type can't be changed, unless its done from the actual source code in the way the file dialog is invoked. A workaround is something like File-Ex v3 which works on XP (among other OS versions) and found at http://www.cottonwoodsw.com/fx3summ.html

WilliamKF
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