First, please don't respond to this post with "just go to 'Customize This Folder
and select a picture for the folder". That is exactly what I want to do, but I
want it to be DEFAULT for all folders when I use thumbnail view. I have
thousands of folders and it would be impossible to customize every one of them.

I don't use thumbnail view by default, but in my picture folders I want to use
thumbnail view. XP by default displays four thumbnails on a folder icon which
is basically useless to me because they're too small to see. When I switch to
thumbnail view I want explorer to display ONE thumbnail on a folder icon by
default, without having to customize thousands of folders manually or put a
folder.jpg into each folder manually.

If anyone can figure this out I'd really appreciate the solution!

TIA

On Sun, 23 Oct 2005 10:18:13 -0700, Flippy Smith wrote:

> First, please don't respond to this post with "just go to 'Customize This Folder
> and select a picture for the folder". That is exactly what I want to do, but I
> want it to be DEFAULT for all folders when I use thumbnail view. I have
> thousands of folders and it would be impossible to customize every one of them.
>
> I don't use thumbnail view by default, but in my picture folders I want to use
> thumbnail view. XP by default displays four thumbnails on a folder icon which
> is basically useless to me because they're too small to see. When I switch to
> thumbnail view I want explorer to display ONE thumbnail on a folder icon by
> default, without having to customize thousands of folders manually or put a
> folder.jpg into each folder manually.
>
> If anyone can figure this out I'd really appreciate the solution!
>
> TIA

Folders need to be customized as photo folders. Then use the "Slide show"
view. This puts the files as a scrollable "filmstrip" along the bottom of
the folder window. The highlighted file from the filmstrip becomes the
single large image that is displayed. Sorry that I can't think of any way
to make this work for all folders. It's a very specific customization.

--
Sharon F
MS-MVP ~ Windows Shell/User

Sun, 23 Oct 2005 12:26:42 -0500 from Sharon F
<sharonfDEL@ETEmvps.org>:
> Folders need to be customized as photo folders. Then use the "Slide show"
> view. This puts the files as a scrollable "filmstrip" along the bottom of
> the folder window. The highlighted file from the filmstrip becomes the
> single large image that is displayed. Sorry that I can't think of any way
> to make this work for all folders. It's a very specific customization.

However, the "customize" tab does have "Apply to subfolders" as a
checkbox. So if the folders of interest are all in a common tree it
could go pretty quick.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
"You find yourself amusing, Blackadder."
"I try not to fly in the face of public opinion."

Stan Brown wrote:
> Sun, 23 Oct 2005 12:26:42 -0500 from Sharon F
> <sharonfDEL@ETEmvps.org>:
>
>>Folders need to be customized as photo folders. Then use the "Slide show"
>>view. This puts the files as a scrollable "filmstrip" along the bottom of
>>the folder window. The highlighted file from the filmstrip becomes the
>>single large image that is displayed. Sorry that I can't think of any way
>>to make this work for all folders. It's a very specific customization.
>
>
> However, the "customize" tab does have "Apply to subfolders" as a
> checkbox. So if the folders of interest are all in a common tree it
> could go pretty quick.
>
Both of you did not understand the OP's question. Now go re-read the
question and give him an answer that has some info that will be helpful
to solving his request. sheesh

Save the following as a .reg file, changing the path to the picture accordingly. The double backslashes will become single when you merge the reg file:

-------------------------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell NoRoam\Bags\AllFolders]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell NoRoam\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
"Logo"="C:\\Documents and Settings\\Keith\\My Documents\\My Pictures\\testbkgrnd.bmp"

---------------------------------------------

This will change the thumbnail for all folders that don't have an assigned picture. To clear out the rest of the pictures:

c:\>del /s folder.jpg
c:\>del /a /s thumbs.db

The only folder pictures remaining should be those which were assigned thru the customize dialog. To remove those, you can use the dialog or use regedit to delete the "Logo" value in each numbered subkey of:

"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shel lNoRoam\Bags"

Good Luck,
Keith

"Flippy Smith" <nobody@nowhere.org> wrote in message news:30hnl1hr3ljd9h438k922fin30tj1sjus3@4ax.com...
> First, please don't respond to this post with "just go to 'Customize This Folder
> and select a picture for the folder". That is exactly what I want to do, but I
> want it to be DEFAULT for all folders when I use thumbnail view. I have
> thousands of folders and it would be impossible to customize every one of them.
>
> I don't use thumbnail view by default, but in my picture folders I want to use
> thumbnail view. XP by default displays four thumbnails on a folder icon which
> is basically useless to me because they're too small to see. When I switch to
> thumbnail view I want explorer to display ONE thumbnail on a folder icon by
> default, without having to customize thousands of folders manually or put a
> folder.jpg into each folder manually.
>
> If anyone can figure this out I'd really appreciate the solution!
>
> TIA

On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 01:20:09 GMT, High wrote:

> Both of you did not understand the OP's question. Now go re-read the
> question and give him an answer that has some info that will be helpful
> to solving his request. sheesh

Whoa there partner. As I stated, I don't know of a way to apply the view to
all folders as requested by the OP. As far as I know it is limited to
folders customized manually (and can be applied to subfolders as Stan Brown
points out). Keith Miller, an incredible whiz at customizations, has made a
reply. It will be interesting to see how his suggestion works out.

--
Sharon F
MS-MVP ~ Windows Shell/User

LOL. I think I misread the question myself. The method I describe will display one picture by default, but the same picture for every folder. I thought it was an odd request, but who am I to judge.

On re-reading, I see the OP wants one image from the containing folder to be the thumbnail for that folder.

I don't know how to change the default behavior of thumbnail generation, so I think this would require a script of some sort. I'll give it some thought.

Keith

"Keith Miller" <k.miller79@verizon.net> wrote in message news:eWxV7jF2FHA.268@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
Save the following as a .reg file, changing the path to the picture accordingly. The double backslashes will become single when you merge the reg file:

-------------------------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell NoRoam\Bags\AllFolders]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell NoRoam\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
"Logo"="C:\\Documents and Settings\\Keith\\My Documents\\My Pictures\\testbkgrnd.bmp"

---------------------------------------------

This will change the thumbnail for all folders that don't have an assigned picture. To clear out the rest of the pictures:

c:\>del /s folder.jpg
c:\>del /a /s thumbs.db

The only folder pictures remaining should be those which were assigned thru the customize dialog. To remove those, you can use the dialog or use regedit to delete the "Logo" value in each numbered subkey of:

"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shel lNoRoam\Bags"

Good Luck,
Keith

"Flippy Smith" <nobody@nowhere.org> wrote in message news:30hnl1hr3ljd9h438k922fin30tj1sjus3@4ax.com...
> First, please don't respond to this post with "just go to 'Customize This Folder
> and select a picture for the folder". That is exactly what I want to do, but I
> want it to be DEFAULT for all folders when I use thumbnail view. I have
> thousands of folders and it would be impossible to customize every one of them.
>
> I don't use thumbnail view by default, but in my picture folders I want to use
> thumbnail view. XP by default displays four thumbnails on a folder icon which
> is basically useless to me because they're too small to see. When I switch to
> thumbnail view I want explorer to display ONE thumbnail on a folder icon by
> default, without having to customize thousands of folders manually or put a
> folder.jpg into each folder manually.
>
> If anyone can figure this out I'd really appreciate the solution!
>
> TIA

Here's a no-frills script that will prompt you to select a folder. It will then copy the first .jpg found and name that copy folder.jpg. It will then do the same for all subfolders.

Copy the following into notepad and save with a .vbs extension.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Const SHCONTF_FOLDERS = &H20
Const SHCONTF_NONFOLDERS = &H40

dim oXpShell, oWshShell, oFso, oFolder

'Assign objects
Set oXpShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
Set oWshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set oFso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

set oFolder = oXpShell.BrowseForFolder(0, "Choose a Folder", 0)
If oFolder Is Nothing Then WScript.Quit
SetPic oFolder
Msgbox "Done"

Sub SetPic(oFolder)
set oSubFolderItems = oFolder.Items
oSubFolderItems.Filter SHCONTF_NONFOLDERS, "*.jpg"
If oSubFolderItems.Count > 0 Then
PicPath = oSubFolderItems.Item(0).Path
On Error Resume Next
oFso.CopyFile PicPath, oFolder.Self.Path & "\folder.jpg", False
On Error Goto 0
End If

set oSubFolderItems = oFolder.Items
oSubFolderItems.Filter SHCONTF_FOLDERS, "*"

For each oSubFolder in oSubFolderItems
If oSubFolder.IsFolder Then
SetPic oSubFolder.GetFolder
End If
Next
End Sub
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Keith

"Keith Miller" <k.miller79@verizon.net> wrote in message news:Oee1S9M2FHA.2472@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
LOL. I think I misread the question myself. The method I describe will display one picture by default, but the same picture for every folder. I thought it was an odd request, but who am I to judge.

On re-reading, I see the OP wants one image from the containing folder to be the thumbnail for that folder.

I don't know how to change the default behavior of thumbnail generation, so I think this would require a script of some sort. I'll give it some thought.

Keith

"Keith Miller" <k.miller79@verizon.net> wrote in message news:eWxV7jF2FHA.268@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
Save the following as a .reg file, changing the path to the picture accordingly. The double backslashes will become single when you merge the reg file:

-------------------------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell NoRoam\Bags\AllFolders]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell NoRoam\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
"Logo"="C:\\Documents and Settings\\Keith\\My Documents\\My Pictures\\testbkgrnd.bmp"

---------------------------------------------

This will change the thumbnail for all folders that don't have an assigned picture. To clear out the rest of the pictures:

c:\>del /s folder.jpg
c:\>del /a /s thumbs.db

The only folder pictures remaining should be those which were assigned thru the customize dialog. To remove those, you can use the dialog or use regedit to delete the "Logo" value in each numbered subkey of:

"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shel lNoRoam\Bags"

Good Luck,
Keith

"Flippy Smith" <nobody@nowhere.org> wrote in message news:30hnl1hr3ljd9h438k922fin30tj1sjus3@4ax.com...
> First, please don't respond to this post with "just go to 'Customize This Folder
> and select a picture for the folder". That is exactly what I want to do, but I
> want it to be DEFAULT for all folders when I use thumbnail view. I have
> thousands of folders and it would be impossible to customize every one of them.
>
> I don't use thumbnail view by default, but in my picture folders I want to use
> thumbnail view. XP by default displays four thumbnails on a folder icon which
> is basically useless to me because they're too small to see. When I switch to
> thumbnail view I want explorer to display ONE thumbnail on a folder icon by
> default, without having to customize thousands of folders manually or put a
> folder.jpg into each folder manually.
>
> If anyone can figure this out I'd really appreciate the solution!
>
> TIA

Well thanks Keith and Stan for the effort. Yes I did want the thumbnail on the
folder to be the first image in the folder . While both of your suggestions
look like they would work, Stan's suggestion would probably work well when all
your pictures are under one folder. Keith's suggestion would result in hundreds
of megs of wasted space for thousands of large digicam images.

I was hoping there was a registry entry I missed that would change the number of
thumbnails displayed on a folder icon. I appreciate the suggestions and will
keep them in mind though, thanks.

On Tue, 25 Oct 2005 00:48:52 -0500, "Keith Miller" <k.miller79@verizon.net>
wrote:

>Here's a no-frills script that will prompt you to select a folder. It will then copy the first .jpg found and name that copy folder.jpg. It will then do the same for all subfolders.
>
>Copy the following into notepad and save with a .vbs extension.
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------
>Const SHCONTF_FOLDERS = &H20
>Const SHCONTF_NONFOLDERS = &H40
>
>dim oXpShell, oWshShell, oFso, oFolder
>
>'Assign objects
>Set oXpShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
>Set oWshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
>Set oFso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
>
>set oFolder = oXpShell.BrowseForFolder(0, "Choose a Folder", 0)
>If oFolder Is Nothing Then WScript.Quit
>SetPic oFolder
>Msgbox "Done"
>
>Sub SetPic(oFolder)
> set oSubFolderItems = oFolder.Items
> oSubFolderItems.Filter SHCONTF_NONFOLDERS, "*.jpg"
> If oSubFolderItems.Count > 0 Then
> PicPath = oSubFolderItems.Item(0).Path
> On Error Resume Next
> oFso.CopyFile PicPath, oFolder.Self.Path & "\folder.jpg", False
> On Error Goto 0
> End If
>
> set oSubFolderItems = oFolder.Items
> oSubFolderItems.Filter SHCONTF_FOLDERS, "*"
>
> For each oSubFolder in oSubFolderItems
> If oSubFolder.IsFolder Then
> SetPic oSubFolder.GetFolder
> End If
> Next
>End Sub
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Keith
>
>"Keith Miller" <k.miller79@verizon.net> wrote in message news:Oee1S9M2FHA.2472@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>LOL. I think I misread the question myself. The method I describe will display one picture by default, but the same picture for every folder. I thought it was an odd request, but who am I to judge.
>
>On re-reading, I see the OP wants one image from the containing folder to be the thumbnail for that folder.
>
>I don't know how to change the default behavior of thumbnail generation, so I think this would require a script of some sort. I'll give it some thought.
>
>Keith
>
>"Keith Miller" <k.miller79@verizon.net> wrote in message news:eWxV7jF2FHA.268@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
>Save the following as a .reg file, changing the path to the picture accordingly. The double backslashes will become single when you merge the reg file:
>
>-------------------------------------------------------
>Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
>
>[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell NoRoam\Bags\AllFolders]
>
>[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell NoRoam\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
>"Logo"="C:\\Documents and Settings\\Keith\\My Documents\\My Pictures\\testbkgrnd.bmp"
>
>---------------------------------------------
>
>This will change the thumbnail for all folders that don't have an assigned picture. To clear out the rest of the pictures:
>
>c:\>del /s folder.jpg
>c:\>del /a /s thumbs.db
>
>The only folder pictures remaining should be those which were assigned thru the customize dialog. To remove those, you can use the dialog or use regedit to delete the "Logo" value in each numbered subkey of:
>
>"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\She llNoRoam\Bags"
>
>Good Luck,
>Keith
>
>"Flippy Smith" <nobody@nowhere.org> wrote in message news:30hnl1hr3ljd9h438k922fin30tj1sjus3@4ax.com...
>> First, please don't respond to this post with "just go to 'Customize This Folder
>> and select a picture for the folder". That is exactly what I want to do, but I
>> want it to be DEFAULT for all folders when I use thumbnail view. I have
>> thousands of folders and it would be impossible to customize every one of them.
>>
>> I don't use thumbnail view by default, but in my picture folders I want to use
>> thumbnail view. XP by default displays four thumbnails on a folder icon which
>> is basically useless to me because they're too small to see. When I switch to
>> thumbnail view I want explorer to display ONE thumbnail on a folder icon by
>> default, without having to customize thousands of folders manually or put a
>> folder.jpg into each folder manually.
>>
>> If anyone can figure this out I'd really appreciate the solution!
>>
>> TIA

You're welcome.

Good Luck,
Keith

"Flippy Smith" <nobody@nowhere.org> wrote in message news:f7p2m1te9g7bskr3aj5onea2g9euqfqs3q@4ax.com...
> Well thanks Keith and Stan for the effort. Yes I did want the thumbnail on the
> folder to be the first image in the folder . While both of your suggestions
> look like they would work, Stan's suggestion would probably work well when all
> your pictures are under one folder. Keith's suggestion would result in hundreds
> of megs of wasted space for thousands of large digicam images.
>
> I was hoping there was a registry entry I missed that would change the number of
> thumbnails displayed on a folder icon. I appreciate the suggestions and will
> keep them in mind though, thanks.
>
> On Tue, 25 Oct 2005 00:48:52 -0500, "Keith Miller" <k.miller79@verizon.net>
> wrote:
>
> >Here's a no-frills script that will prompt you to select a folder. It will then copy the first .jpg found and name that copy folder.jpg. It will then do the same for all subfolders.
> >
> >Copy the following into notepad and save with a .vbs extension.
> >
> >-----------------------------------------------------------
> >Const SHCONTF_FOLDERS = &H20
> >Const SHCONTF_NONFOLDERS = &H40
> >
> >dim oXpShell, oWshShell, oFso, oFolder
> >
> >'Assign objects
> >Set oXpShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
> >Set oWshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
> >Set oFso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
> >
> >set oFolder = oXpShell.BrowseForFolder(0, "Choose a Folder", 0)
> >If oFolder Is Nothing Then WScript.Quit
> >SetPic oFolder
> >Msgbox "Done"
> >
> >Sub SetPic(oFolder)
> > set oSubFolderItems = oFolder.Items
> > oSubFolderItems.Filter SHCONTF_NONFOLDERS, "*.jpg"
> > If oSubFolderItems.Count > 0 Then
> > PicPath = oSubFolderItems.Item(0).Path
> > On Error Resume Next
> > oFso.CopyFile PicPath, oFolder.Self.Path & "\folder.jpg", False
> > On Error Goto 0
> > End If
> >
> > set oSubFolderItems = oFolder.Items
> > oSubFolderItems.Filter SHCONTF_FOLDERS, "*"
> >
> > For each oSubFolder in oSubFolderItems
> > If oSubFolder.IsFolder Then
> > SetPic oSubFolder.GetFolder
> > End If
> > Next
> >End Sub
> >-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >Keith
> >
> >"Keith Miller" <k.miller79@verizon.net> wrote in message news:Oee1S9M2FHA.2472@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> >LOL. I think I misread the question myself. The method I describe will display one picture by default, but the same picture for every folder. I thought it was an odd request, but who am I to judge.
> >
> >On re-reading, I see the OP wants one image from the containing folder to be the thumbnail for that folder.
> >
> >I don't know how to change the default behavior of thumbnail generation, so I think this would require a script of some sort. I'll give it some thought.
> >
> >Keith
> >
> >"Keith Miller" <k.miller79@verizon.net> wrote in message news:eWxV7jF2FHA.268@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> >Save the following as a .reg file, changing the path to the picture accordingly. The double backslashes will become single when you merge the reg file:
> >
> >-------------------------------------------------------
> >Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
> >
> >[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell NoRoam\Bags\AllFolders]
> >
> >[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell NoRoam\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
> >"Logo"="C:\\Documents and Settings\\Keith\\My Documents\\My Pictures\\testbkgrnd.bmp"
> >
> >---------------------------------------------
> >
> >This will change the thumbnail for all folders that don't have an assigned picture. To clear out the rest of the pictures:
> >
> >c:\>del /s folder.jpg
> >c:\>del /a /s thumbs.db
> >
> >The only folder pictures remaining should be those which were assigned thru the customize dialog. To remove those, you can use the dialog or use regedit to delete the "Logo" value in each numbered subkey of:
> >
> >"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\She llNoRoam\Bags"
> >
> >Good Luck,
> >Keith
> >
> >"Flippy Smith" <nobody@nowhere.org> wrote in message news:30hnl1hr3ljd9h438k922fin30tj1sjus3@4ax.com...
> >> First, please don't respond to this post with "just go to 'Customize This Folder
> >> and select a picture for the folder". That is exactly what I want to do, but I
> >> want it to be DEFAULT for all folders when I use thumbnail view. I have
> >> thousands of folders and it would be impossible to customize every one of them.
> >>
> >> I don't use thumbnail view by default, but in my picture folders I want to use
> >> thumbnail view. XP by default displays four thumbnails on a folder icon which
> >> is basically useless to me because they're too small to see. When I switch to
> >> thumbnail view I want explorer to display ONE thumbnail on a folder icon by
> >> default, without having to customize thousands of folders manually or put a
> >> folder.jpg into each folder manually.
> >>
> >> If anyone can figure this out I'd really appreciate the solution!
> >>
> >> TIA
>