How to Customize File Explorer in Windows 11 - MUO - MakeUseOf

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File Explorer is one of the best features in the Windows operating system. If you're a Windows user, you'll end up using it to view what’s on your hard drive, open all your software, and manage your files. Therefore, File Explorer is one of the Windows 11 apps you really can’t do without.

Microsoft has given File Explorer a new look in Windows 11. It still retains all its customization options, but how you access them has changed slightly. These are the various ways you can customize Explorer with those options.

Change File and Folder Icon Sizes

Windows 11’s File Explorer app includes all the same view options it did before, along with one new one. Those view options enable you to choose different icon sizes for folders and files displayed in Explorer. You can also select different layouts for viewing folders’ contents.

To change the icon sizes, click the File Explorer taskbar button. Then click the View button on Explorer’s new command bar to bring up the menu shown directly below. There you can select extra-large, large, medium-sized, and small icon options.

There are four layout options just below those icon size settings. You can select to view files with alternative list, detail, tile, or content layouts in Explorer. The List and Details options display additional date modified and size information for folders and files.

Compact view is the new File Explorer customization you can also select on that menu. That option removes the additional visual element padding added to Explorer in Windows 11. Selecting it makes the left panel’s folder navigation more compact as in the snapshot directly below.

Show or Hide Panes, Item Check Boxes, and File Extensions

The View menu includes an additional Show submenu. Select Show on that menu to reach the options in the snapshot directly below. Clicking Navigation, Details, and Pane options there will show or hide those Explorer features.

There are three other noteworthy customization settings below the pane options. Selecting the Item check boxes option will display small checkboxes beside selected folders and files. If you select File Name options, Explorer will include extensions for identifying formats at the end of all files. The Hidden Items option there shows all files and folders marked as hidden.

Change Folders’ Icons

There isn’t much variation in Explorer’s default folder icon scheme. However, you can customize folders by changing their icons. Adding new icons to your most important folders will make them more identifiable. This is how you can change folder icons in Explorer.

Right-click a folder in Explorer and select Properties.
Then select the Customize tab shown directly below.
Press the Change Icon button.
Choose an alternative icon for the folder from the System32 folder.
Click the OK option.
Select Apply on the properties window.

If you want to look for new File Explorer folder icons beyond the System32 folder, check out the IconArchive website. That site includes a multitude of visually appealing icons you can freely download and add to your folders. Enter the keyword folders in the IconArchive search box to find some new icons. To download one from there, select it and click the ICO button.

When you’ve downloaded some new icons, you can add them to your Explorer folders as outlined above. However, you’ll need to click Browse on the Change Icon window. Then select the downloaded icon from a different folder, and press the Open button.

Change Advanced Settings for Files and Folders

Explorer’s Folder Options window includes many advanced settings for folders and files. From that window’s View tab, you can configure how Explorer displays files and folders in greater detail. This is how you can change the way Explorer displays files and folders via Folder Options.

Click Explorer’s See more button (with three dots) to open the menu in the screenshot directly below.
Select Options on that menu.
Then click the View tab shown directly below there.
Select or deselect the advanced settings there to configure how Explorer displays files and folders.
Press the Apply button to save your new settings.

To get a better idea of how those advanced options change the way Explorer displays folders and files, experiment a bit by selecting and deselecting them. Then have a look through Explorer to see the effects. You can always restore the default configuration by clicking the Restore Defaults button.

Enable Single-Click For Opening Files and Folders

By default, Explorer is configured to open items when you double-click them. However, you can change that by selecting a Single-click to open an item option. Then Explorer will open files and folders when you single-click them instead. This is how you can enable single-click for opening items.

Open Folder Options by clicking the See more button and Options in Explorer.
Select the Single-click to open an item radio button on the General tab.
Then select either the Underline icon titles consistent with my browser or Underline icon titles only when I point at them option.
Click Apply to save the new settings.
Select OK to close Folder Options.

Customize File Explorer With Winaero Tweaker

If you want more File Explorer customization options, check out the freeware Winaero Tweaker. That’s an advanced customization program with which you can further tweak File Explorer to your liking. You can download and install Winaero in the following steps.

Open the Winaero Tweaker website.
Click the Download Winaero Tweaker option on that site to save the program’s ZIP archive.
Bring up File Explorer’s window.
Open the Winaero ZIP archive you just downloaded.
Click the Extract all option on Explorer’s command bar.
Select the checkbox for the Show extracted files when complete option.
Click Extract to finish.
Then double-click WinaeroTweaker-1.33.0.0-setup.exe in its extracted folder.
Go through the setup wizard to install the Winaero Tweaker.
Open the Winaero Tweaker software.

File Explorer options in Winaero Tweaker

The File Explorer section of Winaero Tweaker includes 21 customization settings. Double-click File Explorer on the left side of the window to view its options. Winaero Tweaker includes full descriptions of what all those options do. These are some of its more notable customization settings or Explorer:

Navigation Pane – Custom Items: A setting for adding Control Panel applets, system locations, or user folders to the navigation pane.
Navigation Pane – Default Items: This option enables you to selectively remove default items from Explorer’s navigation pane.
Customize This PC Folder: You can add custom icons to This PC folders with this setting.
Customize Quick Access Item: This setting enables you to add a new icon to the Quick Access item and rename it.
Customize Libraries Item: Select this option to change the Libraries item’s icon and rename it.

You can also restore the ribbon tabs from the old File Explorer with Winaero Tweaker. To do so, double-click the Windows 11 category and select Enable Ribbon in Winaero. Click the Enable the Ribbon UI in File Explorer checkbox. Then press the Restart Explorer button to apply.

Now you’ll see the old View, Share, File, and Home tabs in File Explorer. You can select Explorer’s aforementioned customization options on the View tab. Press the Options button there to open the Folder Options window.

Configure File Explorer to Suit Your Preferences

So, there are many ways you can customize File Explorer with its built-in options and third-party software. With Explorer’s built-in customization settings, you can reconfigure how it displays files and folders. Winaero Tweaker’s additional settings are also a good extension to Explorer’s built-in options. You can make Explorer better suit your preferences with all those customization options.

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About The Author

Jack Slater (48 Articles Published)

Jack has been a freelance tech journalist for more than a decade. He has covered Windows Vista, 7, 10, and 11 topics within a multitude of guides for Make Use Of and numerous other websites.