I can’t understand why they removed the up button in Vista. The breadcrumb thing works ok, but if the folder name is too big or the window is too small, all I see is the current folder and to go back I have to click the little down arrows and find the folder I need. Too time consuming and counter-intuitive.
Anyway, is there any way to get an up button? Is microsoft ever going to address this problem with a patch or something?
I seem to recall using a button that looks like the “back button” on Internet Explorer while exploring My Computer…
That’s what I use, just to the left of the address bar.
But that’s not a ‘folder up’ button. To demonstrate this, in c:, click on the Windows directory, then click on the Program Files directory; now click on the ‘back button’ and you’ll get the Windows directory, not c:.
To go up a level, I just click on the directory name in the address bar or in the folder tree on the left.
So what does ‘folder up’ do? (I think I’m confused)
It takes you back one level in the directory path (i.e. to the folder or volume containing the folder you’re now viewing) - that’s not necessarily ‘back’ in terms of the last place you visited.
If you navigate from C:/ to C:/windows then both back and ‘up’ go to C:/
But if you go from C:/ to C:/windows then to C:/program files ‘up’ will go to C:/ back will go to C:/windows.
Back goes to the previous directory you were in.
‘Up’ goes to the previous branch in the directory tree.
I don’t think theres an actual up button to be activated anywhere in gui but the keyboard shortcut alt+up does it.
Looks like you can have one though - I did a google search on Windows Vista Up Button and found a number of third-party add-ons to provide the function.
Start at C:
In the address bar, type c:\windows\fonts
Now, if you press the UP button, it will take you UP a directory, to c:\windows.
However, if you use the BACK button, it will take you BACK to C:\
Ah, the variform delights of Windows Vista: all the functionality of Windows XP, and much of it is included in the software!
I don’t see the need for the Up button – you can click anywhere in the displayed path at the top of the window and go to any folder in that path. If you’re in c:\foo\bar\dog\cat, and you want to go up one level, click on “dog” in the path. If the path is too long, you get a popup list. There’s also a popup next to the c:, which can take you to Documents, Computer, and other places.
It is confusing at first, and I would agree MS made a bad decision to do away with the more familiar UI widget.
This isn’t exactly an answer to the question, but there is a “work around” if you don’t want to install a 3rd-party add-on…
You can use the key combination “Alt + Up Arrow” to achieve the same functionality as the “Folder Up” button.
Ahhh, I got it. I rarely use the directory tree. So the way it was phrased didn’t make sense to me as it’s not possible (the way I do it) to go from c:\windows to c:\program files without going back and then to the other one.
There is a folder UP and down in Vista
Right Click Start
Go to Explore
Go to the Upper Left hand corner
There is an left arrow <-- (If you hover on it, it says back)
Now move right and you see
A right arrow --> (Hover over it and it says right)
Keep moving right and you see a picture of a folder
Keep moving right and you see
<< This is your folder UP arrow (you have to click on that to see the list of folder above it)
Then you have the name of the folder, like Start Menu
Keep going right and you see > That is your down folder button