# Windows Gurus-- sorting question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 27, 2016, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-gurus-sorting-question/753278 "2016-04-27T21:02:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![amaguri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@amaguri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amaguri)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-gurus-sorting-question/753278/1 "2016-04-27T21:02:24Z")
Total shot in the dark here… Back in the day, when you’re in File Explorer and you click one of the column headers (e.g. _Date Modified_), it would sort the files in ascending or descending order and take you to the top of the list. For some reason, now when I do that it sorts “around” whatever entry was highlighted when you clicked the header. So, I have to waste .02 seconds of my life to manually scroll back to the top of the list. Obviously it’s not a big deal but it’s a weird change and I’d like to fix it if possible. Is there any way to control this behavior? ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-gurus-sorting-question/753278/2 "2016-04-27T21:15:08Z")
I’ve had the same question for a while now, and would also like to know. While we have the gurus here, another question, about Win 10: Is there any way to make the Quick Access folder more like the previous “Recent” folder? To make it display _ **all** _ the recently opened folders and files? ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-gurus-sorting-question/753278/3 "2016-04-27T21:29:15Z")
> [@amaguri](#): > > {…} whatever entry was highlighted when you clicked the header. {…} I’m pretty sure that’s your problem, try sorting with nothing highlighted. CMC fnord! Win7 ---
**Author:** ![amaguri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@amaguri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amaguri)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-gurus-sorting-question/753278/4 "2016-04-27T21:50:08Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > I’m pretty sure that’s your problem, try sorting with nothing highlighted. > > CMC fnord! Win7 Fair enough, and indeed that works, but it’s still a different (worse, natch) user experience than before. Assuming you’ve inadvertently clicked on something, how do you remove your selection such that nothing is selected? ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-gurus-sorting-question/753278/5 "2016-04-27T22:39:17Z")
> [@amaguri](#): > > Fair enough, and indeed that works, but it’s still a different (worse, natch) user experience than before. {…} Drives me crazy! > [@amaguri](#): > > {…} Assuming you’ve inadvertently clicked on something, how do you remove your selection such that nothing is selected? From my experimenting; click on a non-file part of the window (in the file part of the window) the Home, End, Pg Up, and Pg Dn keys also work (at least on this lap-top). CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-gurus-sorting-question/753278/6 "2016-04-28T09:10:33Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Drives me crazy!From my experimenting; > click on a non-file part of the window (in the file part of the window) > the Home, End, Pg Up, and Pg Dn keys also work (at least on this lap-top). > > CMC fnord! On Win 8, there’s also a “Select None” button in the new Windows Explorer ribbon. A little Googling also suggests that Ctrl+Alt+Space deselects, so if you have one file selected that should get you back to nothing. ---
**Author:** ![joema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@joema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joema)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-gurus-sorting-question/753278/7 "2016-04-28T12:43:53Z")
> [@amaguri](#): > > …Back in the day, when you’re in File Explorer and you click one of the column headers (e.g. _Date Modified_), it would sort the files in ascending or descending order and take you to the top of the list. For some reason, now when I do that it sorts “around” whatever entry was highlighted when you clicked the header. So, I have to waste .02 seconds of my life to manually scroll back to the top of the list… This may or may not be related: There was a behavioral change (I think) in Vista to current position when opening or closing a folder in Explorer. Instead of maintaining current selected position in the folder tree, when expanding a new subtree it would unpredictably jump down, making you visually lose your place. This was very controversial and continued through Win 7 and Win 8, finally being fixed in Win 10. It may be you found a situation where the prior Win 7/8 behavior was preferable, or maybe they introduced this behavior (accidentally or on purpose) to fix the “folder jump down” bug. [https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/17a83954-8c3c-4d45-9dd6-03f6cdd1604c/strange-folder-behavior-in-left-pane-of-windows-explorer?forum=w7itproperf](https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/17a83954-8c3c-4d45-9dd6-03f6cdd1604c/strange-folder-behavior-in-left-pane-of-windows-explorer?forum=w7itproperf) > **[Folder tree expansion causing explorer to jump down - Windows 7 Help Forums](https://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/106144-folder-tree-expansion-causing-explorer-jump-down.html)** > > Usually, I can pinpoint the cause of these apparent glitches, but I have no clue what would cause such behavior. Until I learn more (which might be a while since school starts for me tomorrow, and I s What version of Windows are you on? ---
**Author:** ![amaguri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@amaguri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amaguri)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-gurus-sorting-question/753278/8 "2016-04-28T14:54:00Z")
> [@joema](#): > > What version of Windows are you on? Interesting links; thank you! I started noticing this when our work computers were upgraded to Windows 7 (yes we are painfully behind the times) so it all sort of checks out. Until we move to Windows 10 in 2053, I can confirm that Ctrl + Space bar will ‘deselect’ anything you may have accidentally highlighted in an Explorer window. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-gurus-sorting-question/753278/9 "2016-04-28T15:17:56Z")
> [@amaguri](#): > > Fair enough, and indeed that works, but it’s still a different (worse, natch) user experience than before. Different strokes - I generally find it more user-friendly: I’m scrolling through a list sorted by name and find a file that I care about, and want to find other files created around the same time. Click on createDate to sort on that, and I’m positioned in the list where I was, but can see the other files from that time. Otherwise, I’d have to scroll to find my position (assuming my deteriorating memory can get me there!). ---
**Author:** ![amaguri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@amaguri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amaguri)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-gurus-sorting-question/753278/10 "2016-04-28T15:23:52Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Different strokes - I generally find it more user-friendly: I’m scrolling through a list sorted by name and find a file that I care about, and want to find other files created around the same time. Click on createDate to sort on that, and I’m positioned in the list where I was, but can see the other files from that time. Otherwise, I’d have to scroll to find my position (assuming my deteriorating memory can get me there!). Yep, I’m sure there are just as many people who find it useful as there are people who find it a nuisance. My similarly deteriorating memory (and an enormous # of files) means I always want to see the most recent version of whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-gurus-sorting-question/753278/11 "2016-04-28T19:40:48Z")
Ctrl + Home will take you to the top of the list. Ctrl + End will take you to the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-gurus-sorting-question/753278/12 "2016-04-28T20:57:55Z")
> [@amaguri](#): > > Back in the day, when you’re in File Explorer and you click one of the column headers (e.g. _Date Modified_), it would sort the files in ascending or descending order and take you to the top of the list. For some reason, now when I do that **it sorts “around” whatever entry was highlighted when you clicked the header**. So, I have to waste .02 seconds of my life to manually scroll back to the top of the list. I kinda like it the new way, as you describe. I wonder if there were a lot of requests for it to work this way. It might be the more popular approach. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-gurus-sorting-question/753278/13 "2016-04-28T21:02:28Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Ctrl + Home will take you to the top of the list. Ctrl + End will take you to the bottom. Just the Home key should take you to the top. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-gurus-sorting-question/753278/14 "2016-04-29T05:52:28Z")
Doing it your way takes away a feature. While there are multiple workaround for what you want, from scrolling back up to not selecting anything if you’re planning on sorting to unselecting anything currently selected. There’s no easy way to get back to the item that was selected. I see no sign that Microsoft left this as a preference, so I’m afraid you’re out of luck. Well, unless someone makes a hacked version of Explorer, but would you really trust that?