Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware
Add an up button to Windows Explorer in Vista
by Brad Linder Sep 10th 2007 at 3:00PM
Look, we have no idea why anyone would want to skin a cat. All we know is that there's more than one way to do it. And so if Side by Side Explorer doesn't give the Vista version of Windows Explorer all the features you're looking for, QT TabBar just might.QT TabBar lets you add tabbed browsing to Windows Explorer, which is useful. But the thing that's been driving us crazy since we started using Windows Vista was the lack of an "up" button in Windows Explorer. There's a back button to take you to the window you had previously been viewing. But there's no button to take you to take you from a subfolder to a main folder. QT TabBar lets you add this button and a few other things.
Installation is a tiny bit tricky. After you download and install the setup file (by right-clicking and running "as administrator,") you have to restart your computer or use Task Manager to kill and restart the explorer process. Once you've done that you have to go into Windows Explorer, click the Alt button to bring up a file menu, and right click on the toolbar to enable QT TabBar and QT Tab Standard buttons. There are a ton of customization options, so set aside some time to explore.
One thing that caught us off guard was the lack of a "new tab" button. You can create a new tab by cloning your current tab. But you can't start a blank tab. However, if you right click on any folder and select "open" instead of "explorer," the folder will open in a new tab.
[via The How To Geek]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Taomyn said 4:19PM on 9-10-2007
I can see why you might miss the "up folder" button, but is it really that difficult to learn to use the address bar in Vista on the folder before the folder you're on at the moment?
It's still only a single click and not like you haven't had to learn a few other new tricks since starting with Vista.
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D said 4:19PM on 9-10-2007
I agree, there is no need for this. The "breadcrumbs" feature, or whatever they call it allows you to just click on any parent folder and go right to it.
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james 42 said 4:20PM on 9-10-2007
Taomyn, that's called bread crumb navigation (and is in the image above). And I agree with you, seems it is much more useful then the old folder up button. So MS is not taking away, just adding.\
But then I am still on XP and OS X (and just ordered my new wife a new notebook with XP instead of Vista).
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DrWatson said 6:05PM on 9-10-2007
I agree that the breadcrumbs give the equivalent functionality, but one important advantage of the "up" button is that it's always in the same place. No need to read the breadcrumbs, find your way, aim at the desired level, click it. Wanna go two levels up? Bam-bam on that button that's all. I just gave up and use the keyboard shortcut instead.
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Ethan Dickerson said 9:27AM on 9-11-2007
It seems odd to me that so many people still use Internet Explorer. You would think that if someone is willing to spend some money, go through and go through a pretty sophisticated install, all to get the latest and greatest visual environment (I'm not factoring in the 64 bit architecture) then they would use Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. It does so much more and makes my browsing time so much more productive. The only reason that I can think of to stay with Internet Explorer is because users are nervous about downloading and installing something from the internet and apparently that is the case for something like 70% of the browser users in the world. I just don't get it... why work so hard and go through all these steps to customize Internet Explorer when it is so easy in Firefox and there is so much more available...
----
Ethan Dickenson, Author, Today's 'Best of Breed'
~~~~~A suite of freeware for Windows~~~~~
http://todaysbestofbreed.wordpress.com/
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S said 9:56AM on 9-11-2007
Alt + Up Arrow and be happy
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Stefan0073 said 10:28AM on 9-11-2007
While the QTBar really is useful, it is also very dangerous. Installing it shouldn't be recommended.
The reason: it requires the .NET framework. And as was pointed out by Raymond Chen, that's a very bad thing to do:
http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2006/12/18/1317290.aspx
Just a warning for those who really like QTBar - it might break other applications unintentionally.
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Jarrett Kaufman said 11:29AM on 9-11-2007
Way to read the article, Ethan. This is about Windows Explorer, not Internet Explorer.
And I have to agree with all other commenters: the breadcrumb bar already handles this much better than an Up button.
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Nightbreed said 2:11PM on 9-18-2007
QtTabBar is not dangerous and maybe you should learn something about computers before making that statement. I've been using it since it first reared it's head and there's never been a problem with it. You should also learn a bit of programming before throwing out anything about .NET. If new technology scares you that much, go back to an atari or something.
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Dazex said 1:34AM on 11-02-2007
Actually, the up button while similar to the new bread crumb is actually very different in my eyes and too bad Vista's UI designer doesn't see it as such. One of the things I love about Windows Explorer is the ability to do the same thing, different ways. I like the ability to use the alt+up key if my hands happen to be on the keyboard. However, if my hand is on the mouse...I would like the ability to click on the up icon the number of times I know in automatically in my head that it would take me to get to the parent/root folder that I am after. It happens so fast and so subconsciously. While the bread crumb serves to do the same thing, in that take you up to the parent folder...and number of level, I find that one must digest the graphical information display in the bread crumb to choose the correct selection. I believe the function of a good UI is to allow one to as effortless as possible, navigate and interact with the computer. Having access to the alt+ up arrow, in addition to the back button, up button and bread crumb is probably the way that Microsoft should have approach it in Vista. I think it's very easy to give the user the ability to customize the toolbar to retain this very useful feature. I am glad there is a workaround surfacing to add this missing functionality. Thanks for the heads up about it.
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roysubs said 1:45PM on 11-05-2007
breadcrumb is rubbish. if you are in a long folder name, and the window is small, you cannot see the next level up, so you cannot use "breadcrumbs". it's rubbish. I tried QT TabBar and SideBySide. Nice, but add too much FLUFF. an UP BUTTON. that's all. funny how many hundreds of forums have people asking for an up button. i.e. it's wanted. people know about the "breadcrumb" feature and ALT-UP, but they don't want that, partly for the reason i say above, and cos they just want to be able to navigate folders simply using the mouse. there is a "BURN" button in Explorer for God's sake, Burn, which no one will use (cos normal people use Nero), but NO up button. how unbelievably retarded is that ... an up button, that's all, just a bloody up button, is it too much to ask for to have a standard feature that is one of the best known elements of Windows XP and 2000 and NT explorer for nearly 10 years. why remove it ! for that stupid breadcrumb thing. retarded (yes, i know people like breadcrumbs, and that's FINE, but would an UP button be so hard in addition to the breadcrumbs ???).
PLEASE, someone at QT or Side by Side, PLEASE could you make a tiny add on that just add's an UP button ! please please please !!! ... thanks :)
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hankjr said 7:54AM on 11-08-2007
I cannot agree with you more...Who is working in User Experience at Microsoft? While it seems like a nit picky, there is a big difference between crummy crumbs and a dumb up arrow. Also, where are the other buttons like delete, copy, paste, etc. How come I cannot customize my Windows Explorer with the command I use?
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Carlos said 8:57AM on 11-21-2007
I am glad to find that many people think like me. I hate it, i hate the fact that there are many buttons which are just stupid. How often do you share a folder??? Why would you burn a hole folder when there are tons of much easier programs to use for burning purposes like nero or roxio???? WHAT THE HECk does this e-mail button does???
Something i like about windows is that i could work my way into doing whatever i wanted to do, delete, create, move, cut... and now i need to have permission for everything!!! I am the only one who uses this computer!
I say bring back the up button (or at least have the option to add it, but never eliminate!! i hate the back button!!!
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