How to change windows explorer view by keyboard?

Question

Is there a keyboard shortcut to switch to a specific view in windows 7 explorer, e.g. "details", "list", "large icons" etc?

Or do I have to use the mouse to change the view via dropdown menu "Change your view" / toggle views by clicking the icon (which does not toggle through all of the views).

Why I want this: if I navigate to a folder Windows guesses which view might be the best. Sometimes it is right, sometimes it is wrong. Then I want to quickly change, e.g. to "list" to see more files, or to "details" to see columns, or "to extra large icons" to get thumbnails. I think this is quicker via keyboard than via mouse.

Edit

I have accepted the sort of obvious answer, using multiple shortcuts to remote control the hidden menu. Currently I am using an AutoHotkey script, inspired by an answer to a related question:

#IfWinActive ahk_class CabinetWClass
; alt+1 list
; alt+2 details
; alt+3 large icons
; alt+4 extra large icons
!1::Send !v{down 5}{enter}
!2::Send !v{down 6}{enter}
!3::Send !v{down 2}{enter}
!4::Send !v{down 1}{enter}
#IfWinActive

With this I can switch the views I use with alt+1 to alt+4. (Note that the script in the linked answer makes Explorer look for files containing the 'v' character. I fixed that.)

Both solutions have one disadvantage in common: showing and hiding the menubar leads to visible flickering. To fix this the menubar would have to be displayed permanently. Or maybe AutoHotkey knows some tricks to execute a menu command without making the menubar visible first. But I don't know about that.

Answer 1

What about ALT + V + D for details, ALT + V + L for list, etc?

Answer 2

In Windows 8 (And later versions) you can use the following shortcuts for View modes:

CTRL + SHIFT + 1 Extra Large
CTRL + SHIFT + 2 Large Icons
CTRL + SHIFT + 3 Medium Icons
CTRL + SHIFT + 4 Small Icons
CTRL + SHIFT + 5 List
CTRL + SHIFT + 6 Details
CTRL + SHIFT + 7 Tiles
CTRL + SHIFT + 8 Content

In Windows 7 for English exhibition language you can use the the following:

ALT (Left) + V + X = Extra large icons
ALT (Left) + V + R = Large icons
ALT (Left) + V + M = Mediom icons
ALT (Left) + V + N = Small icons
ALT (Left) + V + I = List
ALT (Left) + V + D = Details
ALT (Left) + V + S = Tiles
ALT (Left) + V + T = Content

Answer 3

You can use Strg (Control on US keyboards) + Scrolling Wheel. With this combination you can switch between the views. It isn´t a keyboard shortcut, I guess, because you need to use the mouse but maybe it will do the trick.

Answer 4

In Win 8 : ctrl + Alt + <1,2,3,4,5,6..etc> will change the file explorer view.

In win 8.1, 10 : ctrl + shift + <1,2,3,4,5,6..etc> will change the file explorer view.

I learnt this from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxVo8chgq6A

Thanks!

Answer 5

In Windows 7

1. Go to Control Panel
2. System
3. Advanced system settings
4. At Advanced tab, click on "Performance settings"
5. Click Advanced tab. Place a check into the box: "Show thumbnails instead of icons"
6. Click Apply and OK.

The above does the trick.

Answer 6

For me, on the Surface I bought in January 2018, it is CTRL-SHIFT-#, where # is 1, 2, 3, 4... etc. When # is 1, it is Extra Large, and then it goes down in size from there. I guess you have to do some trial and error depending on what machine and OS you're using.