Windows

Windows Explorer Menu Bar In Windows Vista

Posted by on Apr 10, 2007 | 24 Comments

When you first open Windows Explorer in Vista, you’ll notice that a few changes have been made to the interface. Most notably is the missing menu bar. This familiar bar has File, Edit, View, Favorites, Tools and Help. I found it difficult, or maybe just annoying, trying to perform tasks in Windows Explorer without the menu bar.

If you’re as attached to the familiar menu bar as I am, it’s simple to bring it back in Vista. Within Windows Explorer, you’ll see a button called Organize. Click the down arrow on this button and select the Layout option. Select the Menu Bar option so there is a check mark beside it. This feature is turned on when the check mark is present.

Now when you return to the Windows Explorer interface, the Menu Bar will be available.

[tags]Vista, Windows, Microsoft[/tags]

  • Don Williams

    With respect to your article on the Vista Menu Bar, if you hit the Alt key the Menu Bar will appear.
    Don Williams

  • Dennis Finn

    Do you know of any way to get rid of the links “Pain” that is above the folder list. This is the most annoying feature that I have ever seen. you can move or turn off most everything else in this window but this stupid favorite links “Pain”. Do you think it might be to much like the tried and true windows explorer.

    If you know of a way to turn this off I and many others would be thankful.

  • Mr. Bungle

    Note you can also just press the ALT key to temporarily show/hide the menu bar in Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer.

  • Rob

    Diana, thank you VERY MUCH for this tip about the missing toolbar in Windows Explorer. Searching the “Help” in Vista was useless-your post is GREATLY appreciated.

    rc

  • Kirk

    Hi – thanks for the Vista tips, I also was annoyed at the lack of the menu in Windows Explorer.

    My other annoyance is that the windows explorer status bar no longer shows the total size of everything in a folder (as in WinXP). There is the new resizable “Details Pane” which lacks the total size (i.e., “117 Items, 413 MB”), and instead only shows the total number of items.

    Can we add this back in somehow?

  • daniel

    how about a status bar?

    and how about a toolbar with cut/copy/apste/delete etc??
    y
    THANKS!!

  • Prairie Vista

    Does anyone know how to move up a folder in vista explorer? In XP there was a little green arrow pointing up. Gosh I miss this little feature.

  • Bryan

    You can press the backspace key to go up one folder….yes, I miss the up arrow too.

  • Thierry

    The status bar definitively has to be fixed. Not just you have to do CTRL+A everytimes to have the total files size information that has been in Windows Explorer since its debut, but they obviously messed the old features adaptation: press CTRL+R or F5 and any file size is doubled. I just loved to have quick instant information when moving from a file to another in XP, but all the layout panes lag. And hey, only better features can replace the old ones, and laggier ones than XP is not better.

    My other annoyance is that List view, by selecting it by click files are shown with a default minimum column width (that is pretty large) but selecting it with the scrolling arrow it adapts to the largest file text (but that is shown only, not by the largest file text of the folder if you don’t see it just like earlier Windows). But at least, wow, Microsoft now let a subtile option for me. Pretty useful for folders with a lot of files that can show more than details at once. And oh no, you get somewhere else and come back and this was just to show you not gonna have this. Microsoft is getting sadic, stop hating them, programmers need some love lol.

    With such bugs I’m less confident that my data are safe in other background management if they can’t even get simple programmation details right. *I’m sure that most of everything else is fine :-)

  • sean

    vista’s help was useless at getting the status bar back. i found how to do it in IE but not in explorer, that ALT key info was most useful.
    cheers

  • pat

    i have the same problem as the last post. when i go to organize, layout, menu and uncheck it, i can’t get the file menu to disappear in vista explorer.

  • john

    i had the same problem as pat (oct 29). i couldn’t hide the menu bar after checking the option in the “organize” thing. once i had unhidden the menus, i was looking for the old “customize” option by right clicking, and noticed that it said “show norton toolbar” and “lock the toolbars”. so i unchecked the “lock” and clicked “norton”. nothing happened. not check, no nothing. (i couldn’t care less why.) anyhow, i clicked it a bunch of times, and lost track of whether it was on or off.

    finally, after messing with the “organize” thing about a thousand times, i started going back and clicking everything i had clicked. when i clicked the “norton” thing, presto, no more menus. so if you have the same problem, and have some third-party menus or toolbars enabled, that might be the problem.

    personally, i’d say that the “alt” key is a much better option, unless you are in the habit of using your machine without a keyboard.

  • Michael Audet

    For whatever its worth, this worked for me in getting the menu bar back:
    I right-clicked the two-star icon at the top left, left-clicked on the “lock toolbars” option to “un-check” it, or unlock it. I then left-clicked the menu-bar to get rid of the checkmark beside it, left-clicked it again, and badda-bing, badda-boom, the menu bar was back.
    I’m calling that Gates guy for a job!

  • rudolph

    I too cant hide the menu bar and i’ve tried everything i dont know what to do.

  • DAHstra

    I just GOOGLED and read posts about : ALT + UP ARROW to pop up one directory and keep going up. Backspace only undoes your last directory move through, so you just movie back and forth.

    Also, as far and the MENU bar disappearing, try this :

    ALT > TOOLS > FOLDER OPTIONS > VIEW [tab] > ALWAYS SHOW MENUS [check box] – Make sure to choose APPLY TO ALL FOLDERS before you close out.

    Maybe if we all take a few minutes to e-mail Microsoft (which I’ve done), they’ll add the UP ARROW button back. Some think it’s dumb, but I really like it. It’s okay to add FOO FOO settings for people to don’t understand computers, but it’s not okay to restore useful settings for people who have been usuing Windows from the beginning. :-(

    Happy Holidays all.

  • http://bigapple542001@yahoo.com roger brault

    how do you find run on the vista windows

  • http://bigapple542001@yahoo.com roger brault

    where do you find run on the vista windows

  • Keith Miller

    Roger – +R will display the ‘Run’ dialog. It can also be added to the Start Menu via ‘Taskbar & Start Menu Properties’ -> ‘Start Menu’ tab -> ‘Customize’ -> check the box for ‘Run Command’.

    Also, the search bar on the Start Menu often functions identically to the Run dialog for many commands.

  • http://saved2serve@gmail.com PeacebyJesus

    Though it is by no means a major issue, i concur with those who would like to see the Up button back. As one who does a lot of navigating between 4 partitions and many folders, I find it not only faster (esp. with my stiff fingers), but with it one can nuke the Navigation pane to allow for smaller Windows (the last size of which i find Vista forgets), which i often like in order to do place folders side by side. A 5.00 shareware app offers to restore the up button (http://www.mavisapps.com/up-button), but i would think someone could come up with a registry fix for that, or at enable least Alt and the mouse wheel to do it.

    Another idea would be to make the Task Bar like the Tabs in Firefox and be able to move them around, and it’s Colorful Tabs ext make each one a different color. And also to be able to Save Sessions.

  • http://saved2serve@gmail.com PeacebyJesus

    Well, thank God for the ability to and for those that make it possible to customize. This freeware gets the up button back and far more, See
    http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/tabbed-explorer-add-on-for-windows-vista-and-an-up-button-too/

  • http://www.yongsfy.com Free Translation

    I have tred the tool bar, but exactly how it works like a Yahoo bar?

  • http://kingsdesign.net Kings Design

    thanks very usefull

  • AndreasC

    Hi. I had the same problem of not being able to hide the menu bar, but I found this. It seems to be the only solution and also the correct one. I don’t know the reason for the problem though.

    http://forums.techarena.in/vista-file-management/905110.htm#post3595721

  • http://www.pinnagroup.com Web Designer India

    Nice Info

    Thanks