Forum Discussion
Completely get rid of "Group By" anywhere in File Explorer
As my title says I wish to Completely get rid of "Group By" anywhere in File Explorer. I've tried many things but to no avail. At the moment I am noticing one folder inparticular that constantly resets to a group by date, even though it displays (None) as selected. This folder is my download folder whose path was changed to a folder on an alternate drive. Is there a way to DISABLE Group by for any file/folder on the computer? I have Windows 11 Pro (24H2) updated to present.
6 Replies
Ensure that no third-party file managers or Explorer extensions are overriding default behaviors.
Set "Group By" to (None) manually in each folder.
Click Apply to Folders in Folder Options.
Clear folder view settings via Reset.
Use Registry edits to enforce no grouping system-wide (be careful).Get it looking how you want, including the View (Details, List, etc.) and then set Sort > Group By > None.
This is built-in option and no way to remove it as far as i know.
You need to change registry in order to apply the change.
If Windows File Explorer continues to be problematic and you're looking for a different experience, consider using a third-party file manager. Programs like FreeCommander, Directory Opus, or XYplorer offer extensive customization and may allow you to bypass the grouping features entirely.
