I want to rip up the photo album!

[Dancin' Fool]

Can I disable the automatic selection of a folder with any graphical content
in it as a "Photo Album"? This is driving me mad - folders with icons,
folders with clip art, folders with graphical work-in-progress - they are
all made as photo albums, with that damned extra Thumbs.db file.

I never want to see a photo album, not even in "My Pictures." Is there a
registry fix to rip the photo album feature out for good?
--
The Dancin' Fool
Replies to the group, please
Remove my clogs to email

[Sharon F]

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 11:59:33 +0100, Dancin' Fool wrote:

> Can I disable the automatic selection of a folder with any graphical content
> in it as a "Photo Album"? This is driving me mad - folders with icons,
> folders with clip art, folders with graphical work-in-progress - they are
> all made as photo albums, with that damned extra Thumbs.db file.
>
> I never want to see a photo album, not even in "My Pictures." Is there a
> registry fix to rip the photo album feature out for good?

Don't know of a way to rip out one of the built in view options but you
could use

View> Details
and then
Folder Options> View> do not cache thumbnails.
Delete any existing thumbs.db files.

--
Sharon F
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User

[Sharon F]

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 11:59:33 +0100, Dancin' Fool wrote:

> Can I disable the automatic selection of a folder with any graphical content
> in it as a "Photo Album"? This is driving me mad - folders with icons,
> folders with clip art, folders with graphical work-in-progress - they are
> all made as photo albums, with that damned extra Thumbs.db file.
>
> I never want to see a photo album, not even in "My Pictures." Is there a
> registry fix to rip the photo album feature out for good?

PS: If the folder is customizable, change it to the Documents type.

--
Sharon F
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User

[Dancin' Fool]

"Sharon F" > wrote in message
...
> On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 11:59:33 +0100, Dancin' Fool wrote:
>
> > Can I disable the automatic selection of a folder with any graphical
content
> > in it as a "Photo Album"? This is driving me mad - folders with icons,
> > folders with clip art, folders with graphical work-in-progress - they
are
> > all made as photo albums, with that damned extra Thumbs.db file.
> >
> > I never want to see a photo album, not even in "My Pictures." Is there a
> > registry fix to rip the photo album feature out for good?
>
> PS: If the folder is customizable, change it to the Documents type.
>
> --
> Sharon F
> MS MVP - Windows Shell/User

Thanks for the replies, Sharon.

As I understand it, the "Do not cache Thumbnails" switch doesn't stop the
folder being _viewed_ as a Photo Album, just the Thumbs.db file appearing
within. I already select each folder, once I know it has graphical content,
as a "documents" folder. But short of putting a master folder on the HDD
(with everything else in it) designated as a "documents" folder and applying
that template to all sub-folders, I haven't found a way to deal with the
Photo Album except on a folder-by-folder basis.

--
The Dancin' Fool
Replies to the group, please
Remove my clogs to email

[Sharon F]

On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 21:03:42 +0100, Dancin' Fool wrote:

> Thanks for the replies, Sharon.
>
> As I understand it, the "Do not cache Thumbnails" switch doesn't stop the
> folder being _viewed_ as a Photo Album, just the Thumbs.db file appearing
> within. I already select each folder, once I know it has graphical content,
> as a "documents" folder. But short of putting a master folder on the HDD
> (with everything else in it) designated as a "documents" folder and applying
> that template to all sub-folders, I haven't found a way to deal with the
> Photo Album except on a folder-by-folder basis.

Yes, that is correct. The "do not cache thumbnails" setting only blocks the
creation of the thumbs.db file. You are also correct on your plan for
removing the customization in one fell swoop.

Personally, I leave the photo customization in place with my image folders
but typically view them using "Details." There are times when I do want to
see the thumbnails or use one of the image options in the Common Tasks
pane. A simple switch in views allows me to do that.

Also "Remember each folder's view settings" is enabled to retain the folder
view that I used last and I've increased the number of folders that XP will
record preferences for using the registry tweak described under "Folder
Views - Keep Settings" on this page:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_f.htm

--
Sharon F
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User