When navigating Windows XP Explorer folders containing hundreds, if not thousands, of icons, it may prove beneficial to sort your files and folders and group them together. There are many ways you can do this.

First, open a folder window in Explorer. View your icons as thumbnails, large icons, small icons, or in detail mode (recommended). You can do this via the "View" menu. Note that this tip will not work if your icons are displayed in "List" mode.

Group icons by name

This splits your icons into groups delineated by the icons' first letters. Icons starting with punctuation or other characters are placed in the "Other" category.

1. "View" - "Arrange Icons By" - "Name"
2. Check "View" - "Arrange Icons By" - "Show in Groups".

Group icons by size

This delineates icons by their relative size, putting folders in a separate category.

1. "View" - "Arrange Icons By" - "Size".
2. Check "View" - "Arrange Icons By" - "Show in Groups".

Group icons by type

This separates icons into groups based on their file type (extension).

1. "View" - "Arrange Icons By" - "Type".
2. Check "View" - "Arrange Icons By" - "Show in Groups".

Group icons by modification date

This splits your icons into groups such as "Today", "Yesterday", "Earlier this month", and "A long time ago" based on when they were last modified.

1. "View" - "Arrange Icons By" - "Modified".
2. Check "View" - "Arrange Icons By" - "Show in Groups".

More options

If you have customized the details to display in a Windows XP Explorer folder, you can split your icons into groups based on file attributes, picture dimensions, song artists, and more.

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