Open very large folders in seconds: How to prevent Windows from automatically recognizing folder types

The "Automatic File Type Discovery" function in Windows can automatically select the most appropriate view template based on the folder content. However, when dealing with very large folders containing a large number of files and multiple file types, it may cause "File Resource Management The device opens more slowly. Therefore, turning this feature off can make folders load faster. Next, we will introduce how to disable the "automatic file type discovery" function to make your folders open faster.

What is a folder type

In the Windows system, there are 5 common folder types: "General Projects", "Documents", "Pictures", "Music" and "Videos". These types are suitable for the following 4 folder view templates. To optimize the display of different files:

• Document folder view template (common to documents and regular projects)
• Picture folder view template
• Music folder view template
• Video Folder View Template

Manually set folder type

If you do not specify it manually, Windows will automatically select and apply the corresponding view template based on the file type in the folder. For example:

• If a folder mainly contains MP3, FLAC, WAV and other audio files, and contains song names, singers and album information, the system will automatically select the "Music" folder type and apply the music folder view template. Press "Name" ", "Number", "Title", "Artist" and "Album" to sort files.
• Similarly, the "Pictures" and "Videos" folder types will also be displayed as thumbnails for easy preview. Folders of type "Document" will display files according to information such as "name", "modification date", "type" and "size".

Recommended reading: 3 simple ways to find large files in Windows

What is automatic folder type discovery

Windows' "Automatic Folder Type Discovery" feature automatically selects a suitable view template based on the contents of the folder. The folder contents are analyzed and an appropriate view template is selected.

Then the question comes. What if the folder you open contains thousands of files of various types? The system needs to iterate through all files to determine the folder type and view template to apply, which will seriously affect the loading and response time of File Explorer.

File type identification is a difficult problem in all systems. Google has open sourced the Magika tool to efficiently identify file types with AI assistance.

How to disable the "Automatic Folder Type Discovery" function

Since the Windows XP era, Windows systems have been using the "Automatic Folder Type Discovery" feature, and this feature has continued to the Windows 11 system. However, if we want to speed up folder browsing, we can disable this feature by modifying the registry. The steps are as follows:

1 Use the Windows R shortcut key to open the "Run" dialog box and execute regedit to open the registry editor.

2 Navigate to the following path:

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareClassesLocal SettingsSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsShellBagsAllFoldersShell

3Create a new string value named FolderType and set its value to NotSpecified.

Disable the "Automatic Folder Type Discovery" feature via the FolderType string value

4. Restart "Windows Explorer" in "Task Manager" or restart the system to apply the changes.

Restart the "Windows Explorer" process

After completing the above steps, the speed will be significantly improved when opening a very large folder containing a large number of files. If you want to restore Windows default settings, simply delete the FolderType string value.

After disabling the "Automatic Folder Type Discovery" function, the system will no longer apply templates to folders to optimize the view. However, you can manually specify the folder type in the "Optimize this folder" drop-down list on the folder's "Properties" > "Customize" tab.

This article describes how to disable Windows' automatic recognition of folder types to improve the response speed of "Explorer". When this feature is disabled, templates will no longer be applied to folders to optimize the view, but you can manually specify the folder type.

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