The Windows desktop is often cluttered with folders and documents, making it difficult to quickly locate a specific file. This is compounded when the icons are stacked on top of each other, making it even harder to identify the file we need.
Moving each icon individually to find a file only transfers the problem to another part of the screen, rather than actually solving it. This means that when we need to search for another file, we’re back to square one. If we’re facing this issue, we need to find a real solution to the problem.
Organize desktop icons in Windows
Windows provides support for a plethora of keyboard shortcuts that enable us to perform numerous functions and actions without interacting with the operating system menus. However, it is possible that we might have unintentionally pressed a key combination causing the desktop icons to no longer align with the invisible grid available on the Windows desktop.
As a result, when we copy content to the desktop or add new files, folders or shortcuts, they will be added without any order, cluttering the desktop with numerous icons that are challenging to locate. To address this issue, we can easily restore the icons and organize them based on the invisible grid by spending less than a minute.
To do so, we need to place the mouse in an area of the desktop where there are no icons and right-click. Then, select the “View” option and check the “Align icons to the grid” box within this menu.
Once the “Align icons to the grid” option is selected, the files, folders, and shortcuts will be displayed based on the grid on the Windows desktop. However, this does not organize the icons in any specific order, so we will have to arrange them manually as per our preferences.
If we prefer to view all files in rows without any icon gaps, we can access the same menu and select “Auto arrange icons,” which is also available within the View menu accessed through the mouse right-click context menu.
