Share ThisFor Seniors: Arrange Icons on Your Laptop's Desktop
Program icons on your laptop's Windows 7 desktop can be arranged in a variety of ways. Arrange your desktop icons so you can quickly access the programs and files they represent. Icons can be automatically arranged by Windows in neat, orderly rows, or you can arrange them yourself by name, size, type, or date, or by placing them exactly where you want them to be.
To arrange icons yourself, right-click the desktop and choose View→Auto Arrange Icons to turn it off if needed.
If the Auto Arrange Icons option is already turned off, you don't need to do anything before proceeding. This option must be off to enable you to manually arrange your desktop icons.
Click the desktop.
The shortcut menu disappears.
Right-click the Windows 7 desktop, choose Sort By from the shortcut menu, and then click a sort option.
For example, click Name, and your desktop icons are automatically arranged by name.
As you add icons to the desktop, they will not be automatically arranged by your choice here. You need to repeat this step to arrange new icons with existing icons in the sort order you like.
To manually arrange an icon, drag it to another location on the desktop.
For example, you might want separate a particular icon from other desktop icons so you can find it easily. Because Auto Arrange Icons is turned off, desktop icons stay wherever you place them.
To have Windows automatically arrange icons for you, right-click the desktop and then choose View→Auto Arrange Icons.
If you’ve rearranged your desktop by moving items hither, thither, and yon and you want to arrange your icons into orderly rows along the left side of your desktop, snap them into place with the Auto Arrange feature.
To change the size of the desktop icons, right-click the desktop, choose View, and choose Large Icons, Medium Icons, or Small Icons from the View submenu.
