Member Avatar for Roobyroo

How do I make sure that the folders and files I have in Internet Explorer show up in orders? Right now they're in a random order that doesn't make any sense.

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As pointed out, the Favorites menu is just a view of real files on disk, so the first step is to look where Windows keeps them and fix things there. IE stores each favorite as a .url file inside your user profile; common paths are:

  • C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Favorites (Windows XP)
  • C:\Users\<username>\Favorites (Vista and later)

Open that folder in Windows Explorer (close Internet Explorer first) and use Details or Name sort to inspect the raw list. A few things that commonly make the menu look "random":

  • Items that begin with punctuation, numbers, or invisible characters will group differently than plain letters.
  • Duplicate or moved shortcuts created by syncing or profile migration.
  • Large, unorganized lists that need subfolders to stay readable.

Practical steps: open the Favorites folder, look for titles that start with spaces/punctuation and edit them, create folders to group related links, and remove broken shortcuts. Copy the whole Favorites folder to back it up before big changes, or use the browser’s Import/Export tool to save a backup. If Explorer edits don't show up, close IE and reopen it; recreate any shortcut files that look corrupted.

This approach avoids relying on a specific IE menu command and fixes the underlying cause so the Favorites menu stays predictable across machines and Windows versions.

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Member Avatar for DavidRyan

You could have googled "internet explorer" "sort favorites". That would have told you that you can sort your favorites alphabetically by right clicking one of the in the favourites menu and selecting "Sort by Name." Apparently, you dont even get that option in IE7.
If you want them sorted by date or something like that, you have two options. Get a decent browser (like firefox or opera), or rename your favorites to include the date at the beginning of the name.

commented: Quick and accurate +1
Member Avatar for Roobyroo

Thanks!

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