How in the Tech

Maintain icon layout between resolution changes

By Adam Myers ⋅ December 15, 2009 ⋅ Tags: Annoyances, Windows

I’m not a huge supporter of using the Windows Desktop as a means to organize and quick-launch applications or other types of files but I do have a few items strategically placed in my arsenal. In my profession, however, I’ve seen users with dozens of icons littered about their desktop – with no rhyme or reason to it. I’d argue that anything over 10 or so it begins to erode at the purpose of placing things on your desktop. Those same users typically swear that their system makes sense and most importantly, works for them. To each their own – who am I to suggest otherwise.

If you are an active user of the Windows desktop you may have your icons organized just so and not using the auto-arrange layout feature that’s been with Windows forever. If this sounds like you, then you are equally likely to come across a major obstacle in maintaining this structure. When your desktop resolution changes, so does the layout of your desktop icons!

What may make your resolution change? Outside of the obvious, you changing it directly, there are a few other possibilities that affect me. If you play a game in full screen Windows typically switches to the resolution defined in the game’s settings; when you exit the game you may notice your icons shifted or your application windows resized. This doesn’t happen with every game but it happens more than you’d think. Another possibility, when you connect over a Remote Desktop session and run the connection in full-screen mode, often times your local resolution is different than the remote resolution – your icon layouts adjust accordingly. When you physically sit down in front of the previously remote computer, you’re icons are likely messed up. This is similar in nature if you switch between your laptop’s screen and an external monitor.

DesktopOK is a free Windows utility that allows you to save your icon’s positional layout. You are free to create as many layout definitions as you wish, with each one restored quickly by a single button click. DesktopOK is not an automatic process unfortunately, you must initiate each layout correction upon resolution change. It would be nice to see an update that provides the option to monitor and apply such changes as necessary. Still, DesktopOK is free and works on all versions of Windows – and that’s a lot to like to me.