The Downloads folder in the Windows operating system is the place where all web browsers save the downloaded files. In short, all your downloaded files from the internet are in the Downloads folder.
With default settings, when you open the Downloads folder, you see that the files are grouped by modified date. That is, you see Today, Yesterday, Last Week, Last month sections. For instance, all files downloaded/modified today appear in the Today section so that you can find them quickly.
While this default grouping behavior helps find recently downloaded files, some users might want to sort and group files differently.
But if you do not like Windows 11 to group the downloaded files by date, you can do so by making changes to the grouping settings.
Here is how to stop the Downloads folder from grouping files by date.
Method 1 of 2
Stop the Downloads folder from grouping files by date
NOTE: This grouping setting is applied only to the Downloads folder and its subfolders. The current sort settings of other folders (for instance, the Desktop and Documents folders) will not be changed.
Step 1: Open the Downloads folder. There are multiple ways to access the Downloads folder. The easiest being clicking Downloads in the File Explorer left pane or using the Start/taskbar search.
Step 2: Next, click Sort in the File Explorer toolbar, click Group by, and then click None. That’s it!
Method 2 of 2
Another way to stop the Downloads folder from grouping files by date in Windows 11
Step 1: Open the Downloads folder.
Tip: At times, the Downloads folder might open slowly. If it takes a few seconds to load or show files, you can refer to the solution mentioned in our previously posted Downloads folder opening slowly in Windows 11/10 guide.
Step 2: Perform a right-click on an empty spot, click Group by, and click None. That’s it!
Leave a Reply