File and Folder Names not showing in Windows Vista

Aug 6, 2007 By Muhammad Abdullah in Windows Tags: customize, IT, picture, screen, Troubleshooting, video, vista, Windows, Windows Vista

If file and folder names are not showing in a folder like the screenshot at the end of the article.

Open the folder and Right click on the empty space and choose Customize This Folder on the customize tab select Pictures and Videos in the Use this folder type as a template:

(if not selected already ). Switch to the folder which is not displaying names press ALT and on the View menu unselect Hide File Names and you are done . The names will be displaying now.

Good Luck!

27 Comments

Draggon
Nov 22, 2007 @ 22:40

What if this occurs on the root of the drive there is no Customize folder Yes I know how I made them Disappear but using CTRL and Switching views does not return the filenames … to have filenames now i need to use List Tiles or Details
James
Dec 05, 2007 @ 23:33

Thanks for this,
I solved my problem straight away, was getting annoyed with having to use the list or details view
Moonwyspers
Jan 14, 2008 @ 17:09

Dunno how I hid them in the first place….but gee thanks for helping me with this. I was gett.ing frustrated. Can’t believe they didn’t include this in their help files. Cheerio for now
jcguk01
Jan 18, 2008 @ 17:38

The fix worked on normal files but my control panel in classic view cannot be fixed this way. Is ere a different fix for control panl. Thanks for any help you can give
Eric
Jan 19, 2008 @ 20:07

Ho well, i’m so stupid, i had looked everywhere and still, couldn’t get my File Names showing….. but then, i looked on View and there it was like you said, Hide File Names was checked! Damn! Thx a lot. That’s what happens when you hide your Menu Bar. hehehe! thx a million times
sieko
Jan 26, 2008 @ 18:32

thanks alot man .. its like a very simple thing that nobody now how to do .. even the windows help didn’t mention it in the show or hide stuff…
thansk again
Prem
Mar 17, 2008 @ 10:48

Thanks
Its great,I solved my problem
Swapnil
Sep 02, 2008 @ 16:02

i still cant solve my problem…theres nothin as such as HIDE FILE NAME in VIEWS…i want to display the folder names in C: Drive…my OS is WINDOWS VISTA HOME BASIC…
choco_loco
Sep 18, 2008 @ 13:12

hi all,
this problem took about 3-3.5 hours to solve for me.
i use windows xp and my My Documents folder was not showing file and folder names for a while. this happens only in thumbnail view mode. i had no idea how that happened. it was just weird. here’s how to solve this problem.(pretty easy)

-change your view style to some other style (for example, details or small icons)
-change it back to thumbnail view WHILE HOLDING DOWN THE “SHIFT” KEY
-that’s it ^^,

for other users not to waste time on this here’s some keywords (for google)

xp file folder view change name names show hide hidden names filenames foldernames shown unhide

i hope this helps other people
rthelightning
Oct 09, 2008 @ 18:38

Thanks a lot choco_loco! have to try it out….hope it works!
saptarshi
Oct 12, 2008 @ 00:03

thnx a lot choco_loco, that fixed the problem. but any idea about how it happened in the first place?
saptarshi
Oct 12, 2008 @ 00:03

thnx a lot choco_loco, that fixed the problem. but how did it happen in the first place?
Heather
Nov 08, 2008 @ 07:09

None of this is working for me and seriously I’m about to cry… i don’t have the option for “Thumbnail view” and I just don’t know what to do… none of my file names are showing up, none of my folder names, and none of the shortcuts on my desktop even have the same file name. I don’t knowwhat to do, someone PLEASE help!
Phil Brighton
Jan 20, 2009 @ 16:03

Just come across this problem of missing file name for some unknown reason. You have solved this issue for me Many Thanks

Phil Brighotn
Diana
Apr 10, 2009 @ 09:03

THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH. I look on a couple of websites and I couldn’t find the solution until now! I don’t know how this even happened in the first place.
Ray
May 18, 2009 @ 20:55

None of these suggestions work for me.
Dmm
May 19, 2009 @ 14:41

hey guys, i’ve had the same problem for a while now. this is for all those that COULD NOT solve the problem by the method mentioned here.

IF YOU HAVE A ROOT DRIVE OR CONTROL PANEL WITH THE PROBLEM:

open the folder from its higher level WHILE HOLDING DOWN the SHIFT key. this is probably how u managed to hide it in the first place. . .
hope this helps
Naqvi
Sep 07, 2009 @ 11:24

its not working ……im about to cry dear what the hell happen to my pc ???????
Naqvi
Sep 07, 2009 @ 11:41

my file and folder View option isnot hide and this techtic not working what should i do now ??????????????
kindly help me reagards Naqvi
Naqvi
Sep 07, 2009 @ 11:43

im using vista ultimate .
hanabira
Dec 02, 2009 @ 01:22

That fixed things. Thanks.
Kayse
Feb 10, 2010 @ 04:19

Yes this happen to be as well using Windows XP – very weird.

I used the steps showing by CHOCO LOCO – basically change your VIEW setting to say TILES, now hold SHIFT, change it back to THUMBNAIL (still wont show), while holding SHIFT go back to TILES, then again holding SHIFT change it to THUMBNAILS (MAGIC! its there)
Ben
Apr 03, 2010 @ 09:09

Thanks a million kaysey
Amber
May 06, 2010 @ 16:17

Thanks so much!
racase
Mar 11, 2011 @ 08:42

Im my pc all documents are not displaying but space taken by it. if i unhide that folders it only display but inside documents are still not displaying. plz give me some idea…
Marty
Jul 29, 2011 @ 05:38

None of these are working for me either. I’m using Windows XP and I’ve tried everything above…nada. Any other tricks out there?

Thanks!!
Todrou
Nov 10, 2011 @ 04:42

help. all of a sudden the pictures i have stored in the documents folder are no longer showing. all that’s showing is the picture number and/or name. how can i get the pictures to show.