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Question

Box Drive in Windows File Explorer columns switched default order on their own, how to revert?

  • May 23, 2025
  • 4 replies
  • 60 views
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I have an odd (and incredibly annoying) situation where my Box Drive columns one day in Windows File Explorer randomly switched to Name | Size | Item Type | Date Modified, and it's that same way for literally every single folder.

I can switch them to be the right way (Name | Date Modified | Item Type | Size) but it only "saves" that view for a little bit, otherwise I have to constantly remove and resize the columns (some columns became weirdly wide, like Date Modified).

I never changed the order of the columns to be have Size second and Date Modified last, and my colleagues don't have this issue (theirs show up the correct way with Date Modified second), so it's not an issue with Box Drive not being able to save a default view, since otherwise it shouldn't have 

I've restarted my computer, tried going to view tab -> options -> view -> apply to folders under "folder views" (and also hitting resetting defaults first before then applying to folders), even uninstalling and reinstalling Box Drive multiple times. Yet this ALWAYS keeps happening and it's honestly driving me insane. Any fix here would be much appreciated.

    4 replies

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    This has also happened to me as of a few weeks ago.  My column order was name, date modifed, then size or file type or vice versa.

    Now, folders open in name and size order.  I didn't change the column sort order.  Date modified is the useful column and I'm constantly changing the column order back to the original placement.  Why did the column order change in the first place?  How can the column sort order go back to how it used to be?

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    Hi there, 

    Welcome to Box Community and glad to help! 

    • Did you check if the same sorting order is shown in your local folders (outside of your local Box folder)? 

    For the meantime, can you make sure you've installed/updated your Box Drive appplication to its recent version: https://support.box.com/hc/en-us/articles/14880516332435-Box-Drive-v2-31-Release-Notes-Mar-2023-

    In addition to this, did you attempt to reset your Box Drive manually? If not, please follow the steps below. 

    To reset Box Drive on Windows

    1. Exit Box Drive (if it is running). If necessary, use Task Manager to end the Box.exe process.
    2. Ascertain whether any files exist in C:\users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Box\Box\unsyncedFiles. These are files that have not been uploaded to Box. If these files do exist, and if you want to keep them, copy them to any location outside of C:\users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Box\Box\ (such as your desktop). Proceeding with the steps below deletes these files.
    • You may need to show hidden folders to see \AppData.
    Delete this folder: C:\users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Box\Box. From RegEdit, delete the registry entries under HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Box/Box to clear Box preferences. Restart the Box Drive and follow the prompt to log back in.

    Hope it works!  However, if the issue persist we would like to look further into this! And please head over here to open a ticket for our support team. 

    Happy Weekend! 

     

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    Hi Rona - thanks for the follow up. That unfortunately did not work for me, also tried resetting, then uninstalling / reinstalling, and still no dice. Our IT admin was troubleshooting as well and couldn't find a solution. I did just fill out a support ticket though.

    C
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    This switch happened after a Box update. It is really annoying. There should be a master Box preferred settings that we can change, just once, that will remain in place. 

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