I like the new features in Internet Explorer
(IE) 7.0, especially the tabbed browsing.
However, I found the new Add to Favorites
feature somewhat cumbersome. A problem
arises when you have a large Favorites tree
that has many folders with multiple levels
of subfolders. When you click the Add to Favorites
icon (i.e., the green plus sign in front
of a yellow star), select Add to Favorites, and
click the Create in drop-down list, you’re
presented with an unwieldy fully expanded
tree. To date, there isn’t an option in IE 7.0
to disable this automatic expansion.
Here’s a simple procedure I devised to
gain control of this situation:
1. Go to the website of your choice.
2. In IE’s address bar, left-click the URL
icon that’s immediately to the left of the
URL. With the left mouse button held down,
drag the icon upward and off of the address
bar field into the IE window’s page header.
Drag it just to the point where it turns into
a shortcut icon (i.e., a white square box with
an arrow in it).
3. With the left mouse button still held
down, press the left Alt key and just tap
the C key (i.e., keep the Alt key depressed
but don’t keep the C key depressed). An
unexpanded Favorites tree in which you
can easily see your root-level folders will
pop up. If the Favorites tree doesn’t pop
up, try clicking somewhere on the web
page to take the emphasis off of
the address bar, then repeat steps
2 and 3. Note that the Favorites
tree might already be somewhat
expanded if you recently manually
expanded folders in the tree.
4. With your left mouse button
still held down, release the Alt
key and continue to drag the
shortcut icon to the target folder.
If you hover over a folder for
about a second, the folder will automatically
open. If you make a mistake and don’t
want to add the shortcut to the folder
you’re hovering over, press the Esc key
before releasing the left mouse button to
cancel the drag operation. This will prevent
dropping the shortcut on some random
folder.
5. When you have the shortcut icon in
the desired location, release the left mouse
button. Note that if
you inadvertently
used the right
mouse button
in steps 2
through 4,
you'll need to
select Create
Shortcuts Here to
finish creating the
shortcut.
You can find a demonstration of this
technique on the ITTV website at ittv.net/VideoPlayer/tabid/57/VideoId/165/Bret-Bennett-Demonstrates-How-To-Easily-Add-Urls-To-Favorite-Center-In-IE7.aspx. I
hope this procedure will bring joy back into
growing your Favorites tree.