How to Make Folder Band Auto-Hidden in Windows Vista Explorer?



Here are screenshots:

Auto-Hidden Folder Band:

After Hovering Mouse over Folder Band:

To make the "Folder Band" Auto-hide in Windows Explorer, you'll have to edit the "Shellstyle.dll" file which you can get in your currently used theme folder. For example, if you are using default Window Vista theme, then you'll get the "Shellstyle.dll" file in following directory:

%windir%\Resources\Themes\Aero\Shell\NormalColor

So here is a step-by-step tutorial:

1. First open the "Shellstyle.dll" file in Resource Hacker.
2. Goto "UIFILE -> 1 -> 1033".
3. Press <Ctrl>+F or click on "View -> Find Text...".
4. Now type "<style resid="FolderBandStyle">" (without quotes) in "Find what" textbox.
5. It'll let you go to following line:

<style resid="FolderBandStyle">
<Element
background="argb(0, 0, 0, 0)"
/>

Now press <Enter> after "<style resid="FolderBandStyle">" line and add following line:

<if mousefocused="false" mousewithin="false"><Element
padding="rect(0rp,0rp,0rp,-28rp)"/></if>

So now it'll look like following:

<style resid="FolderBandStyle">
<if mousefocused="false" mousewithin="false"><Element
padding="rect(0rp,0rp,0rp,-28rp)"/></if>
<Element
background="argb(0, 0, 0, 0)"
/>

6. Thats it. Now click on "Compile Script" button and then save the file.
7. Log off or restart to see the changes.

Now Folder band will be auto-hidden and whenever you'll hove the mouse over it, it'll appear.

Credits goes to U.K.Intel...



This article was posted in Resource Hacker, Windows Vista.

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22 Comments

1 2 3

  • VG

    ^^ Yup.

  • Colin

    That was exactly what i needed. Thanks a lot!
    I suggest to use without the if-Statement, since the mouseover stuff is a bit buggy (windows 7) and actually nobody needs the folder band.

1 2 3

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