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For a while now I've disliked the default folder browser dialog in Windows:

The default folder browser dialog in Windows

Granted, at least it has the text box with autocomplete; but if you go strictly with the tree view, it can take a lot of clicks and scrolling to get where you want!

It'd be nice if I could develop a superior (to my taste) UI and have this override my system's default. That is, whenever an application requests a native folder browser from Windows on my system, I'd like to be able to define my own such control so that it will be displayed instead of the built-in one. Naturally I could/would then also offer this to others to install on their systems if they like.

Does Windows provide an API to override this particular feature? Maybe via a shell extension or something like that? (I've never done anything that interacts directly with the OS like that; so I don't even know where to start looking.)

Basically I am asking if this OS-level functionality is configurable within Windows.

Dan Tao
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  • possible duplicate of [How can I make this control (may a kind of FolderBrowser)](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8629663/how-can-i-make-this-control-may-a-kind-of-folderbrowser) – Hans Passant Feb 17 '13 at 20:27
  • @HansPassant: I believe this question is very different from that one. The other question is asking how to either *use* or *implement* such a control; but I'm asking how I could *override* it in Windows. I will update to make my intent clearer. – Dan Tao Feb 19 '13 at 01:16
  • You need to ask these kind of questions at superuser.com – Hans Passant Feb 19 '13 at 01:38
  • Lots of people are asking this question all over the web, and I haven't found a good answer yet. It seems that Microsoft provides this kind of dialog and it's up to programmers to use something better. – Alan Turing May 09 '13 at 03:22

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An app called FlashFolder seems to have done that, and has a lot of good reviews (meaning it at least works for someone) but doesn't work for me at all on Windows 8. If you have an earlier version of Windows perhaps you'll have more luck.

Alan Turing
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