Putting the Explorer Task Pane on the Right Side

[LiquidGUI]

Introduction

Do you want your Explorer to have the task pane on the right side like this:

Well I will show you how to do it.

I first saw this in Nano VS and I liked it so I decided to do it myself. I have done this to the Aesthetic Groove visual style by Heylove (which by the way is my favorite VS, thanks very much heylove).

Tools Needed

Resource Hacker (Right Click Save As)

Step-By-Step

1) This all envoles a file called Shellstyle.dll, included in many themes, when you download a theme if you are using a hacked ux_theme.dll you drop it in the C:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes directory. You then have the theme folder, we will use "agroove" an example like such:

2) When in your VS' directory open the "Shell" directory. Inside ussally will be all the different style options for your theme, such as compact, full and various other choices like this:

3) Within that directory you should have a library called Shellstyle.dll drag it into the program we downloaded before called Resource Hacker.

4) When in Resource Hacker navigate to UFILE>1.

5) After you have navigated to the right script look towards the bottom of the script and you should see some code that looks similar to this:

<hwndview resid=main id=atom(main) sheet=styleref(main) layout=borderlayout()>
<ScrollViewer id=atom(scroller) sheet=styleref(taskpane) layoutpos=Right xscrollable=false width=165rp>
<element id=atom(sectionlist) layout=verticalflowlayout(0,0,2)/>
</ScrollViewer>
<Element layoutpos=Client layout=filllayout()>
<Element id=atom(clientviewhost) layout=borderlayout()>
</Element>
<Element id=atom(blockade) layout=borderlayout()>
<Element id=atom(blockadeaccent) layoutpos=left width=1/>
<Element id=atom(blockadeclient) layoutpos=client layout=borderlayout()>
<Element id=atom(blockadetitle) layoutpos=top/>
<Element id=atom(blockademessage) layoutpos=top/>
<Element id=atom(blockadeclear) layoutpos=top layout=borderlayout()>
<Button id=atom(blockadeclearbutton) layoutpos=left layout=borderlayout()>
<Element id=atom(blockadecleartext) layoutpos=left/>
</Button>
</Element>
</Element>
</Element>
</Element>
</hwndview>
<expando resid=mainsection layout=borderlayout() width=186rp>
<element layoutpos=top layout=filllayout()>
<button id=atom(header) layoutpos=bottom layout=borderlayout()>
<element id=atom(title) layoutpos=client/>
<element id=atom(arrow) layoutpos=right/>
</button>
<element id=atom(icon) layoutpos=left/>
</element>
<clipper layoutpos=top>
<element id=atom(watermark) layoutpos=top layout=filllayout()>
<tasklist id=atom(tasklist) layout=verticalflowlayout(0,0,0)/>
</element>
</clipper>
</expando><expando resid=section layout=borderlayout() width=186rp>
<button id=atom(header) layoutpos=top layout=borderlayout()>
<element id=atom(title) layoutpos=client/>
<element id=atom(arrow) layoutpos=right/>
</button>
<clipper layoutpos=top>
<tasklist id=atom(tasklist) layout=verticalflowlayout(0,0,0)/>
</clipper>
</expando>

Replace the code you found with this this code above.

Then press compile script at the top and File>Save.

Conclusion

Once you have done all this you can reload your theme, you can reboot explorer.exe or you can restart to make your changes affect. Enjoy, I have seen many people want to do this.

Tell me how it goes.

-LiquidGUI

Edited February 19, 2005 by LiquidGUI

[russellc]

Thanks alot :)

[LiquidGUI]

russelic: No problem. My pleasure :p

[SoapyHamHocks Member]

I cant seem to get this to work with luna element.

[LiquidGUI]

Hilloki please try the new code I think I have found the problem. If that does not work please tell me.

[jymi]

neat tweak, certainly doing this when i format my laptop.

1 question though, is there a way of getting it on the top or bottom?

[SoapyHamHocks Member]

Works great , thanks alot.

[LiquidGUI]

jymi: I don't know, I suppose you could try, it would take a bit more modifying than left to right though.

Hilloki: Well thats good, I just edited the guide so that you replace the old code with the new code, that deffinitly helps too :p

[russellc]

tried this, very cool. for the visual style i'm using i just had to change the width a bit there :p

[LiquidGUI]

mind sharing your style and width/code for other people to help them out?

[Boeing 787]

Great hack, I always turned off the sidebar cause it felt in the way, now it works great.

165 was to small for me cause it kept squishing the images so I changed it to 205.

[LiquidGUI]

Thanks hardgiant, I would like everybody to contribuate what their specific widths for their VS' are so some people dont have to go through the trouble shooting of finding the perfect width for their VS.

[Help]

neat tweak, certainly doing this when i format my laptop.

1 question though, is there a way of getting it on the top or bottom?

585485980[/snapback]

I think WindowsX has a VS that does that (emulates LH style), maybe you should ask him about it.

[LiquidGUI]

hmmmm.... help do you have any idea what VS it was? I am interested in that.

[Help]

hmmmm.... help do you have any idea what VS it was? I am interested in that.

585488828[/snapback]

Look at the screenshot there.. https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=75768

You see the 'My Computer' window?

You can tell the task pane is on the top cause it says "View System information", "Add or remove programs".

[russellc]

i'm just using 221 and 200 for KoL's longhorn VS. there's two widths to set in there. one is 21 larger than the other so the larger is 221, smaller is 200

[LiquidGUI]

Thank you Russel, I am glad you shared yours.

As to Help, thanks for sharing that also, if you wish to share how he did it by asking WindowsX or figuring it out yourself please do so.

Thanks everybody for your good comments.

[russellc]

:ninja: result of mine is this :D

EDIT: about the task pane being on top...lots of visual styles are doing that now (more the longhorn styles)..check out some of stefanka's stuff like longhorn inspiriat or royale inspiriat..those i'm sure have a top task pane :p ...definitely unsure how they do it though..i still like it on the right side better :D

[vanmidy]

windows x has a shell style replacement to put it on top... thats what i use...but hopefully somebody will teach us how to put it on top like longhorns (beta ones)

[Raum]

Nice guide, and good band. ;)

[Boeing 787]

Just wanted to mention that you don't need to reload the theme at all, just do this:

1. Turn off the task pane in options

2. Tweak the shellstyle.dll

3. Turn the task pane back on.

[Lee G. Veteran]

I can't find the correct code with Luna :/ ?

[russellc]

you just add the 2nd set of code. you won't be able to find it originally. LiquidGUI just fixed something, so the 2nd set of code is the correct set to add

[sean l]

Thats a neat little trick. I am going to have to try that out for sure.

[OxideNOS]

what if u can't find "similar code" to the code u posted???

i want to do it on fp3 skin.