How to Control the Order of Slides in a Slideshow on Windows 10

Slide show icon in File Explorer

This is a short article on how to control the order of slides in a slideshow on the Microsoft Windows 10 operating system. Slideshows can be quickly launched in Windows 10 using the Windows File Explorer by selecting the Manage tab and clicking on the Slideshow Icon.

Slide show icon in File Explorer
Slide show icon in File Explorer

Usually, Windows 10 will display the picture files in the folder in the order displayed in the file explorer: alphabetically if Name is selected, by date if Date is selected, by file size if Size is selected, etc. In my experience on my system, this occasionally does not happen and the files are displayed alphabetically even though another view is selected. Thus, it is probably best to use alphabetical file names to ensure that the files display as desired.

Note that on Windows (and many computer systems) the numbers 0-9 come before A-Z, thus files that start with a number such as 000my_file_name.jpg will display before files that start with a letter such as my_file_name.jpg. In the example below, I use the prefix 000 to display the picture of George Washington first.

Alphabetical View in File Explorer
Alphabetical View in File Explorer

To display the Presidents in chronological order, I add a numeric prefix to each file in the folder. George Washington is the first President of the United States. John Adams is the second. Thomas Jefferson third. Andrew Jackson seventh. Abraham Lincoln sixteenth. Theodore Roosevelt twenty-sixth. Donald Trump forty-fifth.

Slideshow with US Presidents Ordered in Chronological Order
Slideshow with US Presidents Ordered in Chronological Order

By default, Windows 10 plays the slide show in Loop mode with Shuffle mode off. In this mode, the slides are displayed in order.

Loop Mode Showing George Washington First
Loop Mode Showing George Washington First

Right clicking with the mouse or other pointing device during the slide show brings up a popup menu with the Loop and Shuffle modes as well as other controls.

In the shuffle mode, the first slide is always displayed first. I will still get George Washington first in my example. All subsequent slides are displayed in random order. This seems like a bug; I would prefer the first slide to also be random.

Shuffle Mode Showing George Washington First
Shuffle Mode Showing George Washington First

NOTE: If for some reason you do not like the first slide displayed every time in shuffle mode, add a prefix to a picture file that you would prefer to be first to place it alphabetically before all other picture files in the folder.

Once shuffle mode or other controls (slow or fast for example) are selected, the selections remain in force for subsequent slide shows until changed.

That is how to control the order of slides in a slide show in Microsoft Windows 10.

This is a short video on how to control the order of slides in a slide show on Windows 10:

(C) 2018 by John F. McGowan, Ph.D.

About Me

John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves problems using mathematics and mathematical software, including developing gesture recognition for touch devices, video compression and speech recognition technologies. He has extensive experience developing software in C, C++, MATLAB, Python, Visual Basic and many other programming languages. He has been a Visiting Scholar at HP Labs developing computer vision algorithms and software for mobile devices. He has worked as a contractor at NASA Ames Research Center involved in the research and development of image and video processing algorithms and technology. He has published articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the discovery of methane on Mars), and cheap access to space. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

How to Turn Off the Annoying Focus Assist Notification on Windows 10

Microsoft recently (April 2018) added a new feature to Windows 10 known as Focus Assist to block distracting notifications on Windows 10.  Remarkably, Focus Assist by default turns off notifications when the display is duplicated (for example, you plug your laptop into a high definition giant screen at the office every day — just like I do) AND posts its’ own annoying notification to the notifications visible in the lower right corner of Windows 10!!! 

Focus Assist Notification (Lower Right Corner)
Annoying Focus Assist Notification (Lower Right Corner)

By default this notification is generated and posted every time a laptop is plugged into a large screen display to duplicate the screen.  Every time I come to work for example.  Clicking on the lower right corner notification icon displays the full notification from Focus Assist:

Full Annoying Notification from Focus Assist
Full Annoying Notification from Focus Assist

Thus, after spending months figuring out how to disable a range of annoying notifications on my computer, I was now getting an annoying notification every day from a tool supposedly intended to help me focus 🙂

It is possible to turn this off by disabling the default option to turn on focus assist when the screen is duplicated:

Annoying Focus Assist Settings Default to On if Duplicate Screen
Annoying Focus Assist Settings Default to On if Duplicate Screen

Instead:

My Focus Assist Setting
My Focus Assist Settings

Just Block All Notifications Instead:

Just to be clear, the issue for me is that although I have Focus Assist on already, I still got the notification — the icon in the lower right corner updates and changes causing a visual distraction — when I plug my laptop into my large screen.  This happened every morning and sometimes several times a day depending on my schedule and appointments.   In general I don’t want notifications from Focus Assist distracting me either!!!

 

About Me

John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves problems using mathematics and mathematical software, including developing gesture recognition for touch devices, video compression and speech recognition technologies. He has extensive experience developing software in C, C++, MATLAB, Python, Visual Basic and many other programming languages. He has been a Visiting Scholar at HP Labs developing computer vision algorithms and software for mobile devices. He has worked as a contractor at NASA Ames Research Center involved in the research and development of image and video processing algorithms and technology. He has published articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the discovery of methane on Mars), and cheap access to space. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).