Windows sorting issues

[Soukuw]

I feel like I've noticed this more lately, if you download a archived file and extract it windows likes to put it at the very bottom of the folder as the file itself usually was created quite awhile ago. Is there anyway to make windows sort files based on the last time they were actually interacted with? If I extract a file it should have a date of extraction and sort based on that not the damn date it was created.

[Ad Bot]

[Goth77]

I think what your looking for is to sort the files based on date last modified or date acquired (not sure how this differs from date received lol). there are a lot of options, but unzipping contents can be odd because there is no telling when exactly those contents were zipped initally. typically with compressed files what I do is make an empty folder on the desktop, drag and drop the zip/rar/whatever into there and then use 7zip to 'extract here' option

maybe try experimenting with the date sorting options and see what works for you



these are the options I use

[Soukuw]

Alright I used this menu and also finally found the Group By context menu. Also zipped files retain their "date modified" date, you can actually see exactly when they were originally made E.g. my paint.net installer was made 11/9/2025
What I did:

Right click the empty space in the downloads folder and go to "group by >" and group by date created rather than date modified. If you would like to just get rid of the collapsible menus select none.
If you selected none or want more information you right click the top bar where "Name, Date Modified, Type, Size" is and go to the menu you posted under "More...". I think removing date modified is a bad idea since it could be used to notice malicious files but adding date created allows you to sort your files properly if you turned off grouping.

[Goth77]

okay cool, glad u got it 'sorted out' (pun intended) hopefully what I posted was at least somewhat helpful lol

paint.net

paint.net is awesome btw, been using it for over a decade - by far my favorite image editing program. the best part about it is u can make your own plugins for effects or install a plethora of community based addons

I highly recommend boltbait plugin pack if you don't already have it: https://forums.getpaint.net/topic/113220-boltbaits-plugin-pack-for-pdn-v4212-and-beyond-updated-july-16-2020/

[Soukuw]

okay cool, glad u got it 'sorted out' (pun intended) hopefully what I posted was at least somewhat helpful lol

paint.net is awesome btw, been using it for over a decade - by far my favorite image editing program. the best part about it is u can make your own plugins for effects or install a plethora of community based addons

I highly recommend boltbait plugin pack if you don't already have it: https://forums.getpaint.net/topic/113220-boltbaits-plugin-pack-for-pdn-v4212-and-beyond-updated-july-16-2020/

Yep it did help, I could not for the life of my find the menu you have pictured and it got me looking again.

Paint .net is the only somewhat light paint program I've found that functions in a way that makes sense. Gimp is heavier. A bit more powerful but holy stuff some of the choices of how things function is just confusing to me.