PHOTOS APP and GALLERY slipped into FILE EXPLORER
So what's so bad about the new Photos App? Probably nothing. From what I saw on my visually impaired client was that he had Photos App as the default .jpeg, etc. picture viewer and it looked fine. The problem was when "Gallery" showed up at the top of his File Explorer window on the left side. His vision is so bad that he would select things based on their location. So, what was just his "My Pictures" that led him to his pictures now was below the "Gallery" word Microsoft just stuck there. When he hit Gallery, he got his pictures, or at least he thought, as before. Instead, he was now looking (and not seeing), a list of all pictures on his system that he could select or to scroll over to see what folder they were in (no help to the blind). Since his current project is to take new pictures and place them into existing folders which he knew how to locate because he divided them up into categories (sub-folders) -- only took a month or so --, but first wanted to eliminate duplicates, the Gallery item really screwed him up. He began thinking that he could add/delete/move pictures from that "Gallery" and didn't realize it was no more than what a PIN is in Quick Access, meaning, just a pointer to where it actually is. So, he deleted an item from what he thought was a source folder thinking that the destination folder he put it in was where he wanted it, only to find out that a delete via Gallery actually deleted the file in the destination! I probably didn't justice explaining this, but that delete was only the tip of the iceberg for him. He began to notice that his pictures AND folders in Quick Access were also being screwed up and by the time I got there he had duplicates and triplicates of some folders and their sub-folders, most of which were now empty! He thought he lost everything, including his backups. Fortunately I made two backups of his files because he was taught to backup first and when he did that he simply propagated the empty folders to the Backup folders!
It took me 2.5 - 3 hours to get him restored to original folders which also reminds me that he kept visiting the Recycle folder to find his pictures that disappeared. Since he didn't understand that the Recycle Bin was NOT a picture folder where a picture file could be displayed but only an entry to restore it to the original place, he now became totally confused. He can make out picture images, but the Recylcle Bin is only text. Thank You Microsoft for beating a guy that was already down!
First corrective step was to get rid of "Gallery" on left side of File Explorer window. The best article I found was Here. Poof, it's gone! No more confusion. Remember, it uses Regedit to do its trick, so backup up the Registry (Export) before running it. It also gives you the Regedit file to put it back to Gallery if you ever want to do so.
I personally have no use for Gallery in File Explorer. I'm appalled that Microsoft just stuck this onto my client's system just because he had a Microsoft Account logon into Windows 11. Well, that changed. I now have him on a Local Account logon (see This Post). If you are on a Microsoft Account, expect PREVIEWS to show up automatically onto your system. See other BAD MICROSOFT issues by searching on BAD MICROSOFT on the search field on top of this blog. Also note that as soon as Microsoft changes things like this it also removes the procedures you have become accustomed to and all the help to get back to normal. This change in procedures makes most articles posted on the Internet to become obsolete, requiring those authors to keep up with the changes. Impossible I am sure you have notices many times that the procedure documented no longer works as is. Now, if I were only charging my client for all this work (NEVER) I'd be making a living.
Here's a tip for a senior in High School or College student that wants to start up a business: You can make a living consulting in just IMPLEMENTING and consulting of Accessibility features on computer systems, particularly Visual Impairments. Think Larger text, text-speech apps, simplified use and instruction on File Explorer, maintenance, eMail, etc. I have included several Accessibility posts that you can use to spark your career. Comment re this and I can help you out at my rates (ZERO at the moment).
