{"id":24029,"date":"2021-05-11T12:49:51","date_gmt":"2021-05-11T07:19:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=24029"},"modified":"2023-08-05T23:21:40","modified_gmt":"2023-08-05T17:51:40","slug":"desktop-icons-spacing-messed-up-fix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/desktop-icons-spacing-messed-up-fix\/","title":{"rendered":"[Fix] Desktop Icons Spacing is Messed Up in Windows"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Occasionally, your desktop icons may be spaced out too far or very close to each other in Windows. The desktop icon spacing may sometimes be messed up after installing a video driver update.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24030\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/desktop-icons-widely-spaced.png\" alt=\"desktop icon spacing incorrect\" width=\"582\" height=\"447\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In some cases, the vertical spacing may be fine, but the horizontal spacing may be messed up (e.g., showing a rectangle) or <em>vice versa<\/em>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_9607\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9607\" style=\"width: 722px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9607\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/desktop-icons-rectangle.png\" alt=\"desktop icon - window metrics reset registry\" width=\"732\" height=\"259\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9607\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Desktop icons became rectangle due to wrong icon metrics<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>You may have tried the following steps, but in vain:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Enabling or disabling &#8220;Auto-arrange icons.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Enabling or disabling &#8220;Align items to grid.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Using Ctrl + scroll wheel may only make the desktop icons larger or smaller, but doesn&#8217;t resolve the spacing issue.<\/li>\n<li>Changing the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/desktop-icons-tiles-view-mode-fix\/\">desktop view mode<\/a> (using keyboard shortcut) and reverting to the original view.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If restarting Windows doesn&#8217;t fix the desktop icons&#8217; position or spacing issue, this article has some methods to resolve the problem.<\/p>\n<h2>[Fix] Desktop Icons Spacing is Messed Up in Windows<\/h2>\n<h3>Fix the Icon Spacing metrics<\/h3>\n<p>The desktop icon spacing metrics can be fixed using the Registry Editor. Follow these steps:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Start the Registry Editor (<code>regedit.exe<\/code>)<\/li>\n<li>Go to the following branch:\n<pre>HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Control Panel\\Desktop\\WindowMetrics<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<li>Double-click <code>IconSpacing<\/code> and set it to -1125<\/li>\n<li>Double-click <code>IconVerticalSpacing<\/code> and set it to -1125<\/li>\n<li>Exit the Registry Editor<\/li>\n<li>Log off and log back in. Alternately restart the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/exit-explorer-restart-windows-10-8\/\">explorer shell<\/a> for the changes to take effect.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div class=\"rp\"><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/reset-window-color-appearance-settings\/\">How to Reset Window Color and Appearance Settings?<\/a><\/div>\n<h3>Change the theme<\/h3>\n<p>The desktop theme you&#8217;re using may have set an incorrect desktop icon spacing metric. The theme creator can specify system metrics in a .theme file. System metrics are the dimensions of various display elements, such as the window border width, icon height, caption buttons height or width, or scroll bar width.<\/p>\n<p>See if changing to the stock Windows Aero theme helps.<\/p>\n<h3>Change the display scaling percentage<\/h3>\n<p>If that doesn&#8217;t work, then you may try installing the latest video drivers from the manufacturer&#8217;s site. Also, try lowering the display scaling percentage (e.g., change DPI scaling 125% to 110% or 100%) in display settings to see if that helps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Occasionally, your desktop icons may be spaced out too far or very close to each other in Windows. The desktop icon spacing may sometimes be messed up after installing a video driver update. In some cases, the vertical spacing may be fine, but the horizontal spacing may be messed up (e.g., showing a rectangle) or &#8230; <a title=\"[Fix] Desktop Icons Spacing is Messed Up in Windows\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/desktop-icons-spacing-messed-up-fix\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about [Fix] Desktop Icons Spacing is Messed Up in Windows\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[441],"class_list":["post-24029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows","tag-registry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":75,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/save-and-restore-desktop-icon-layout\/","url_meta":{"origin":24029,"position":0},"title":"How to Save and Restore Desktop Icon Layout Automatically in Windows","author":"Ramesh","date":"March 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"When testing various display resolutions or after completing a remote desktop session, the desktop icons may go out of order. Another case is that when you accidentally use the Ctrl+ Scroll button (mouse) on your desktop, the Desktop icon size changes.\u00a0But reverting to the original icon size may not restore\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Utilities&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Utilities","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/utilities\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"desktop icon layout desktopok","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/desktop-ok-save-icon-layout.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/desktop-ok-save-icon-layout.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/desktop-ok-save-icon-layout.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3607,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/undo-desktop-icons-auto-arrange-restart-explorer-exe\/","url_meta":{"origin":24029,"position":1},"title":"How to Undo Desktop Icons Auto Arrange? [Quick Tip]","author":"Ramesh","date":"July 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"If you've accidentally reset your custom desktop icons layout by enabling Auto-arrange or by hitting a wrong key sequence, here is a neat trick to revert back to the original position. Desktop icons layout remains in the memory until you initiate a logoff. During user account logoff or when restarting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1386,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/blue-double-arrow-icon-files-folders-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":24029,"position":2},"title":"What is the Two Blue Arrows Icon on Folders in Windows 10 and How to Remove it?","author":"Ramesh","date":"December 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"After installing Windows 10, you may notice that some of your files and folders show up with a double blue arrows icon at the top. This double blue arrows overlay icon is seen if the files and folders are compressed (NTFS compression), and there is nothing to worry about. This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/windows-compress-blue-arrow.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/windows-compress-blue-arrow.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/windows-compress-blue-arrow.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/windows-compress-blue-arrow.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":26716,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/duplicate-desktop-icons-in-windows\/","url_meta":{"origin":24029,"position":3},"title":"Fix for Duplicate Desktop Icons in Windows","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Every time when you place a file or a shortcut on your Desktop, you may get 2 identical icons. If one icon is deleted, the other icon will also be removed if you refresh the Desktop. The path for both icons would be the same. You may be wondering what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1075,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-recycle-bin-icon-not-refresh-custom-icons-windows-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":24029,"position":4},"title":"[Fix] Recycle Bin Icon Does Not Refresh Correctly","author":"Ramesh","date":"August 29, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"When you use a custom icon (.ico) file to customize the Recycle Bin Empty & Full icons manually or via a desktop theme, the Recycle Bin icon may not update or refresh correctly when emptying the Recycle Bin or when you add items to it. In some cases, the issue\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"recycle bin does not refresh","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/w7-rbin-custicon-3.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":984,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-desktop-icons-layout-not-saved-restart\/","url_meta":{"origin":24029,"position":5},"title":"Fix for Desktop Icons Layout Not Getting Saved Upon Restarting Windows","author":"Ramesh","date":"January 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Windows saves the desktop icon layout when the user logs off, and the setting is read during logon. Recently I came across a case where the desktop icons rearrange to their default positions after a restart or logoff\/login cycle. This turned out to be a Permissions issue with a registry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"exit explorer windows 10","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/exit-expl-w10.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24029\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}