Solved: File Explorer Group by Greyed Out

Trouble sorting files? Restore default settings

5 min. read

Published onDecember 11, 2023

published onDecember 11, 2023

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Key notes

You open up File Explorer, and you want to sort out your files but when you go to the group by option, it is greyed out. We give you our tried and tested solutions to resolve this issue.

What does it mean when a folder is greyed out?

This could mean the folder is currently unavailable, you’vedisabled groupingor there are no files in the folder. Other possible reasons could be that the folder is in use by another application or you don’t have permission to view the contents of the folder.

What can I do if the Group by option is greyed out in File Explorer?

Start off troubleshooting with the following basic checks:

1. Restart File Explorer

2. Reset File Explorer to default settings

2.1 Reset View settings

Althoughcustomizing your File Explorercan help you navigate through the folders, files, and drives in your PC easily, sometimes it can mess up with certain settings and cause issues like the group by option to be greyed out.

2.2 Reset File Explorer cache

When you use your computer for a long time, you accumulate a lot of files and with time, some files can get corrupted or damaged. In such cases, you need to remove them by clearing the cache.

3. Uninstall recent Windows updates

4. Create a new user profile

If you create a new profile and the group by option is not greyed out here, your previous account may be corrupt. In this case, you need torepair your user profileand try again. Alternatively, you cancopy your old user profile into the new one.

5. Perform a System Restore

6. Use a third-party file manager

If all the above fail, you can always turn toother file manager programs. These apps have more advanced features that let you group your files by specific criteria more easily than File Explorer.

You may also discover that your new file manager is faster asWindows File Explorer tends to be slowat times especially if yourPC is running low on memory.

Hopefully, we’ve shed light on how to get your group by option active again. Should you face any other related issues likeFile Explorer not opening, be sure to check out our recommended fixes.

That’s all we had for this article but if you have any other solutions that worked for you, don’t hesitate to share them with us in the comment section below.

Solved: File Explorer Group by Greyed Out#

What can I do if the Group by option is greyed out in File Explorer?#

1. Restart File Explorer#

2. Reset File Explorer to default settings#

3. Uninstall recent Windows updates#

4. Create a new user profile#

5. Perform a System Restore#

6. Use a third-party file manager#