How to Resize Desktop Icons on Windows

Are the icons on your desktop or Windows Explorer appearing too large and taking up too much space on your screen? If so, resizing them can help make your computer look more organized, tidy, and easier to navigate.

In this article, Carisinyal will share a simple guide on how to reduce the size of icons on your desktop and in Windows Explorer. This method is straightforward and doesn't require any additional software.

How to Resize Desktop Icons

Resizing desktop icons is quick and simple. In just a few seconds, you can adjust your desktop icons to be smaller or larger based on your preference.

If your desktop is cluttered with too many icons, shrinking them can help free up space and make your screen look more organized. Wondering how to do it? Let’s dive into the steps below!

1. Using the Right-Click Menu

One of the easiest ways to shrink desktop icons is by using the right-click menu. You can do it quickly by just using your mouse. Here are the steps:

1. Right Click on the Desktop

To get started, right-click on an empty area of your desktop to open a context menu with various settings options. If you're using a touchscreen device, simply press and hold the empty area for a moment to access the menu.

2. Select “View”

Next, hover your cursor over the "View" option in the context menu. This will display several choices related to the appearance of your icons.

3. Select Icon Size

You’ll see several size options, such as Large icons, Medium icons, and Small icons. To make the icons smaller, select the Small icons option. This will reduce their size and create more space on your desktop, making it look cleaner and more organized.

2. Using the Keyboard and Mouse

The second method is by using your keyboard and mouse, offering a quicker alternative since you don’t need to navigate through menus. So, how do you do it?

Start by pressing and holding the CTRL key on your keyboard. While holding it, scroll the mouse wheel backwards to reduce the icon size to your preference.

Interestingly, it allows you to shrink the icons even smaller than the “Small icons” option in the right-click menu, giving you more flexibility in choosing the perfect size.

To enlarge the icons, follow the same steps, but this time scroll the mouse wheel forward. This allows you to fill your desktop with much larger icons if desired.

How to Resize Icons in File Explorer

You can also resize file or folder icons and thumbnails in File Explorer. The process is very simple and quite similar to resizing desktop icons as described above.

1. Using the View Menu

The first method is to use the View menu located in the top panel of File Explorer. Simply open a folder in File Explorer and select the View tab from the top menu. From there, you’ll see various options to display icons in different sizes and layouts.

In File Explorer, you can choose from eight different icon sizes and display options:

• Extra Large Icons: Displays icons in a very large size, ideal for previewing images or videos.
• Large Icons: Icons are displayed in a large size, though smaller than Extra Large Icons.
• Medium Icons: A medium size, which is the default view in File Explorer.
• Small Icons: Icons are displayed in a compact, small size.
• List: Files are displayed as a list with small icons next to each file name.
• Details: Similar to List but includes additional information such as file size, modification date, and file type.
• Tiles: Icons are shown in a medium size along with some details like file type and size.
• Content: Displays small icons with detailed information about each file beside it.

Now, from the eight available size options, choose the one that best suits your needs, whether it’s just the image itself or the image along with additional folder information.

2. Using the Keyboard and Mouse

Just like resizing icons on the desktop, you can also resize icons in File Explorer using the keyboard and mouse. Simply press and hold the CTRL key, then scroll the mouse wheel backwards to shrink the icons, or forwards to enlarge them.

What’s interesting is that the size changes follow the same order as the options in the View menu: Extra Large Icons > Large Icons > Medium Icons > Small Icons > List > Details > Tiles > Content.

That’s all for the steps on how to resize icons in both Desktop and File Explorer. These methods are easy to follow and you can try them out right away.