How To Turn Off Auto Arrange Desktop Icons in Windows

This short guide explains how to turn off “auto-arrange” for your Desktop icons/shortcuts, so that you can arrange them in any way or place you deem fit.

Sometimes you may run into the problem when your desktop icons automatically move themselves, usually all aligned to the left side of of your Desktop. Here’s how to turn that feature off –

1. One day you’re using your PC and you notice that instead of being able to put files, folders and shortcuts on your Desktop in any old place you want – now they all snap to the left side of the screen.
2. Right-click on your Desktop and select View from the pop-up menu. Then remove the check next to the item named Auto arrange icons. Please note: the screenshot below is from Windows 10, but other versions of Windows will have a nearly identical menu.
3. Now you can arrange the icons on your Desktop in any silly way you wish :) Or, you can use one of these wallpapers and organize your Desktop icons to boost your productivity.