Many people use the Windows desktop to store the files they work on the most rather than using the default Documents folder. It is also a common place to keep shortcuts to you more frequently used programs and apps. If you find that your desktop icons are too close together or too far apart, there is an easy way to adjust this. In this article, we will be showing you how to quickly adjust your horizontal and vertical desktop icon spacing in Windows.
The image below shows a typical Windows 11 desktop with files, folders and program shortcuts.
You should be able to drag your desktop icons anywhere you like on the desktop, and they should stay there until you move them again. If you happen to have the Auto arrange icons option enabled, then that can affect how well you can rearrange them on your own. The Align icons to grid option will keep your icons in line with each other. You can get to these settings by right clicking on the desktop and choosing the View option.
The app we will be using that will allow you to adjust horizontal and vertical desktop icon spacing in Windows is simply called Desktop Icon Spacing and can be downloaded from their website for free here.
There is nothing to install and all you need to do is download and run the iconspacing.exe file. The interface is very simple and will show you the default horizontal and vertical icon settings which is set to 75. You can reset your icon spacing to the default setting at any time from the Advanced section.
Now you can simply adjust the horizontal and\or vertical sliders up or down to adjust the desktop icon spacing. Once you make your changes, you will need to click on Apply to have the changes applied to your desktop icons. You will not be able to click on Apply unless you have checked the boxes that say All data saved and All other windows closed. The reason for this is because Windows Explorer will be restarted, and they do not want you to lose any data from open files or open apps.
The image below shows the horizontal setting set to 120 and you can see the larger space between the icons.
The next image shows the horizontal space set to 45 which shrinks the amount of space between the icons.
Now if we increase the vertical spacing 120, you can see how there is more space between the top and bottom of the icons.
Now we will reduce the vertical spacing to 45 and you can see that the desktop icons are a little too pushed together.
As you can see, its very easy to customize the horizontal and vertical desktop icon spacing in Windows just by using this free app.
Now if you are having a problem with your desktop icons being too far spread apart and are not interested in manually changing the horizontal or vertical settings, you can try this fix that should help you fix the spread apart desktop icon issue.
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