Hello there !

This problem have been dealt a lot of time, but as I've just encountered
it (again) without finding any relevant solution (neither in Microsoft
KB, nor in newsgroups), I'd like to share my solution.

System : Windows XP PRO SP2 (and likely any other version of Windows XP)

Applications : all except MS Office

Symptoms :
- When using "Open..." or "Save as..." dialog boxes in any application,
files & folders are incorrectly sorted (may be Z-A sorting or totally
incoherent sorting in my case);
- Windows Explorer sorting is fine;
- Doug Knox's fix doesn't work
(http://www.dougknox.com/xp/scripts_d...nsaveorder.htm)
- problem do not occur when logging in with another user account


It is usually advised to do something like this :
------------------------
"Right-click Start, click Explore, and then click drive C.
On the View menu, click Details.

Click the Name column to sort items by name, press and hold down the
CTRL key, and then quit Windows Explorer by clicking Close in the
upper-right corner of the screen.

Release the CTRL key. Restart your computer."
------------------------
Which would be relevant if Windows Explorer was affected.
In most cases it is not.

My solution works pretty much the same way as described above for
Windows Explorer, except you have to do it within the "Open..." or "Save
as..." dialog box :
1. open any application affected by this problem,
2. open an "Open..." or "Save as..." dialog box,
3. right click and sort by name (or any prefered sorting),
4. THEN hold down the CTRL key and close the dialog box by clicking the
Close cross in the upper-right corner of the box,
5. Release the CTRL key when the box is closed.

And that's it ! Sorting should be restored !

Note : I've encountered this problem just after a fresh reinstall of
Windows XP PRO SP2

Thanks to all contributors sharing their knowledge and helping people in
need.

José Sanchez
France