How to Automatically Restore a Disorganized Windows Desktop Icon Layout

"Learn how to easily restore a disorganized Windows desktop icon layout using Restore Desktop Icon Layout."

Kompudows October 17, 2026

Have you ever noticed that your desktop shortcut icons suddenly become disorganized after you increase or decrease their size? this can happen when you change the icon size using the mouse scroll wheel, when the icons become larger or smaller, the overall position and arrangement of the desktop icons may also change.

You may also accidentally move some shortcut icons to different positions, leaving your desktop looking messy and disorganized, this can be quite annoying, especially if you have many applications that you use every day and suddenly have trouble finding them because their icon positions have changed.

Instead of having to rearrange every shortcut icon manually, you can use the Restore Desktop Icon Layout application to save and restore your desktop icon positions whenever needed.

In this tutorial, i'll show you how to automatically restore and organize shortcut icon positions on the Windows desktop, so how do you do it? let's get started with the tutorial.

Tutorial:

First, make sure you have downloaded the application [Here] (I got this software from Sordum, so you can thank the team at Sordum for providing this application)
Once you're on the Sordum website, specifically on the application's article page, scroll down until you find a small silver button labeled Download.
Once you find it, click the Download button
After that, you'll be redirected to the next page, where you just need to wait until the file you want to download appears and is ready to download, however, if you're using Google Chrome's built-in download feature, the file should start downloading automatically in the background, you can check the progress or find the downloaded file through Google Chrome's download history
Once the file has finished downloading, extract it first
After the extraction process is complete, you'll find a new folder containing the extracted files, open that folder
Inside the folder, you'll see two files, make sure you use the version that matches the system architecture of your laptop or computer so the application can work properly
After determining whether your laptop or computer uses a 32-bit or 64-bit architecture, run the appropriate version by right-clicking the file and selecting Run as Administrator.
A User Account Control (UAC) dialog box will appear, click the Yes button to continue
Once the application opens, the first thing you need to do is manually arrange the shortcut icons on your desktop, in other words, organize all the files, folders, and shortcut icons on your desktop and place them wherever you want
After arranging your desktop, return to the Restore Desktop Icon Layout application
Now, click the button with the floppy disk symbol in the application
Wait a few moments until the desktop layout has been saved, then try moving some shortcut icons or files on your desktop to different positions until the layout becomes messy or disorganized, (Do not move any files from the desktop into a folder, move them outside the desktop, or send them to the Recycle Bin, because files that have been moved off the desktop cannot be restored to their previous positions).
After rearranging the icons or files, double-click the name listed below the Name column, (If you're still unsure which column I'm referring to, you'll see the Resolution column next to the Name column, followed by the Date - Time column, then the Detail column, and finally the ID column, double-click the name listed under the Name column)
After that, the files or shortcut icons you previously moved will return to their original positions, just as they were before you changed their arrangement.

Final Thoughts

The process is actually very easy and straightforward, but what if a file has already been moved and is no longer on the desktop, for example, if it has been sent to the Recycle Bin, moved into a folder, or transferred to another drive?

Unfortunately, this application doesn't work like Deep Freeze, which allows you to restore the entire system to a previous state even if some files or folders have been deleted or moved, although their functions may seem somewhat similar, this application only works with items that are currently visible on the desktop.

If a file has been moved into a folder, sent to the Recycle Bin, or transferred to another drive or partition, you won't be able to restore it to the desktop simply by clicking the restore option in this application, no matter how many times you try.

meanwhile, the button with the floppy disk symbol in the application is used to save the current positions of desktop icons and files, so you only need to save or record the desktop layout once after arranging everything the way you want it.