Sitecore’s media browser shows an annoying List View, rather than a Tree view by default. This is sad, ‘cos the Tree view is much more intuitive for users – they’re used a having a drive and folders.

Fortunately, you can make Sitecore use this. I think this tip came from Gert Gullentops originally, but I’m not sure.

The short form, add a patch file:

<configuration xmlns:patch="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/" xmlns:set="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/set/" >
<sitecore>
<overrideXmlControls>
<!-- This patch forces Media Browser to show the Tree view, rather than the list view, by default. -->
<override xmlControl="Sitecore.Shell.Applications.Media.MediaBrowser">
<patch:attribute name="with">/sitecore/client/applications/Dialogs/SelectMediaViaTreeDialog</patch:attribute>
</override>
</overrideXmlControls>
</sitecore>
</configuration>

This will make Sitecore show a tree by default!