When we had SW2015 installed, the description details in windows explorer would not show anything.  I assumed it was because of windows updates, because many other features in SW2015 were also not functioning correctly. 

Fast forward a few months later and we have upgraded to SW2016.  To my surprise, descriptions showing in windows explorer.  The interesting thing to note is the fact that there were two "description" options in the 'choose details' prompt within windows explorer.  Only one of these will display the linked solidworks description, while the other shows nothing. 

From the time we installed SW2016 until today, the descriptions would display correctly in windows explorer.  Today, I only have one 'description' option, and unfortunately, it's the option that displays absolutely nothing in windows explorer.

Notes:

I don't like to use solidworks explorer for browsing parts.  It's too slow and the folder tree is very inconvenient.  Since windows explorer has shown me the info I need, I feel that I shouldn't have to go through the hassle of solidworks explorer to see something as simple as a description.

We have gone as far as copying the description text to the 'tags' text, as a work around, but this is very inconvenient. Especially since the descriptions option has been known to work.

When things were working correctly, it didn't matter if I had the part opened or closed, the description would still show up.

Customizing the folder and optimizing it for "General Items" or "Documents" makes no difference.

Why has this happened, and is there anything I can do to fix it?