How to add / remove Quick Access in the File Explorer navigation pane on Windows 10

Windows 10 has replaced Favorites from earlier versions of Windows with Quick Access . Quick Access is the shortest path to the files you are working on and the folders you use frequently. These are your frequently visited folders and recent files.

Quick Access in File Explorer

In Windows 10, File Explorer opens Quick Access by default, showing Frequent folders and Recent files .

1. Frequent folders = Display up to 10 folders that you frequently open on the system.
2. Recent files = Show up to 20 files that you have opened most recently.

This guide will show you how to add or remove Quick Access in the File Explorer navigation pane for all users in Windows 10.

Note :

- You must be logged in as an administrator to be able to add or remove Quick Access in the navigation pane.

Removing Quick Access from the navigation pane will not delete the history of Frequent folders and Recent files.

Add or completely Remove Quick Access in the File Explorer navigation pane

This option will remove Quick Access from all locations completely, but doing so will disable drag and drop to the navigation pane as well.

Step 1. Press Win + R to open Run , enter regedit into Run and click OK to open Registry Editor.

Step 2. If prompted by UAC, click Yes.

Step 3. In Registry Editor , navigate to the location below:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTCLSID{679f85cb-0220-4080-b29b-5540cc05aab6}ShellFolder

How to add / remove Quick Access in the File Explorer navigation pane on Windows 10 Picture 1 Navigate to the key location in Registry Editor

Step 4. If you haven't done so already, you need to first change the owner of the ShellFolder registry key in the left pane to the Administrators group .

Step 5. If you haven't done so already, you will need to set a second permissions for the ShellFolder registry key in the left pane to allow the Administrators group to have full control .

Step 6. In the right pane of ShellFolder , double click on DWORD Attributes to modify it.

Step 7. Do step 8 (to remove) or step 9 (to add) below, depending on what you want.

Step 8. To remove Quick Access from the navigation pane, enter a0600000 , click OK and go to step 10 below.

How to add / remove Quick Access in the File Explorer navigation pane on Windows 10 Picture 2 Remove Quick Access from the navigation pane

Step 9. To add Quick Access to the navigation pane, enter a0100000 , click OK and go to step 10 below.

How to add / remove Quick Access in the File Explorer navigation pane on Windows 10 Picture 3 Add Quick Access to the navigation pane

Step 10. When done, close Registry Editor.

Step 11. Restart Explorer, log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply the changes.

Kareem Winters

Update 11 September 2020