Apart from the Office-style ribbon in Windows Explorer of Windows 10, File Explorer has a new “Quick Access” view. Whenever you open the file explorer window, you will see a list of “frequent folders” and recent files. This list of folders replaces the old favorite folders list.
Quick Access is a new way to open File Explorer and suits most of us, as it automatically suggests lists of folders and files you frequently use so that you can access them more quickly. But with a few changes, you can still use old-style File Explorer in Windows 10.
How to Make File Explorer Open to “This PC” Instead of Quick Access?
File Explorer window provides a Quick Access view, and you will be able to access frequently used folders and recently used files. In Windows 7 and earlier operating systems, File Explorer was known as Windows Explorer. After the launch of Windows 8, it was renamed to File Explorer, and it is still known as File Explorer in Windows 10.
File Explorer can be easily accessed through the Start menu if you want to open the “This PC” view instead of “Quick Access,” like the traditional My Computer view on older versions of Windows that displayed connected devices and drives. Quick Access also displays user account’s folders — Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, and Videos. This was the default view of Windows 8 when you opened a File Explorer window.
1. To make File Explorer open to the ‘This PC‘ view, click the File menu, and select “Change folder and search options.”
2. “Folder Options” window will be opened.
3. Change the “Quick Access” to “This PC” from the “Open File Explorer to” box.
4. Click Apply then OK.
5. From now onwards, whenever you will open “File Explorer,” you will see “This PC.”
How to Restore Favorite Folders to the Sidebar?
The Quick Access list is the place of the old Favorites list, which sits at the top-left corner of your File Explorer window. It contains favorite folders, which are the “pinned” folders. These will always appear in your Quick Access list. Windows automatically adds frequently used folders to this list to help users who never customize the Favorites with their most-used folders.
To make the Quick Access list function like the old favorites list, you have to prevent it from showing the frequently used folders.
1. click the File menu from File Explorer or This PC and select “Change folder and search options.”
It will open Folder Options.
2. At the bottom, under Privacy, uncheck “Show frequently used folders in Quick access.”
3. You can now add your own favorite folders to the quick access list by just drag-and-drop.
To remove a folder from quick access, right-click it and select “Unpin from quick access.”
3. If you want to prevent Windows from automatically adding recent files under ‘Quick Access,’ under ‘Folder Options,’ you also have to uncheck “Show recently used files in Quick access.”
