Searching for that Microsoft Word document you created the other day or the Excel spreadsheets folder you opened last week? You can retrieve them via File Explorer by hiking to the right location and sorting your files and folders by modified date. But there's an easier way in Windows 10 called Quick Access.
Simply launch File Explorer, and the Quick Access section appears right off the bat. You'll see your most frequently used folders and most recently used files at the top of the left and right panes. By default, the Quick Access section is always in this location, so you can jump to the top to view it.
Depending on how many folders and files you've worked with lately, chances are good you'll see the one or ones you seek. As just a few examples, you'll likely come across your Documents, Personal, OneDrive, and This PC folders. And you'll see any files you've used over the past couple days, if not longer.
Windows 10 displays up to 20 frequently used folders and up to 20 most recently used files. As you work with more folders and files, the older ones get bumped in favor of the more recent ones.
But Quick Access isn't just a static feature over which you have no control. You can tweak certain aspects of it to customize it the way you want. For example, you can manually add or remove folders to Quick Access. Here's how.
Right-click on a folder you wish to add to Quick Access. From the pop-up menu, click on the command to Pin to Quick access, and that folder now appears in the list of those most frequently used.
To remove a folder from Quick Access, right-click on it. From the pop-up menu, click Unpin from Quick access, and the folder is zapped off the list.
What about your favorite files? While you can add folders to Quick Access, you can't manually add a file since its presence in the list is automatically based on how often you use it. But you can put the kibosh on a file you no longer want to see in the list. Right-click on the file, and from the pop-up menu, click on the command to Remove from Quick access. The file disappears from the list.
Keep in mind that Quick Access is just a placeholder section with shortcuts to certain folders and files. So any items you remove from Quick Access still survive intact in their original location.
Finally, what if you're not crazy about Quick Access and would rather not see it each time you launch File Explorer? No problem. In File Explorer, click on the View tab at the top to display the View ribbon. From there, click on the Options button. In the Folder Options window under the General tab, you'll see that the option for "Open File Explorer to:" reads Quick access. Simply click on the entry for Quick access and change it to This PC.
The Quick Access section is still around, but now each time you launch File Explorer, you'll see your This PC section at the top instead.
For more, check out these other Windows 10 tutorials:
- How to Run Windows 10 From a USB Drive
- How to Back Up and Restore an Image File of Windows 10
- How to Turn on Cortana by Voice in Windows 10
- How to Share More (or Less) Personal Data With Cortana
- How to Tweak Your Tiles in Windows 10
- How to Check Out Early Versions of Windows 10
- How to Customize, Control the Command Prompt in Windows 10
- How to Customize Your Default Apps in Windows 10
- How to Use and Tweak the Start Screen in Windows 10
- How to Find a Lost Windows 10 Device